Stepping down into Cafe Du Nord to the sold-out classically gorgeous underground venue a crowd had already formed at the front of the stage as indie music played. While we waited for the show to start we walked over to the merch line and were greeted by a friendly guy we didn’t expect to see later onstage.
Shortly after my friend and I squeezed into a corner the opener, DOUBLE CAMP, came to stage with their songwriter/videographer/friend Bryan West who we met at merch chatting about the unfortunate lack of sticker as the venue didn’t allow them to sell ‘em.
The Tennessee duo Joe Neary and Jordan Burmeister filled the room with melodic indie sounds with cutting lyrics of unspoken anxieties.
Along the way they won over the lingering crowd as we sang the lyrics to “all my friends are strangers” and they had the crowd shout our names introducing ourselves to them.
Making their set as interactive as possible, and meeting fans after the show the band genuinely did “Just want to make friends” as Burmeister said on stage.
They grooved on stage while making airplane noises and covering “pursuit of happiness” to close their set making a lasting impression.
The crowd then waited while singing along to a playlist, that was suspiciously similar to my Spotify recommendations, making conversation with each other as I heard a shocked “LinkedIn!” as someone learned of a person working for the company.
When the neon almost monday sign light color changed a building scream in the crowd bursted out.
The boys walked on stage first with guitarist Cole Clisby and bassist Luke Fabry followed by the most anticipated entrance by frontman Dawson Daugherty.
Immediately hyping the crowd up with loud drums and guitar vibrations flowing through the floor while asking “San Fransico! How you feeling?” transitioning into the soft vocals of “broken people”.
The crowd clicked into their music singing along to every song and when asked to raise hands if it was the first time we’d seen them live I was in the surprising minority.
Introducing themselves as a band from San Diego including their drummer Rafael Vidal Daugherty talked about their pure love for San Francisco.
A stand-out song was their cover of “What I Like About You” showcasing every upbeat beachy sound that fans love of their music.
Other standouts included the unreleased “You Look Good”, a dance track with a dash of swagger and confidence, the uplifting angelic “hailey beebs”, and the classic blood-pumping anthem “cough drops”.
We even got a performance of happy birthday for the two lucky people in the crowd.
And an awkward pseudo ending to the show that we knew was not the end after “sun keeps on shining” to which they came back with Daugherty saying he didn’t know why they left even though they said they had more to sing in a silly way.
Clisby diligently played guitar, Fabry jammed on bass, and Daugherty impressed us with his karate kicks and moves.
What you get from an almost monday concert is a couple of sweet guys from San Diego who love to surf and excellently play music. I’d give their show an 8/10 for a perfect way to spend a Saturday night although the sets could have been longer.
If you ever see a show at Cafe du Nord it’s easy to get there via public transportation, a simple VTA to Caltrain to Muni bus for myself.
Written By: Monica Shannon
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It seems like the band really cares about their listeners. Thats also cool that the concert was interactive and it made everyone’s experience more memorable. Thanks for introducing me to a new band!