Time comes full circle

Show Review

Paul F. P. Pogue

Rahlo of the Black Soil Project performs his blend of rap and spoken word at the IMN birthday show at Birdy's.

IMN Fifth Birthday Concert
Birdy’s
Saturday, April 1

As it happens, a few hours before the IndianapolisMusic.net fifth anniversary show at Birdy’s, I came across an old copy of Jar magazine from Muncie (think INtake but lots smaller). The cover story was about the Common, featuring IMN guru Steve Hayes, and the pop culture column was written by me.

Strange coincidence. It was only seven years ago, but sometimes it feels like a lifetime. “Were we EVER that young?” I asked Hayes that night.

“I know!” he said. “Look at us! We all had hair then!”

Of course, age is relative. IMN is 5 years old, which is like two or three eternities in Internet time, and still going strong. The performances demonstrated the diverse mindset that the forums have picked up over the years, with band members occasionally swapping between sets like a four-hour free-form session.

Jessica Benge opened up the show with her singer/songwriter prowess, and much of her band stayed on stage to back up Rahlo of the Black Soil Project and his unique free-form rhythms, somewhere between rap, poetry and spoken word. 19Clark25, with a little help from Gwen Noel, delivered heavy-duty country that came off like a mix between Southern rock and Hank Williams Sr.
State turned in the most dynamic performance — quite an accomplishment given the lineup — with a blend of late 1970s Bowie/glam rock and solid 1980s chords. RedHorse closed out the night with a thundering set of post-Pantera/Tool gritty metal.