Emily May 2/21/25 Emily May 2/21/25

Ian Fisher @ Zanzabar - Louisville

February 12th, 2025 : Ian Fisher & Band, Anna Smyrk, and Ian Abel @ Zanzabar - Louisville, KY

Singer-songwriter Ian Fisher and his band brought his Go Gentle Album Release Tour to Louisville, KY on February 12th, performing many of the songs from his recently released album Go Gentle. The album is both heartbreaking and beautiful, a tribute to his mother who died of cancer in 2023, as well as a moving commentary on death and grief. Although the crowd was modest on this rainy and cold Wednesday evening, it made the experience that much more intimate for those in attendance. Singing many songs from the new album this evening, such as “In Her Hand”, “Mother Please Forgive Me”, and “Tigress”, Fisher’s voice was both gentle and powerful, with him visibly embodying a range of emotions as he sang these songs. Although the songs at times had a somber tone, they were powerful in the emotions and messages they conveyed and Fisher and his band had fun together on stage and with the crowd. They even played an encore song at the insistence of the crowd, with Fisher asking with a laugh if we wanted something upbeat or if we felt like crying. Opening the show this evening was Ian Abel, a Louisville native who now lives in Nashville, who wowed the crowd with his rock/country vibe and, with his band mate Jesse, performed a short but lively set of songs that included killer covers of Heart’s "Alone” and The Cranberries’s “Zombie”. Australian artist Anna Smyrk performed, as well, with this being her first time in Kentucky and the U.S.. She really impressed with her beautiful voice and songs and will hopefully tour here again soon! It was a fun evening of music!

Anna Smyrk

Ian Abel

Emily May 11/4/24 Emily May 11/4/24

Mannequin Pussy @ Zanzabar - Louisville

October 18th, 2024: Mannequin Pussy with Margaritas Podridas @ Zanzabar - Louisville KY

Beloved Philadelphia punk/indie rock band Mannequin Pussy made a stop recently at Zanzabar on the second leg of their I Got Heaven Tour of the US. In their 14 years as a band, they have garnered a devoted following of fans, as showcased by their sold out show this evening. Zanzabar is also a bar, restaurant, and arcade, giving people plenty to do while they waited, with the stage/performance space being off the bar area in a separate room. Many fans lined up in the bar area before doors this evening (myself included), with the venue filling up quickly once doors opened. From front to back and side to side, there were fans filling every inch of the performance space with a fun and electric energy. The band released their latest album, I Got Heaven, this year and started off their set with “I Don’t Know You” from the album. As the band took the stage, the crowd went wild with enthusiasm and excitement-a long awaited moment for many finally happening! I could hear some people standing next to me talking about how it was their first time seeing the band and how happy they were, jumping up and down and singing and dancing as the band started playing.

The band is comprised of Marisa “Missy” Dabice (singer/guitar/bass/keys), Kaleen Reading (drums), Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass/vocals), Maxine Steen (guitar), and touring member Carolyn Haynes (keys/guitar/backing vocals). Dabice is a force to be reckoned with on stage, dancing, screaming, and engaging heavily with the crowd. She early on told the crowd that despite the stereotypes about KY, some of the most beautiful and creative people she had ever met were from KY and that she never judged people here by our political representatives (giving a big FU to Mitch McConnell). There were several moments during the show when she would lean into the crowd and sing with the fans, or hold the mic out for her fans to sing parts of songs, much to their delight. She talked quite a bit about many topics, from religion and how it is often used as a way to control people, to reproductive rights, to freeing Palestine, to the negativity surrounding the word pussy (and having everyone scream it). She talked also about how, despite all that is happening in the world, people are supposed to just swallow their anger and their rage, but how it’s not healthy to let it fester and sometimes you just have to let it out and scream. She then, in a very cathartic moment, directed everyone to scream as loud as they could! Towards the end of the set, Regisford gave a shout out to all of the Black and Brown members of the audience and their struggles, criticizing the poiice and saying how someday maybe we will all be free. Performing several songs from their new album, they also performed several older tracks such as “Denial”, “Anything”, “Everything”, “Emotional High”, and “Romantic”, which they ended their set with. It was clear after the last song that the crowd wasn’t ready to say goodnight, and a fan next to me was giddy with excitement when Dabice handed him set list that had her lipstick on it from where she had kissed it before the set started. Mannequin Pussy always put on a show filled with a fun and a furious energy that has everyone feeling good!

