Heads bobbed, a drumstick broke in half, a drunk girl knocked over stage props, and one bass player almost fell on a sitting fan.
On Friday, March 2, local musicians CAVE Women, Kapowski, and French Cassettes took over Modesto’s Deva Café for an evening of live music.
Off the Air, a production company committed to presenting live independent music in the Central Valley, hosted the show as part of its bi-monthly events.
“Hopefully everyone’s minds are so blown that they have to take all the matter and put it back into their heads,” Greg Edwards, head promoter for Off the Air, said.
The night kicked off with a performance by CAVE Women, a Sacramento-based pop-folk-jazz quartet. The girls played songs off their self-titled EP, and the live executions were every variation of great. Tunes such as, “Under the Willow Tree” and “Who Needs a Dream” turned the compacted venue into the space under a willow tree with the audience swaying in the breeze. Much to the fans’ delight, the quartet also performed a mellow, jazzy rendition of “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” by the Smiths.
Kapowski, an indie-pop group hailing from Oakland, were next to take the stage. The energetic foursome just about blew the lid off the joint performing songs from their album, “Boy Detective.” The crashing drums, vivacious bass-lines, alluring piano, guttural organ and dreamy vocals combined to create something that could only be described as perfection. The bassist, caught up in the band’s brutal performance, almost took out a fan sitting in the front row.    
“They were nerd-tastic! The music was great, really fun, and catchy,” Amanda Heinrichs, a fan, said.
The final band to perform was the San Francisco-to-Ripon indie-pop superstars French Cassettes, who stole the show. They played catchy numbers like “Radley” and “Dance” to a lively, dancing crowd.
“The French Cassettes were so fun that if I were an old person, they would make me feel young again,” Simone Jacqueline, a fan, said.
One particular girl found the French Cassettes to be especially fun—or rather, she thought the stage props were. The drunken girl incessantly hit the signs that were on stage. She was stopped after almost sending the props flying into the drummer’s drum set.
After a blithesome night of dancing, singing, and mind-blowing music, the show came to a close at about 11 p.m.
“You just can’t care what anyone thinks about you. You only live once. This is like an indie-rock church, and the golden rule here is to have a great time,” Edwards said.