Jonathan Szydlo
In the midst of the hustle and bustle that is the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, a brief refuge from all the glamor and glitz of the yearly culinary circus came out of Midtown Miami’s Electric Pickle.
On Feb. 25, Beached Miami and Grolsch Brewery cosponsored a show featuring local to South Florida acts Honey Train, The State Of, Can’t Stop, and Sumsung.
The show started out with Honey Train taking the outdoor stage at the Pickle at around 11:30 p.m. to a moderate sized crowd.
It’s worth noting that the venue pushed back the start time due to the size of the crowd, or lack thereof. But more on that later.
Anyways, Honey Train threw down the longest set of the night that was driven by their rugged and raunchy guitar tones that brought back memories of Weezer’s “Pinkerton” with Jack White like vocals.
Photo by Andres Bedoya
The uppity feel came off as a perfect compliment to the necessary push to get you off the couch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, fresh off a sesh, to go on an obstacle filled quested to the nearest munchy sport, think White Castle, or in South Florida’s case the now illusive Sonic Drive-In.
At first, I thought that these guys needed to tighten up their sound due to an early rough patch through a guitar riff. But as they proceeded with their set, I stood corrected. During a hard-played guitar solo in one of the songs towards the tail end of their set, rain bags were literally blown off of the PA speakers – or maybe it was just the wind.
Next up was The State Of, a female duo fueled by their emo driven lyrics, attitude infested drumming, and the whimsical handling of digital ivory keys. At this point of the night, at about 12:30 a.m., the Pickle held its largest crowd with the entire patio area filled with shoulder-to-shoulder bobble heads.
Photo by Andres Bedoya
The State Of put on a solid performance that had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands, but as soon as the last note of the keyboard had rung out, the mob packed up their bags and began calling it a night, which was a shame since their were still two acts left to go.
However, it was too early in the night – even though it was 2 a.m. – for the music to stop as Can’t Stop played to the residual crowd.
Can’t Stop was awesome.
A two piece band – drums and guitar – with the drummer manning the mic and belting out lyrics as he artfully banged away at his 5-piece set.
Although the guitar came secondary to the energy oozing out of the drums, the chorus effect on the instruments gave a full bodied sound with little, if any, room for improvement.
Photo by Andres Bedoya
As Can’t Stop stopped playing, a mild shower blew in in between sets, which only contributed to the final exodus of all spectators, minus those who were somehow affiliated to the overall production – except for one guy, whose dancing style at the outset of Sumsung’s time on stage made it safe to assume that he was having the time of his life on a bit of MDMA.
By 3 a.m., there was only a one man crowd for an act from Palm Beach, and I’m sorry to say that this was the point in the night when I couldn’t help but call it a night after hearing a single one of Sumsung’s songs.
It’s not that he wasn’t good. The thing is that due to the small turn out at the start of the night, Electric Pickle decided to push back the start of the show by an hour which caused the final act to start after 3 a.m. This was the only aspect of the night since, at least out of respect, I would’ve liked to finish out Sumsung’s set, but it was past my bedtime.
Photo by Andres Bedoya
Other than the delayed start, the show was a success. Kudos to all.
About Post Author