Opening the show was Margaritas Podridas, from Hermosillo, Mexico. They quickly got the crowd warmed up and dancing. Despite singing in Spanish, the music spoke for itself, blending the sounds of shoegaze, college rock, punk, and grunge. With driving guitar riffs from guitarist Esli Meuly, soft, yet powerful vocals from Carolina Enriquez, and pounding drums from Rafael Armenta, the band released their debut album Porcelain Mannequin in 2018, followed by their self-titled second album in 2021. They definitely received a warm welcome in Louisville this evening.

Margaritas Podridas

Emily May 9/12/22 Emily May 9/12/22

Charlotte Sands @ Zanzabar - Louisville

September 6th 2022: Charlotte Sands, No Love For The Middle Child @ Zanzabar - Louisville, KY

Charlotte Sands - Photo & Write-Up Courtesy of: Emily May

Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and pop artist Charlotte Sands performed recently in Louisville, KY for the first show of her very first headlining tour! Her fans lined up well before doors opened in an effort to get as close to the stage as possible. It was a perfectly intimate setting for the evening, as Zanzabar is a small venue, with the crowd of fans eagerly awaiting her set this evening. I could hear many of her fans near me talking about the shows they had to been to previously and which shows they would be attending after Louisville, and the love with which they spoke about Charlotte is a testimony to just how much she means to her fans. Opening the show this evening was No Love For The Middle Child (Andrew Migliore), a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and emerging indie alternative artist based in LA. Having released several singles and a couple of EPs over the past 3 years, the most recent being his EP Nightmares released this year, he sang a fun and energetic set of songs and had the crowd dancing in no time! The rapport between he and his drummer and DJ was super fun, a rapport that spilled over towards the crowd and had everyone in high spirits. A classically trained cellist, he brought out his cello for a bit during their set, which made for a nice moment. They were a great start to the evening and even signed a few things for the fans at the front after their set.

Next up was Charlotte Sands. Having only seen her once before at this year’s Forecastle Festival in May, I was excited to check out her set. What struck me right away was what a lovely and genuine person she is and how much she truly loves and appreciates her fans, even recognizing a few that were at the stage and waving to them. Starting things off with “Tantrum”, “Bad Day”, and “Special”, she is a bundle of energy on stage. From bouncing around the stage, flipping her signature blue hair, and standing, sitting, and kneeling on two lit up boxes sat at each side of the front of the stage, she was incredibly engaging with the crowd throughout her entire set. Early in the set, and often throughout, she reiterated how happy and grateful she was for her fans’ support and for everyone who came out this evening, joking that she was probably annoying everyone with with how much she mentioned it! She also mentioned how grateful she was to be playing the very first show of her very first headlining tour here in Louisville, only one of three headlining shows she had performed up until this point, and that this show would always hold a special place in her heart. She humorously told the crowd that as an opener, she was used to being the hype girl that got everyone ready for the headlining act, so this was a really special night. With plenty of rocking moments, as well as some more stripped back moments, she really poured her heart and soul out on stage.

