I knew nothing about Jennifer Lyn and The Groove Revival prior to seeing them at the TAK music venue in Dilworth on Friday. But their tour was called The British Invasion—A Tribute to the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, and Beyond—and that was enough for me. I knew they were from Bismarck. I didn’t know they had been nominated for Independent Blues Music Award’s best blues rock album. Didn’t know they had a song which recently came tantalizingly close to charting at No. 1 on The Roots Music Reports Top 50 blues song chart.
Pre-concert I imagined there would be a number of familiar ballads in the set list. That, it became obvious, was not their intent. They started their 8 p.m. concert at 7:58, which should have been a tip-off. They weren’t here to play ballads. They were here to grab you by the lapels, shake you into submission, until you uttered the truth—there was nothing like rock ‘n’ roll music in the 60’s.
They chose to start with "Twist and Shout." On a scale of 1-10 for rock songs, that’s an 11. Where do they go from there, I thought? Where they went was two sets of what can best be described as a blistering, propulsive and exhilarating performance of the best songs that rock has ever offered. Over 30 classic rock songs and a handful of their own songs. Thirty-seven songs performed at a frenetic pace over more than three hours.
The vocals, the guitars, the keyboards, the drums—all of jaw dropping excellence. This band could be dropped into any venue—6th Steet in Austin, Greenwich Village, Memphis, Chicago, St. Louis—and this would be the draw. The bar hosting them would be dealing with lines around the block.
Their concert date in St. Paul is already sold out. They’ll be back in Fargo at the Fargo Brewing Company on June 2. Don’t miss it. Revival. Indeed. Preach, Jennifer Lyn and The Groove Revival. Preach.
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Gary Ficek is a resident of Fargo.
This letter does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
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