Sleepy Gaucho Captivates Cactus Club Crowd at Sold Out Release Show
It didn’t take much for Sleepy Gaucho and Motel Breakfast to send Bay View’s Cactus Club into a frenzy, but they were certainly up to the task during their sold out show on Saturday night. The room was filled to capacity, with music lovers of all backgrounds appreciating the lively atmosphere that both bands created.
The night began with Motel Breakfast, whose sound could best be described as “drinking music,” but if you need a genre, indie folk will do. The Chicago-Milwaukee hybrid act are powered by a stomping beat and earnest, humble vocals that made their Left On Deming EP so appealing. The energy picked up throughout the set, with the band reciprocating what was given to them from the Cactus Club faithful. The band knows how to engage a crowd, and they did so mightily.
The night, however, belonged to Sleepy Gaucho, led by frontman Andy Goitia. The project infuses the twang of americana with the influence of indie rock, and the roughly hour-long set felt like the fruition of a record that had been years in the making. Cuts from Morning Light sounded almost sped up when recreated in the live setting, again a byproduct of a lively crowd. Goitia had a tranquil presence on the microphone, while his band helped bring the well-written material from the album to life with a textured mix of guitars and atmospheric elements.
You could see that, internally, he was beaming at the chance to play this material live, while mostly holding it together to match the chilled out ambience of the record while onstage. A few appreciative smiles were able to be cracked, but the real celebration of Morning Light was the on-point performance from the band.
The combination of Motel Breakfast and Sleepy Gaucho, while it was certainly an in-demand concert, felt like a collection of best kept secrets in the Milwaukee music scene. Both acts are capable of big things, and both were able to display that potential at Cactus Club.
All Photos by Lily Shea
Thank you to Allen Halas from Breaking & Entering + Shepherd Express for the write up.