She chatted quite a bit with the crowd about the meanings of her songs, such as “Rollercoaster” that she wrote quickly while on tour previously with YUNGBLUD. Performing other hits this evening such as “All My Friends”, “Keep Me Up All Night”, and “Every Guy Ever”, she said that she might sing about how love isn’t real and doesn’t exist, but that that’s not really true because she could feel it in the room this evening. She sang a couple of acoustic songs this evening with drummer Danen Reed on guitar, singing “Want You Like That” and “Love and Other Lies”. She said that one of the perks to playing a headlining tour is that she had the time in her set to play the songs and do the the things she usually didn’t have the time to play or do in a short opening set. Ending the evening with her hit song “Dress”, she gave the crowd a really fun night of music, singing, and dancing and left everyone feeling really uplifted and buzzing with the positive energy and gratitude she exuded this evening. I’m glad I got to see her in such a small and intimate setting, as she will probably be playing larger venues on her next tour, as her popularity will no doubt keep growing!

CHARLOTTE SANDS

NO LOVE FOR THE MIDDLE CHILD

Emily May 4/9/22 Emily May 4/9/22

Adia Victoria with Lizzie No @ Zanzabar - Louisville, KY

Nashville-based artist Adia Victoria brought her current tour to Louisville recently, performing at the cozy and intimate venue Zanzabar! Always drawing a great crowd when she performs in Louisville, this evening was no different. Opening the show this evening was New Jersey singer/songwriter/harpist/guitarist Lizzie No. There is something so powerful in the simplicity of a singer on stage with just her guitar, her harp, and her voice, and she had the crowd silent in rapt attention as she sang. It was apparent to me from her first song that she is a storyteller, weaving songs about her family, fun things like taking a much needed vacation, her love of Mythology with her song “Narcissus”, and more serious social justice issues surrounding Black lives, such as “Killing Season”, about white peoples’ insatiable urge to come after Black people, and “Sundown”, a benefit track she wrote for Black Lives Matter. Along with having songs that tell stories, Lizzie No has a great sense of humor and chatted a lot with the crowd between songs. Talking about a song of hers that was the closest thing she had to a love song, she told the crowd how people had told her that they danced to it at their wedding. Making a jokingly cringy face, as her relationship with this person didn’t work out, she said that art is in the ear of the beholder and joked that she would be happy to attend peoples’ weddings…not to sing, but to judge for herself whether or not the relationship would work out, which got quite a few laughs! She took a moment during the set to talk about how happy she was to be out on the road with Adia Victoria, whom she considers a hero of hers. She put on a fun and incredible set and I have no doubt she made many new fans this evening!

Next up was Adia Victoria, who is a force to be reckoned with on stage. Having recently released her incredible new album Southern Gothic, she and her band performed many songs off of the album this evening. Starting things off with “Dixie”, Adia truly feels the music as she sings, moving her body with the music and staring out at the crowd with wild eyes and stomping feet. Telling a story about her signature red boots, she told the crowd how she loos down a lot when singing the blues and that her grandmother bought her her signature red boots so she would have something pretty to look at and remember her power. Also mentioning the pearls she was wearing on stage, she talked about how she was told it’s ok to curse, just as long as you look like a lady while you do it! She then asked if someone who works at the venue could bring her a shot of bourbon, since she was after all in Louisville! She talked quite a bit throughout the evening, telling the stories behind her songs and joking with the crowd, making for both a serious and lighthearted set. If there is one thing that is very apparent at an Adia Victoria show, it is how much she loves the Blues. She talked a bit about her love for the Blues and how with the Blues, nothing is off limits or taboo. It lets us see all of the parts of ourselves…the parts beneath the surface that aren’t fine and that it is ok to not be fine. She went onto say, “If anyone else in the crowd is a Christian school survivor, I see you”, before launching into “Whole World Knows”.

