The rain was coming down in sheets outside the B-Side’s walls, but that didn’t matter to the audience inside the building as their attention was completely focused on the stage of performers. While the crowd was small, it was passionate, cheering on each song with more enthusiasm than the one prior.
“I think performances make a unique community of people that attend those events,” said Noah Hogan, a guitarist for The Left Lanes. “Each concert [that we perform] brings something new and unique. We want the people that come to all of our shows to not feel like they’re seeing the same thing every time, so we bring new things to every show to create that unique community with every show we have.”
The show began with a performance by Koro Kouyate, who started the night with three personal and unique ballads that reflected different aspects of her life. The third and final song of her act consisted of a lullaby she wrote for her younger brother, to play whenever he had a nightmare.
“My brother used to get nightmares a lot, so I wrote this song to help him get back to sleep,” Kouyate said. “I try to express how much I love him through the song, but I don’t know if he will get the message until he’s older.”
When Kouyate stepped off-stage, the next performance seamlessly followed. Brother Bear took to the stage to begin their performance of heartfelt songs. The last song of their show: a never-before-seen song about long-distance relationships and how it affects the mind of the people within it.
The band played a variety of songs — a combination of things they had played before with different twists, as well as never before seen hits — but most of all, they were concerned with the interactions they were enforcing with the audience in that show. They wanted to make the night was ingrained in the memories of the crowd, and as a result, provided stories detailing the mindset behind each song.
“I think having a mix of smaller shows and larger shows really allow for more creativity for the performers,” said guitarist Max Mellor. “When we have bigger shows, we can’t interact with the audience nearly as much as we do in smaller shows like tonight. As much as we love playing for huge crowds of people, it’s a nice breath of fresh air to come and have more personal fun with the audience during the show.”