Mikal Cronin

Near the front of the stage during Mikal Cronin's second of three Silver Dollar showcases, I met a roadie with one of the toughest jobs at NXNE. He was entrusted with kneeling down and holding Cronin's monitors in place during his high-energy, rambunctious sets. Throughout the performance, this roadie was bombarded with wave after wave of sweaty, shoving crowd members, undoubtedly bonking heads and bruising up in the process. It was a wonderfully rowdy performance, highlighted by tracks from his latest release MCII such as "Weight," "Am I Wrong" as well as older track "Get Along." At one point my chest got pinned down to the front of the stage. My white shirt is now stained with some strange stage grease, my knees are bruised and my ears are still ringing, but it was definitely worth it for Cronin's brilliantly fuzzy set. I normally take notes for the shows I'm reviewing, but for this one it just wasn't possible amidst the raucous crowd. Cronin plays one more time at the Silver Dollar for NXNE and if anyone hasn't had a chance to catch one of his sets yet, I highly recommend it.