About halfway through the set, she did a cover of the 1940 blues song “Parchman Farm”, originally by Blues singer Bukka White, in the style of Bobbie Gentry, one of her musical icons. Telling the crowd how she loves being from the south (South Carolina), she said how people in the south know how to tell stories and turn sad shit into gold. She later talked about how the tour is called the “Ain’t Killed Me Yet Tour” and how women like Nina Simone and Fiona Apple taught her that her life is hers and the only thing she can count on and that as long as she continues to be present in each moment that she’s not done yet. She went onto to talk about growing up in the evangelical church and how it messed with her head and made people scared of death, but taught that if you are good you can go to heaven and fly around in the clouds. She re-enforced her loves for the blues, in that the Blues made it comfortable to talk about death, that her pleasures and flesh were hers. She went onto perform an old Blues cover of the 1933 song “You Was Born To Die”, paying homage to her southern Black ancestors. Ending her set with the only song she released in 2020, “South Gotta Change”, it was a song she says she wrote in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the death of John Lewis. In speaking truth to power, she said she wrote the song to open her mouth and speak her truth, and that nothing changes unless we make it and how it’s time to start telling the truth, the ugly truth. After leaving the stage briefly, Adia came back out by herself to sing one more song, a song she said a woman must sing by herself. She talked about being a French major in college and studying abroad for a bit in Paris, spending the summer there working on her French and hanging out with French men. When she returned home, she found that when it came to men and women sowing their wild oats, women get shamed but that she wasn’t going to play that game. She talked about how she had fun in Paris and was not ashamed. She dedicated her final song of the night, “Heathen”, to all of the women out there who know they have the right to bodily autonomy. It was a great night of music, laughs, and storytelling that had the crowd engaged throughout both artists’ sets! A magical night indeed!

LIZZIE NO

ADIA VICTORIA

Photo Ladies 3/14/19 Photo Ladies 3/14/19

All Them Witches with Plague Vendor @ Zanzabar, Louisville, KY

Photos and words by Emily May | March 5th, 2019

Nashville rock band All Them Witches, who are currently touring in support of their latest album ATW, performed recently in Louisville, KY. Having amassed a loyal following over the past 7 years, the band brought a lot of fans out on a Tuesday night, performing to a packed house. Drummer Robby Staebler, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Charles Michael Parks Jr. and guitarist Ben McLeod are all incredible musicians, showcasing their respective talents throughout the evening. Each member showcased their talents through solos and long instrumental segments during their set, which kept the crowd upbeat and in high spirits. Although Parks sang on many of the songs, the band jammed for much of their set, energizing the crowd and eliciting a lot of cheering and applause, with many of the fans staring on with giddiness and excitement. Parks chatted a bit with the crowd throughout the evening but kept talking to a minimum during the band's 90 minute set, with the band focusing mostly on their playing. With moody and ambient lighting, great music and a upbeat, electric energy throughout the venue, it was a really amazing set.

All Them Witches is currently touring with LA rock band Plague Vendor. Part punk rock, part rock and roll and 100% fun, Plague Vendor was the epitome of a good time on stage. Singer Brandon Blaine was a powerhouse on stage. Dancing and engaging the crowd for the band's entire set, he often stood at the edge of the stage, holding his mic stand into the crowd to lead them in sing-alongs and got into the crowd to sing amongst the audience members. They got the crowd dancing and the energy flowing, ensuring that everyone was ready for All Them Witches. It was a really great night of music.

Photo Ladies 11/1/18 Photo Ladies 11/1/18

The Sleepwalkers with Camp Howard @ Zanzabar // Louisville, KY

Photos and words by Emily May | October 16th, 2018

Richmond, VA rock band Sleepwalkers recently toured in support of their debut album Greenwood Shade, making a stop in Louisville, KY.

The band performed to a decent crowd for a Tuesday night, getting everyone dancing with their fun and energetic stage presence. Brothers Austin (bass/vocals) and Michael (guitar/vocals) York are incredibly personable frontmen, chatting with the crowd and making everyone laugh throughout the evening. The band interacted and had fun with each other and with the crowd during their entire set, with it being obvious that they love performing for their fans. They had frequent jam sessions throughout their set, showcasing their talents as musicians. It was a fun evening of music and dancing! Fellow Richmond indie rock band Camp Howard opened the show!

Sleepwalkers