I do this thing when I’m a little bit late for something, order where I tell myself “Oh whatever, troche it’s only a few minutes, medical I’m sure I’m not missing anything.” I did that Sunday night on the way to this house show, and the moment I walked into the door I immediately felt terrible. I felt terrible because after experiencing a couple seconds of Rick Maguire’s set, I wished I had sprinted the entire way there and seen the whole thing from the beginning. He sat facing the room like the captain of a ship, and his songs dipped and rose with more energy than any of us could have expected from a single person with an acoustic guitar. We were all silent, huddled together sitting on the floor hoping everyone in the house could squeeze in, praying our friends stuck out in the hall could hear Rick’s every word.

Still worked up over Rick’s set, we moved down to the basement where We Can All Be Sorry knocked our socks off with some sleek tunes. It was the first that a few of my pals had seen of them, but we were all immediately excited by their set. More than once while dancing around, we looked at each other and mouthed “I love this!” under the comfortable pull of their dreamy, playful pop melodies.

Before we could catch our breath from “ooh-ing and ah-ing” over We Can All Be Sorry, Frankie Cosmos stepped up bat and kept our undivided attention with strange melodies, warming lyrics and goofy stage antics. It was hard not to dance a little in the crowded basement, we were constantly bumping into strangers and tripping over guitars, but too moved to stand still. Although Frankie Cosmos’ Greta Kline has a soft, sweet voice, her stage presence and musical intuition is indicative of great substance. The songs are beautiful, but it’s a kind of beauty that is shaped by times of heavy heartedness. While the rest of the members of Frankie Cosmos joined the audience, their drummer, the great Aaron Maine stayed, picked up a guitar and busted out some of his own songs (you may know his work released as Porches). At a lot of house shows, the energy seems to drop by the fourth artists but Aaron kept the vibes steady. Although he was often alone, or only accompanied by Greta of Frankie Cosmos, his songs filled what little space was left in the packed basement. There’s something sensitive but practical in the way he delivers each line, it was apparent that he meant everything he sang, but he didn’t try to flaunt complexity or pretention.

So by now it’s getting late. We’ve been standing for a while. It’s crowded inside and freezing outside. It’s a Sunday night. But we didn’t budge or eye the door, because it was time for ACLU Benefit to play.

For those who hadn’t experienced ACLU Benefit before, and those who have, his set was absolute magic. His set combined honest songs, sing-alongs, and personal stories (like being his friend who killed himself for Halloween and antics with Amanda Palmer) into an engaging, meaningful 20 minutes. I’d like to take a moment to apologize to everyone who saw me bawling my eyes out during his set- the dude just GETS it. There’s something about his performances that acts like medicine to his audience, he’s somehow smart without being snobby, sad without being self-indulgent and heart-warming without being cliché. Put simply: ACLU is refreshing to everyone except apparently the actual ACLU who is apparently not too thrilled with the moniker

Before we ventured back out into the frightfully cold night we hung on for one more surprise act- COWBOY BAND ended the night with a bang and a half. It’s hard to match their energy, enthusiasm and sense of fun. The songs were short and we all wished the set was longer, but COWBOY BAND lifted any spirits that could have been dwindling from the highly emotional moments that came previously in the night. We were tired and distracted by the white noise of our lives, but the strong good vibes at this show (the location of which will remain a mystery) were strong enough to break through all that junk. It was cold outside but warm in that basement.