Last night’s Ozaukee Nights installment featured two excellent and wonderfully different bands: Testa Rosa and Longacre. Longacre started the show with their pop rock and world music influence set. Both bands hail from the Milwaukee/Bayview area. Knowing nothing about the bands going in, we were surprised to discover that the two bands are, almost, one band. Drummer Damian Strigens also doubles as Testa Rosa’s guitar player, while Testa Rosa singer/songwriter Betty Blexrud-Strigens made a special appearance, as did drummer Jay Tiller. The band ended their set by handing out various percussive instruments to the children in the crowd who joyfully jangled along.
Testa Rosa ended the show with a brilliant set of mellow, yet swelling, rock, very reminiscent of The Breeders. A few songs in, Betty invited an old friend/band mate to back her on stage for a couple of songs, which added to the already flowing and spacious atmosphere they created.
We would like to thank Testa Rosa for taking the time to sit and chat with us for a bit after the show. It was a great night and we can only hope our edit does these bands justice.
Until next time….
