Finish Ticket @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13

March 25. 2013 | By Bernadette

San Francisco fans piled into the Rickshaw Stop on Friday night to welcome home the Bay Area”s pop rock outfit Finish Ticket from their month on the road (which included a stop at SXSW), and to celebrate the release of their debut full-length album Tears You Apart.

Ghost & The City with Nikolaus Bartunek @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13
Ghost & The City

Ghost & The City @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13
Ghost & The City

We arrived for a set by Oakland-based Ghost & The City, a band fused with Motown soul and jazz. With a brass section giving us Cosby-esque realness, Ghost & The City burns sizzles through that Wall of Sound sound, full of percussion and horns swooping you up on a wild ride of emotions with songs like “Sweet Footed Betty” and our favorite “Call My Name.” Seeing these guys is like walking into an intimate jam session, especially seeing a stage packed with up to ten band members.

Holy Child @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13
Holy Child

Holy Child @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13
Holy Child

LA”s Holy Child made their San Francisco debut next. They had performed Thursday night with Finish Ticket in LA, and apparently the party was still in full swing on Friday. Vocalist Elizabeth Nistico is so spritely and bubbly, infusing a little of M.I.A.”s brassness and Lily Allen”s whimsy in her singing. We totally dig the sound that she and Louis Diller, who met in college in Washington, D.C., are lovechilding: check out “Diamonds On The Rebound,” featuring the sweet cherub public school kids singing us the hook, and the super-playful “Best Friends.”

Finish Ticket @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13
Finish Ticket

Finish Ticket @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13
Finish Ticket

Finish Ticket @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13
Finish Ticket

Finally Finish Ticket took the stage for the main event. The boys immediately launched into playing their album Tears You Apart. Can we just say that frontman Brendan Hoye”s vocals are saturated with such maturity, completely an anachronism with how young he and the rest of the band present on stage. We”re ready to hear the radio-ready anthem “In

The Summer” to become a favorite poolside and join the ranks of others like Don Henley”s “The Boys of Summer” or Miley Cyrus” “Party in the U.S.A.” Kind of just kidding about the last one. But the entire album is just a well-polished pop rock offering that is ready to dominate the airwaves. We”re excited to see what the rest of 2013 has in store for Finish Ticket.

Finish Ticket @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13
Finish Ticket

Finish Ticket @ Rickshaw Stop, SF 3/22/13
Finish Ticket

HIGHLIGHTS: Getting a dose of “90s nostalgia with Ghost & The City”s spot on cover of TLC”s “Waterfalls” with vocalist Kia S.”s deft handling of T-Boz, Left Eye, and Chili”s parts. And then another “90s throwback with Holy Child adding their own quirk to a cover of the Four Non Blondes” “What”s Up.” Damn, where was Finish Ticket”s cover?

Check out all the awesome photos from the night HERE.

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