A momentous night in local music took place two Fridays ago, at the time of this writing. Even with the recent deluge of solid events in our fair city of Columbus, this show will likely remain firmly implanted in the memory of many for months to come.

The show was headlined by Captain Kidd, who claim dual hometowns of Cleveland and Columbus. Sadly, their set was plagued by technical difficulties and awkward transitions but the band yet expressed a fervent desire to make the whole room dance. And they did – and then some. The only crowd surfing of the evening occurred during Captain Kidd’s set. Old favorites like “Freaky Love” made appearances as well as recently premiered songs like “Mesmerelda.” My favorite part of their set, personally, was a cover of Phoenix’s “1901,” a quintessential alternative party song. A valiant effort was made to overcome the hiccups and I look forward to catching the guys again.

The support for the evening was quite solid. The Wet Darlings provided direct support for the evening. The crowd was semi enthused comparatively speaking with the other performers but they sounded good. Given the hype behind Captain Kidd’s EP, I thought it was appropriate to include a Columbus staple in this show.

Friends Joey Hendrickson (and his cohorts the Sleepless Nights) and his friend Isken Cosip performed back to back sets that easily could have been their own show – given the difference in spectators from this point in the evening to when Captain Kidd took the stage around midnight.

Cosip performed, flanked by a full band, sunny John Mayer/Jason Mraz inspired pop. Interestingly, original Wolves at the Gate drummer David Nestor was helming the percussion. Cosip make ladies swoon and dudes nod their heads approvingly at his shredding skills (or at least I hope this was the case). Friends Jake Barry and Andrew Bashaw held their own on bass and keys respectively, and were the recipients of several shout outs from the onlookers.

If any act stole the show, it was undoubtedly Joey Hendrickson and the Sleepless Nights. Even though he’s a good friend – Joey is still somewhat of an enigma. How can a man with his hands in so many projects kill it the way he did? With a seven person onstage lineup consisting of Orion DiFranco on mandolin, Emily Moss on cello, Laura Greene on backing vocals, Kristen Peters on violin, Nate King on drums, and Jason Fullen on bass the set was destined to melt faces in classy way. If the word shred could be applied to violin playing it would certainly apply to Peters – her docile offstage demeanor gave way to a badass stage presence. Hendrickson jammed to the point of bloody fingers from rocking his guitar too hard. Rock n roll, people.

All My Sons opened the show to a semi sparse yet still engaged crowd. Vocalist Anthony “Monday” Lazungad is clearly one of the more talented in the city, displaying a rare mix of ability and charisma. He preferred to strut around the stage wielding the top half of his mic stand. The band displayed solid songwriting skills as well as commanding stage presence.

Here’s a video of Joey Hendrickson’s opening song:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez2gFGlokjk&feature=youtu.be&h=297&w=450]