MSM 90s Mixtape Week: Lava Room, Ghost River Revival
8/12/26
By Monica Collier
Whoa, y'all. I'm still coming down from last night's kickass MSM 90s Mixtape Week experience courtesy of Natasha Nix, Ghost River Revival, and The Lava Room. These guys really outdid themselves by curating a no skips two-set rock show worthy of our alternative heroes. Hell yeah they did.
The Tuesday night crowd of mostly baby Gen Xers and elder Millennials were in it for the long haul, too, even though it was a school night. Gotta love that. Showing up to work on a Wednesday with maybe four hours of sleep? Sure. No problem. Haven't you heard? We're old pros -- that's just how we roll.
The first set was so very good but the second set was my favorite. I wasn't drinking -- trying to keep my observational skills sharp, friends -- but the crowd's somewhat inebriated energy fed the room's electric vibe as the night progressed. After the intermission, it was as if (only) the hardcore old people remained and were ready to prove they could still hang. Good times, y'all.
I have a notebook filled with pages and pages of thoughts/my reactions to every single performance. Y'all! It was 30+ songs and pretty much 30+ different singers for each one. Maybe I'll write something for each and every performance at some point but for now, I just want to hit a few highlights.
Let's begin with the man himself, Russell MF-ing Mefford and his rendition of Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy." What a cool, chill, feel good sing-a-long. Pairing such a catchy earworm worthy song with our Fiddleworm king was pretty dang brilliant. Really good stuff. Highlight reel worthy, for sure.
Resden Webster's "Dog Man" closing out (next to last) the first set was absolute fire and kind of unexpected, too. Yes, please. Behind Russell's "Sex and Candy," Resden's was my second favorite performance of the first set. So so so perfect. In hindsight, King's X prepared us for what was to come post intermission.
The second set started with a slow burn bang and just kept building momentum. I am a complete sucker for Spacehog's "In the Meantime." A few songs into the second set, that one really made me sit up and take notice. Not only did Christian Turner do the song proud, he made it his own in a way that was so very Shoals-ified.
You know, I gotta mention our resident next level rockstar, Red Mouth. I'm a huge fan and nothing made me happier the entire night than him giving me ... I mean, us ... Mudhoney's "Touch Me I'm Sick." It made my night. That wasn't on my life's Bingo card. Such a treat. The Shoals is so cool, y'all.
The four-song homestretch closing out the night had me on my feet. Kristen Shores killed Garbage's "Only Happy When It Rains" and Jesus Christ at Mikey Ledbetter's version of Pearl Jam's "Jeremy." That next to last song was an absolute showstopper, friends.
Then it happened, the most perfect ending to pretty much any local show (such as this) that I've ever seen. Natasha channeled her inner Rage Against the Machine in a way I wouldn't even have thought was possible. I mean, I'm so all about her and her raw emotion and pure, honest talent but holy shit. This was a next level female version of a Zach de la Rocha performance. The room came alive and united in defiant energy. We were all loudly and vehemently protesting "Killing in the Name." Amen.
It was a beautiful school night, MSM buds. Faces melted all for the kids. Ahh. Behold the power of music.
Thank you MSM, Ghost River Revival, and Lava Room.
Dig Worms.
