Sioux City Kid bring it on home at Great American Music Hall

Photos by Dani Padget // Written by Molly Kish

Dropping their second full length album Minutes, Miles, Troubles and Trials just a few weeks back, Sioux City Kid took the stage at Great American Music Hall 9/27 for their hometown album release party. Packing the historic venue with friends, family and fans alike, the band brought an eclectic cross section of the local music scene to their feet with a rollicking show of crowd favorites and debut tracks.

A half-seated event gave way to a fully active dance floor as soon as the homegrown headliners took the stage. Rambunctious and ready for action, the audience crowded in close, providing their own soundtrack of floor stomping, hoots and hollers leading up to the band’s whimsical entrance.

Sioux City Kid’s organist Jake Smolowe casually approached his keys as though sound checking, and he began playing a feverous rendition of “Maple Leaf Rag”. This segued into the full band entrance, where each member put their best Charleston foot forward, fingers wagging and hips shaking to the melody. With a trimmed down line up on the finishing leg of a shotgun West Coast tour, Sioux City Kid came in firing on all cylinders. Playing a bulk of the brand new album, some for the first time in a live setting, the band ate up the energy from the audience.

Soaking in the new material like an enthusiastic sponge, SCK had the audience dialed in from the sets’ opening notes. Front man Jared Griffin instructed the crowd to sing a-long, and the new material allowed ample time to both participate and actively gyrate with the characteristically elongated builds and breakdowns Sioux City Kid’s songwriting is known for. Vocals soared as both Griffin and front woman Laura Wiese commanded the stage show. They played off one another as only musical soulmates can do, all the while exchanging cheeky banter and naturally trading moments in the spotlight throughout the evening.

Griffin switched between playing both electric and acoustic guitar (with attached harmonica while Wiese wailed on her tambourine and directed the pace of the rowdy set. Equal parts musicians and performers, each member of this outfit could easily start their own solo gig, and several of them have already) — yet as a cohesive bunch, they are a force to be reckoned with. Creating a sound and overall concert experience that can both bring you to tears or cause dehydration through dance, it was an extremely intense and impulsively structured performance.

After downing a whiskey shot delivered from the front row, Griffin ending the show by breaking into some older favorites drenched from head to toe. A few slower ballads, a new cut off of MMTT sang entirely by the ferocious Ms. Wiese and a couple choice encore tracks delighted the long term SCK fan. A prolonged standing ovation cleared the band from the stage eventually, leading into a continued post performance dance party that was initiated and included several of the band members and their sea of fans and personal acquaintances.

More of a large family gathering than a detail driven performance, Sioux City Kid accomplished their goal of truly having an album release “party” to celebrate all of their hard work. SCK proved to pick up the pace for what will undoubtedly be an exciting future of touring behind the latest album. San Francisco was treated to a special show in a venue that may not be able to handle this band the next time they come back through.