Reina del Cid @ Ophelia's 11Aug22

I had killer reserved seating for the Reina del Cid concert at Ophelia's Electric Soapbox yesterday. I'd have to say I was in the best seat in the house. I'd never been to this unusual small venue but I was on the bandstand level, center, above the mosh pit in my own stool located in a dedicated row right in front of the lighting & mixing techs probably 25' from the band. I was worried about the backless chair but was quickly able to co-opt the space behind me and lean back on the Jagermeister wall separating me from traffic. Comfort was good. There's a 2nd floor above the band and me which rims the edge of the lower floor and gives visibility of the bandstand from above - plus they watch an in house feed of the show on a big TV. Weird but fine. Food was very good actually; I had a keen prep of plantains with black beans and some other spicy stuff. Sound was just decent, not great but it was RdC so I was not too concerned ~ I heard everything well.

Even with a 9pm start time there was a significant opening act, Isadora Eden. She shifted with her latest efforts from folk to indie and I think she sounded like "dream pop" to me. Her band made weird sounds - especially her lead guitarist and her keyboard guy. She did six songs I could not understand, and her voice was not my fav... I think there's work to do there. Even the decor in the lavatory was unexpected... thousands of yardsticks from as many different vendors were planed nicely to fit together and adorned all the walls and stalls.

RdC brought Toni Lindgren of course but also Andrew on bass and Nate on drums... together with Rachelle Cordova these guys are Reina del Cid. Reina writes the songs, often sad lyrics but penned with upbeat music. On four songs just Rachelle & Toni played... one of these was all acoustic. They were very good but the concert had too many covers for my taste. Sure they do these all the time and do them well but I prefer RdC's original material most. It was ~90min set, fairly business-like and stuck right to her original set list. I was able to snag Rachelle's hand-written setlist from the stage after the show, as a souvenir. RdC's song-writing is very cool IMO and her voice is skilled and interesting, and she can play. Toni absolutely scorched her Jazzmaster throughout the show. She's quite amazing and regularly drew much applause. I'd have to say my fav tunes of the night were Expiration Date (sad love), Medium (written @ 15), This One's Gonna Hurt, Bernadette (about a ghost in her apartment), and What I'm Losing (about touring). I was surprised by a pretty light turnout; probably only ~125 were in the house at band level. Plus the tickets were cheap @ ~$25 so the gate was small. I would go again - and scream more unsolicited requests for originals; I know all the albums pretty well.

There were many good songs; I recorded Honey From A Bee...