Culture Collide, the "melting pot" of Music Fests celebrating multicultural music and arts, returned to San Francisco with two nights of diverse shows at the Swedish American Hall and DSF Clothing company on October 1st and 2nd.
The budding Festival featured 17 bands in the city this year and Milo Greene from Los Angeles California headlined the show at the Swedish American Hall on Thursday night.
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| Milo Greene @ The Swedish American Hall 10/1/2015 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Resembling a cute Swedish cabin, with criscross wood pillars framing the wooden ceiling atop white walls, the intimate venue has a uniquely warm, inviting atmosphere that you don't find at too many other concert venues in SF. Doors opened at 7:00 and music started around 8:30 with the first of three bands, Over The Trees from Norway followed by Karate Dance from Ecuador at 9:30.
Dapper young professionals who couldn't find a free seat at the seated show, lined the walls, stairways and balcony,chatting and laughing amongst themselves until the headliners hit the stage.
The Indie rock quintet lined the stage and started right on time at 10:30 as scheduled. Usually when a show is listed as being an Intimate Evening With...it means that there's no openers and obviously this wasn't the case last Thursday night. Rather, Culture Collide presented Milo Greene in different light. As each member of the band took their seat, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was going to be an unplugged performance. It was that unplugged element and the setting that gave the show it's intimacy.
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| Milo Greene @ The Swedish American Hall 10/1/2015 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Known for being loud with a cinematic edge, they sounded flat out amazing stripped down especially with the venue's spot on acoustics. The absence of blaring guitar allowed the seamless harmonies of all 5 band mates to shine bright, gently intensifying their already immersive sound. They kept things causal with friendly banter between every song, getting fans to laugh along with them before captivating the room the with the next folk-pop song. Intriguingly enough, with band name which implies that they're a solo artist, Milo Greene effortlessly share the spotlight as "lead-singer". This isn't an easy thing to do as a band without completely changing the overall vibe but Milo Greene makes it work and it works really well for them.
It's refreshing to see a band really take the time to connect with their fans and not take themselves too seriously yet deliver a delightfully impeccable show. Culture Collide aims to deliver something new to every town the tour rolls threw and they hit the bulls-eye with this one.
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