We were braving a cold November weeknight in San Francisco; shivering and walking fast from the parking garage to get to the venue as soon as possible. Met with a long line full of indie-punk kids with cool haircuts and the tallest men in the Bay Area, it seemed like the Rickshaw Stop was gonna be packed to the brim tonight.
After finally getting in, we managed to catch the last couple songs of Atlanta’s own Sword II, whose “Even If It’s Just A Dream” impressed me so much that I immediately followed them on every platform. In the short interim between sets, people were piling in. Excitement was high. This was the first time Pittsburgh’s Feeble Little Horse has actually made it to San Francisco, considering their cancelled west coast 2023 tour. That year, the band released their sophomore album, “Girl with Fish.” It was one of my most listened to albums at the time, and I have been waiting to dance to it ever since. The Bay had been anticipating their arrival as well, apparently, because this room was filled. Shoulder to shoulder would be an understatement.
Despite this, it was not difficult for the crowd to find the space to open up a pit 30 seconds into the opening track, “Freak.” In between songs, frontwoman Lydia Slocum, adorned in a striking white bob, was incredibly candid and hilarious. Banter from her bandmates added to the comedy of it all. Making jokes about all the tall dudes in the front, about potentially getting robbed in SF, and even laughing at jokes made by people in the crowd. Everyone in the room suddenly felt familiar, and we were just watching our friends on stage play for us.
My favorite song of the night was “Sweet,” the back and forth between the two different vocals, the searing, electric, and fuzzy riff to jumpstart the track mixed with the math-rock-adjacent lick during the verses, which made for a moment that I lost myself in. To be honest, a majority of the set was a blur — I was completely at the whim of however my body decided to move to the music, and to the direction the jumping and thrashing crowd was moving. It was a type of fun that I haven’t had at a show in a long time.
By the time they walked off stage, I couldn’t believe it was over. It somehow only felt like a few minutes, but the exhilaration would last a lifetime. We did get an encore, with “Termites” to send us off. Suddenly, a moment that I had waited years for had come and gone. Now it was time to buy a vinyl and a bumper sticker, and hold on tight to the memories. The sticker reads “A Feeble Little Horse has my heart,” and I couldn’t agree more.
Review and photos by Jaida Berkheimer
