Wednesday night brought a pair of daughters to the legendary First Avenue & 7th St Entry. Minneapolis-natives Odd Daughters, an eclectic, infectious, and best of all, Gluten-Free two-piece performed a headlining set with a little help from another Minneapolis-based band, Dark Surf/Grunge/Rock outfit Lavender Daughter.

The evening began with me standing outside The Entry, watching a group of people exchange fisticuffs while waiting at the bus stop directly across from The Depot. It was a real humdinger of a bout, and was exactly the way I would like every show I attend at First Avenue to begin going forward.

Unfortunately, because of my girlfriend’s and my poor planning, and my incessant need to watch adults fight each other in the street, we missed the bulk of the performance from opening band Pong Flower. What I can tell by listening to their catalog, though, is they’re really cool and you will definitely catch me at one of their shows in the future.

Opening the show (for us) was Minneapolis group Lavender Daughter. The band is made up of Dustin Possehl on bass, Seth Hynes-Marquette on drums, and front-woman/guitarist Kalee Joy Guenther. They perform a very interesting blend of Dark Surf & Grunge Rock music which, frankly, was unlike anything I’d experienced in a live setting before. But after listening to a few songs, and feeling like I had a proper grasp of this sub-genre of a sub-genre, I started to really enjoy the vibe.

By far, the most impressive part of the performance was front-woman Kalee Joy Guenther’s ability to command the stage and the raw emotion she puts into the performance of each and every song. You could feel the power behind every lyric, and it was really special to watch. Definitely keep an eye out and remember her name, because we’ll be seeing quite the rise from her in 2019 and beyond.

Capping off the evening was another Minneapolis group of daughters, this time it was Gluten-Free rockers Odd Daughters. Although their Facebook bio lists a third member, this performance was from the duo of Zach Gonet on Guitar/Vocals, and his friend Kenneth Christopher “Kenny” McGlauchlen III on Drums.

I made sure to say “his friend” above because these two looked like they were having an absolute blast performing together on stage last night. I’ll include plenty of links to their music here so you can check them out and hear what they have to offer, but the major takeaway I had from the performance was simply how much they enjoyed it.

This industry sucks sometimes, and performing to a half-full 7th St Entry on a bitterly cold Wednesday night in early January can be tough. Often times bands simply learn how to pretend to have fun on stage to make the crowd happy. However, Zach & Kenny were soaking up every single second on stage performing together, and I really enjoyed watching them.

I have no idea what the future holds for Odd Daughters, or Lavender Daughter, or any other band with the word “Daughter” that currently exist in Minnesota. However, I do know that if Zach, Kenny, and Kalee keep performing with the same level of emotion every single night, they will not have a difficult time finding a permanent place in this industry.