SHOWS // Tangerine @ The Regent
Photos by Sam Shimizu-Jones // Words by Misha Scott
I arrived at The Regent on Friday night just in time to kick the night off with Colleen Green‘s opening set. The resident LA badass got the crowd going with nothing more than a guitar, drum machine, and her signature shades–it set the scene for a night of serious girl-power rock ‘n’ roll.
An unusually high-school-leaning crowd packed The Regent and by the time Tangerine took the stage, the room was abuzz with a youthful and feminine energy. Tangerine, led by sisters Marika and Miro Justad – with Toby Kuhn on guitar – kept the vibe going as they launched into “Wild At Heart”, an invigorating anthem from their 2016 EP, Sugar Teeth.
The Seattle three-piece sounds like a fun mix of The Clash, Sky Ferreira, and Mazzy Star. Or like that magical moment at a middle-school dance where everyone forgets how cool they’re trying to be for a second, abandons the pretense of a stiff slow dance, and just starts to jump around. Coming mere days after a political shift that left so many of us in the room lost and reeling, it was a much needed release.
No one was having more fun than Miro Justad, the band’s drummer. Rocking electric blue hair and a huge smile, she frequently stole the show with her grooving rhythms and impressive drum-stick-twirling skills.
After playing nearly all the cuts from the Sugar Teeth EP, (as well as a well-selected smattering from previous releases) Tangerine wrapped up their set with sweetly adolescent pop gem “Feel This Way” and the optimistic windows-down-blaster “Nothing Better.”
As we waited for headliner SALES to take the stage, the air in the room was noticeably lighter. It was a potent reminder of the breezy and powerful magic that happens when pop music joins forces with rock ‘n’ roll.