Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Concert Review: The Surfrajettes and The McCharmlys at the Turf Club

The Surfrajettes on stage at the Turf Club, March 10, 2024. From left to right, Nicole Damoff on guitar, Annie Lillis on drums, Shermy Freeman on guitar, and Sarah Butler on bass. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

Me and Annie, with special photobomb by Sarah.

Set list for the Surfrajettes, held by Annie Lillis (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

My signed photo of the Surfrajettes.

In March, I saw the rock group the Surfrajettes at the Turf Club. Devoted readers of “Mark My Words” will recall that I previously saw the Surfrajettes at the Turf Club last October, when they opened for the Electric Six. This time the McCharmlys opened for the Surfrajettes. The McCharmlys have an awesome retro-60's vibe, so their sound worked really well with the Surfrajettes. The lead vocalist Angie has a really great voice, and I enjoyed their songs. 

The Surfrajettes put on an awesome show, and it’s a treat to see their surf rock songs live. It’s fun to see the guitar interplay between Shermy Freeman and Nicole Damoff, as they trade between lead and rhythm. Their guitar work is always seamless and flows so well. This time the Surfrajettes had their usual lineup of Shermy and Nicole on guitar, Sarah Butler on bass, and Annie Lillis on drums. Sarah and Annie both did a fantastic job. Annie absolutely crushed the drum breaks on “Roller Fink,” and “El Condor Pasa,” one of my favorite Surfrajette songs. It was immediately evident what a fantastic chemistry Shermy, Nicole, Sarah, and Annie have together on stage. 

The set list featured some different songs from October’s show, although favorites like “Heart of Glass” and their version of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” still made appearances. After playing “She Loves You,” Nicole said, “That’s one we wrote,” which was very funny. The band played most of the songs from their debut album Roller Fink, rocking tunes like “Warm Up,” “Roxy Roller,” “Couch Surfing,” “Surfer’s Slide,” and “Snowball.”  

The Surfrajettes are such a fun band to see live, I’m hoping they keep coming back to the Twin Cities every six months. After the show, I was able to get my 8x10 photo signed by all 4 Surfrajettes, and I got selfies with Annie and Shermy, plus a photobomb from Sarah. If you like rock and roll, surf guitars, and awesome instrumentals, go see the Surfrajettes.  

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