Concert Review: The Surfrajettes and the Electric Six at the Turf Club

The Surfrajettes on stage at the Turf Club in Saint Paul, October 25, 2023. From left to right, Nicole Damoff, Sam Maloney, Shermy Freeman, and Sara Eve. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

A blurry photo of the Surfrajettes on stage, but I think it still looks cool. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Me and Shermy, co-lead guitarist of the Surfrajettes. (Photo taken by Shermy)

My signed copy of The Surfrajettes' 2022 album Roller Fink. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

In October, I saw the Surfrajettes and the Electric Six at the Turf Club in Saint Paul. I was there to see the Surfrajettes—I reviewed their 2022 album Roller Fink here, and I’ve become a big fan of their surf rock sound.

  

The Surfrajettes put on a great show and in person you can really see the guitar interplay between Shermy and Nicole, as they switch between playing lead and rhythm guitar. I was amazed at how well Shermy and Nicole are able to recreate their trademark 1960’s guitar sound in person. This lineup of the Surfrajettes also featured Sara Eve on bass and Sam Maloney on drums. Maloney’s fiery drumming propelled the band through the songs and was a highlight of the show.  

My only complaint about the staging of the show was that Shermy didn’t have her own spotlight, so she was left playing in the darkness. I’m not sure how the Turf Club didn’t understand that the co-lead guitarist should maybe have her own spotlight. But oh well.  

The Surfrajettes’ set list featured a mix of songs from Roller Fink like “Warm Up,” “Roxy Roller,” and the title track, as well as some songs that have only appeared on their singles like the Halloween song “Banshee Bop” and a great arrangement of the Peruvian song “El Condor Pasa.” The crowd really got into two of their cover versions the Blondie disco classic “Heart of Glass” and Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”  

The Electric Six were fine, but they really didn’t do anything for me. I confess that I didn’t do any research on them before the show, so I’m really not familiar with their music. And the problem with not knowing the songs at a rock show is that you won’t be able to understand the lyrics, so it’s not like you can get much sense of what a song is about. The Six were down a member, as they were without their keyboardist. I found the Electric Six an odd pairing with the Surfrajettes, as the Six just had so much “dude” energy. The Electric Six did play a cool cover version of “Eye in the Sky,” the Alan Parsons Project hit.  

The Surfrajettes are known for wearing matching outfits on stage, and for the show at the Turf Club on October 25th, they wore their “angel” outfits, complete with halos. It was a fun touch for the show. After their set, I bought the Surfrajettes LP Roller Fink and got it signed by all four members of the band. I also got a selfie with Shermy. (She took the photo, so it actually turned out well. I’m terrible at taking selfies.) Since I saw the Surfrajettes last month, they’ve already announced another tour, and they will be coming back to the Turf Club in March 2024. I already have my ticket for the show. If you want to see a fun concert by a group that has great interplay among its members, go see the Surfrajettes.