Victoria experimental rock band Mindil Beach returned to the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Feb. 18 to kick their shoes off and play for a good sized crowd.
Their last Lethbridge show in October was one of the highlights of the year.
They were having a lot of fun, kicked off their shoes and socks and started jamming and jumping around the stage.
This time they played just as well.
There was a little more groove and a little more rapping and maybe a little more ’80s influenced keyboard hooks, but plenty of tasteful guitar playing, catchy keyboards and a danceable groove keeping the crowd moving.
In addition to energetic indie rock, they also added elements of reggae and funk, sometime in the same song, seamlessly switching different genres and time tempos.
While I missed the first set, after almost every song in the second set they joked “This song is about meeting Ron McLean.”
One of many highlights was their beautiful instrumental “ All The Same Speed,” which segued into a cover of the Cranberry’s ’90s hit “Zombie.”
They didn’t play a lot of covers, but chose a couple of ear benders including one of pop singer Santigold’s “Disparate Youth.”
After ending their set with the punkish “ Love Like Mine” and the more funky “ Running Wild” from their new two song EP, they were called back for an encore, this time wearing their shoes for Hot Chocolate’s 1978 hit “ Everyone’s a Winner Baby” re-popularized in the ’90s by Bootsauce, and popularized again by Mindil Beach.