Local band SoulFlower made their headlining debut at Icehouse two months after their last performance at the venue.
Lead singer Inayah El-Amin, drummer Ezekiel Cowan, and guitarists Victor Wedden and Matt Greene danced in the crowd with family and friends to openers ChocVillah, LASALLE and GR3G played before taking the stage themselves.
“It’s funny, people keep telling me and the boys they’re excited for the set and I don’t know, maybe because we haven’t headlined a show and been who people come to see,” El-Amin said.
Eva Nisswandt was one of those people. The 27-year-old came from Eden Prairie to support SoulFlower.
“I live in an area that doesn’t have a lot of queer people or people of color,” Nisswandt said. “I’ve just been looking for excuses to get out into the city and be around people that are a little more my vibe. And I just recently started listening to SoulFlower and I really love them.”
Nisswandt said shows like this are reminders that every kind of person exists, and variety makes life more interesting and fun.
Opener William Strum, also known as ChocVillah, said shows like this are everything to him.
“I’m always grateful to get out, whether it’s a Monday night or a Sunday late-night where some people can’t make it,” Strum said. “I’m always happy to play music.”
Warming up the crowd with live mixed house songs, Strum encouraged everyone able to dance to take to the floor. One dancer was Zhané Jackson, a professional dance instructor and artist in the Twin Cities.
As a curator for the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s “City Hour” project, Jackson was drawn to the band through El-Amin’s lyricism. After watching their musical journey from afar, Jackson chose to see them in concert for the first time.
“SoulFlower was one of those artists that I had chosen, because I feel like (El-Amin) has so much dynamic, and she was extremely ethereal and just really sweet and has really progressed in her artistry,” Jackson said.
Performances highlighting local artists are important to Jackson. She said they’re necessary for connection and to be able to gather in spaces together without it being extremely high pressure.
“We’re open to whatever comes next and aligns,” El-Amin said.
