Editor’s Note: Paige Hanson is a Collegian staff writer.
On Saturday Feb. 24, the Queen of Hearts Booking held their first event at Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant and Bar in Amherst. Upon entering the venue, guests were encouraged to take a glow stick, a great addition to the neon aspect of the night.
The back portion of the restaurant was converted into a concert hall, with a small stage placed in the back and disco lights radiating across the room. Around 15 audience members huddled in small groups on the floor, many there as supportive friends of the performers. The show started around 9:30 p.m. and a few dinner guests lingered past their meal to enjoy the music as well.
The first performer to take the stage was solo artist Rickety Milling, previously known as Eric Miller. His bright orange shirt and large pink hair bow quickly caught my eye. After tuning his keytar and setting up a voice box, he jumped into a cover of “As it Was” by Harry Styles. The popular tune succeeded in attracting the attention of the audience. Rickety Milling was able to perfectly mimic the special effects in Styles’ version using the talk box. He called his first song a “very valid cartoon intro,” and brought a goofy and lighthearted presence to the stage.
His set was exactly right for a neon-themed event as his music elicited groovy dancing from the audience and captured the aura of the disco lights. He gleefully announced he was going to “play around with the talk box.” The way he talked to the audience gave the performance an intimate feel, as if he were performing for a group of friends rather than a paying crowd.
Towards the end of his set, he covered “Best Part” by Daniel Caesar and H.E.R., a more mellow piece compared to his previous setlist. The song had audience members singing along. The song, originally sung with passion and softness, had the same feel when revamped by Rickety Milling.
The next band to take the stage was Melovictoria. Vocalist Vic Grous immediately kicked off the set with a voice reminiscent of Riot Grrrl icons such as Courtney Love and Kathleen Hanna, an angry yet poetic sound. Grous moved freely around the stage, soulfully crying each lyric into the mic as she stood beside her jamming bandmates.
As she sang, Grous shouted “wake up, wake up!” which is exactly what she did to the crowd; instead of grooving to the music, a small mosh pit formed and watchers jumped and danced freely. Grous truly understood her audience of mostly college students as she introduced one song as “for all my mentally ill people.”
As the set progressed, Melovictoria jumped from each track to the next, leaving little silence in between. When drummer Aidan Cavanaugh broke into a solo, the other three members kneeled, allowing the lights and attention of the audience to focus completely on his rhythm.
Melovictoria also covered “Black Sheep,” a song originally by Metric but made famous by Brie Larson’s rendition in “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” another homage to the “mentally ill” members of the crowd.
The final band to perform was Noddery, a band composed of five University of Massachusetts students.
When asked about their sound, one of their two guitarists, sophomore environmental sciences major Jackson Williams said “This is always a hard question because we play so many different things, but our original stuff leans more towards alt-rock.” Noddery performed a combination of covers and original music. Sophomore kinesiology major and drummer Aidan Supranowitz spoke on behalf of all the members when he said “Runaway Baby” by Bruno Mars was the song they were most excited to play.
It was clear to me that Noddery was a family, and when asked about their favorite part of playing together, almost all the members chimed in with a joke. Sophomore journalism major and lead vocalist Paige Hanson confessed her love for her bandmates. “They’re really cool, they’re like my brothers.” And just like brothers, as Hanson spoke, Supranowitz ran off to do push-ups in an attempt to stay warm during our interview outside the venue.
Noddery opened with a cover of “Be My Girl,” by Jet, followed by an original song. Currently Noddery has one song out on Spotify, “Strides,” which they released this past summer. The goofy energy they radiated outside the venue remained present on stage. In a April 2023 article in the Daily Collegian, Shannon Moore wrote “Noddery shows no signs of slowing down.” Their headline show at Garcia’s and continued collaboration as a band proves her statement true.
Naomi Zwelling can be reached at [email protected].
