Greenville, SC is a lively southeastern city due to tourism, great views, and great food, but the glue that holds it all together is the local art scene, especially local music. Monsoon is a two-piece band who hails from just next door in Athens, Georgia. Whenever they make a stop to visit Greenville, tickets sell and the room fills up with people who love their music to the moon and back. Yet again, in the midst of the hot summer and peak concert season, they’ve made another stop at Radio Room to make a 400 cap room feel quadruple its size.
Dressed Like Texas took the stage to kick off the night for the three bands who follow behind them on the roster, and their sound was as big as- well, Texas! From smooth, alt beats to with the occasional soul-bearing screams, to energized bridges with drum riffs that could’ve bustthe ceiling wide open, this local three-man band charged the night at Radio Room and teleported uptown South Carolina to the center of the Lone Star State.Curly Blue, another local three-piece band, followed up next. The room previously warmed up by Dressed Like Texas somehow got even hotter as the crowd sang and moshed along to indie-alternative jams.
Curly Blue fed off everything this crowd had to give them and the connection between artist and fan was so special to watch. Their energy was so infectious that not even technical difficulties could stop them. Curly Blue definitely knows how to grace a stage like they own it.
The final opener of the evening was a band called Pterry. I had the privilege of meeting the band’s lead vocalist before the show, who kindly offered me a free Pterry shirt just for covering their set ahead of Monsoon. Already, they had earned 5/5 stars by kindness alone before I could hear the first note of a song from them. But the moment they took the stage, they somehow earned 5 more stars on top of that. Pterry is one of those bands you take a look at and expect one sound and end up hearing something completely different. This band owns the room with alt-punk songs with a spare auto-tuned vocal here and there. Their music is the kind of music you want to jump around and dance and scream and roll around on the floor to, which is exactly what they did. It was such a pleasure to watch Pterry perform, and I believe they’re goingplaces with the brightest rockstar future ahead of them.
With the moon and stars high in the night sky just outside and a room full of anticipation for a headliner, Monsoon finally haunts the Radio Room stage once again. I’ve seen this band onmultiple occasions, including when I first started my journey in concert photography and they’d been one of the first bands I ever shot for when Radio Room was less than half its current size. Each time, I’m left entirely blown away. They are one of the best at captivating an audience,
drawing you in with haunting ambiance before knocking your socks off with “Walking Legs”. You’re instantly poisoned by this alt-rock band with energy & a sound lethal enough to kill. From “Ghost Party” to “Don’t Move” to “Red Blood” and even a few new songs from their next upcoming album, Monsoon are two generational performers with the talent, stage presence, and power that deserve to be headlining bigger stages all across the world. This band is a prime example of how important it is to support local artists and to give local music a try, because the world of music does not start and end with big-name artists who sell out stadiums and have billions of streams in their pockets. They all had to start somewhere. I can’t wait to watch Monsoon evolve and grow into something the world adores just as much as I do
Photos & Review by Caro Alexander.
