We're deep in Too Much Rock debt again. So, let's make this one kinda quick.

Matt Rice did his part to hurry things along, probably starting as scheduled at 9pm. I don't know exactly when he started as I didn't hear him begin – I was sitting out on the patio drinking a ginger beer at the time, and Rice is not a loud performer. When I walked in to check the stage, I found Rice with his acoustic guitar and gentle voice already several songs deep into a set of folky originals. His fingerpicking was stunning, especially during an instrumental that reminded me of Richard Thompson. Rice doesn't seem to promote his musical endeavors much – I found no list of upcoming shows, no hint of physical or digital releases, and no real social media presence – so if you want to experience Rice's voice, you're going to have to put your sleuthing skills to use.

Fritz and Sons was louder. The five-piece is led by vocalist/drummer Fritz Hutchison. You know him from a plethora of other projects, and you know his "sons" (guitar, pedal steel, fiddle/keys, bass) from just as many. Hutchison was in good form, chatting with the small familiar crowd. He explained an upcoming song was called "Baseball," before adding, "it's about fascism." I feel that. Most things are nowadays. His voice was relaxed as the quintet offered country-adjacent tunes. A few leaned hard into honky-tonk. One veered dangerously close to Jimmy Buffett territory. Come at me Parrotheads. The audience was asked to help determine the set list, forcing the rest of the act to scramble to find the right instrument or capo position. When Hutchison announced a song late in the set was in the key of B flat, someone in the audience shouted, "Finally!" Must have been a horn player. We have fun at Hillsiders.

It was 11:00 on the nose when Brendon Hangauer took the stage as Empty Moon. His backing band varies from infrequent performance to infrequent performance, but this time it was a quartet with lead guitar from Mike Tuley, bass from brother Patrick Hangauer, and reprising his role as drummer, Fritz Hutchison. While keyboards are often part of the mix, they weren't this time. Brendon's set drifted in the pleasant nether region between the indie folk of witty singer-songwriters and the precious indie rock that peaked earlier in the century. His lyrics came quickly, and many songs were expository. Refrains and choruses weren't always a given. There were few solos, but Tuley-offered leads were regular sightings. Much of the set was new. Some were sung with a big voice that recalled the reaching pushes of modern Conor Oberst, some merely loud to compete with the noisy crowd of friends enjoying a Friday night. The musicians matched that energy with a cover of "Hang on Sloopy" that was so shambling that anyone who heard it would have sworn the group was performing it blind drunk as a 3am encore. They were not. They were only having fun. We were all having fun. That's all that needs to be written.