Our news section is packed today with photos from last night, and we start at Brickway Brewery and Distillery, which hosted the Terrace Martin Social Club. HN contributor Randy Edwards caught photos of the evening, featuring a set by DJ Kethro, and a performance with Martin, his father Curly, Nate Asad of hip-hop duo Both and Mitch Towne of The Delve Trio. Martin is a Los Angeles-based producer and multi-instrumentalist, and has worked with several prominent artists including Puff Daddy, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Wilson, Raphael Saadiq and, most recently, Kendrick Lamar.

See Edwards’ photos below.

— photos by Randy Edwards

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HN multimedia intern Lindsey Yoneda traversed the dense crowd at Zoo Bar to catch photos of Omaha indie band Twinsmith, Iowa City band The Olympics and Lincoln folk rock band I Forgot To Love My Father [editor’s note: fronted by former HN intern JP Davis]. Last night was a tour send-off of sorts for Twinsmith and The Olympics, which have a few upcoming dates together. See Yoneda’s photos below:

The Olympics

I Forgot To Love My Father

Twinsmith

— photos by Lindsey Yoneda

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HN multimedia intern John Henry Theisen dropped by O’Leaver’s last night to catch night-two of Omaha rock quartet Rock Paper Dynamite’s September residency. It continues next week with Matt Cox and Sidewalkers (RSVP here) and Sept 24 with Kait Berreckman and Moses Prey (RSVP here).

See photos of last night’s performance below:

Rock Paper Dynamite

Clear The Day

— photos by John Henry Theisen

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A pair of first-time contributors — photographer Phil Stake and writer Laura Smith — hit Vega last night for a solo performance by the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle. The full band just released Beat The Champ, its 15th studio album, in April on Merge Records. Here are Smith’s review and Stake’s photos:

“As the lyrics “hold me up above the rafters, raise me high and let me go” escaped John Darnielle’s lips, the standing-room-only crowd of Vega fell silent. All eyes were captivated by the Mountain Goats frontman as the first notes of “Surrounded” rang out.

Last night was Darnielle’s first ever trip to Lincoln, and he was ready to make-up for lost time. Before beginning the second song he hesitated, glancing at a single piece of paper for recollection of the lyrics.

“I never listen to my own records,” he told the crowd. “I envy those with that level of self-involvement.”

Up next was a song about professional wrestling. Excitement rose from the crowd. “A lot of wrestlers in the house then?” he bantered.

“Werewolf Gimmick,” off the newly popular album Beat the Champ was on deck, an album about the complex world of wrestling and the wrestlers of Darnielle’s childhood. Darnielle told Lincoln Journal Star that for this this album, he wrote down a bunch of names – Luna Vachon, Bull Ramos, Ed Farhat – and thought, ‘hey, there’s a lot of stories with a lot of moods in this stuff.’ And from there, the album was born.

Heather McEntire, of Mount Moriah, took the stage first at Vega Thursday to open for her good friend. In high-waisted grey pants and a blue button down shirt, McEntire stood alone on the stage, with her only her Fender in hand. “I usually have guys with me,” she said, “but I fired them last week.” Mouths were agape as she quickly came back with “just kidding.”

Hailing also from Durham, North Carolina, this was McEntire’s first time in Lincoln. Her album Miracle Temple was released in 2013. Mount Moriah has a three-song 7-inch due out in October 2015 titled Calvander.

McEntire’s moody stage presence, mixed with complex, meaningful lyrics and a dynamic voice, bewitched the audience at Vega. After hearing dedications to her dog and songs about breaking up, McEntire complimented Vega for playing a friend of hers, Angel Olsen, over the PA while she warmed up. Her second to last song was dedicated to her wandering friend.

“She’s probably somewhere in Europe by now,” McEntire said.

McEntire dropped the guitar for her final song, belting out an acapella version of the heavy-metal influenced “Miracle Temple Holiness.”

Then came Darnielle. At one point, while sipping on a Zipline brew, he began to digress into a plot line for the next song, “Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece,” which he noted fell to the Beat The Champ cutting room floor.

“It had too much lag, people said,” he told the crowd.

Darinelle lowered his guitar to explain that the phrase “you are a rotten stinking mouthpiece” was a line from the move Indestructible Man, in which Lon Chaney Jr. plays a mute werewolf after being executed. Lon realizes he was set-up by his lawyers and spits the line at them.

Darnielle’s blunt yet docile nature allowed him to hold a magnetic stage presence over the audience. The set continued with “Michael Myers Resplendent” and “Dance Music,” Darnielle pausing only to ask the crowd, “am I singing too loud? I’m afraid people can’t hear themselves.”

His passion blanketed the whole venue as he slid behind the piano on stage. He began to tell the tale of one man’s quest to find his kidnapped friend – the crowd quickly realizing this hero is in fact Super Mario – and transitioned this goofy backstory into the song “Thank you Mario! But our Princess is in Another Castle.”

Darnielle picked up his guitar again to play classics “Grendel’s Mother” “Love, Love, Love,” and the newer “Animal Mask.”

As the clock struck 11 p.m., Darnielle began singing “Up the Wolves” and the entire audience began singing along, filling the venue with the mesmerizing lyrics “there is going to be a party when the wolf comes home.”

Darnielle might not have been coming home — considering he lived 2.5 hours from Lincoln for years and had only now ventured down for a show — but Lincoln sure made him feel like he was.

After taking the stage for three more songs after pleas for an encore, Darnielle ended the night by belting the lyrics “Hail Satan – Hail Satan tonight – Hail Satan.”

And with that, he left the stage, but not before uttering the words “Thank you for having me Lincoln. Good night.”

—Laura Smith; photos by Phil Stake

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Now, on to this weekend’s shows.

Tonight, Built To Spill plays Vega with Clark and the Himselfs and Lincoln’s Universe Contest. The Idaho indie rock band released its eighth studio album, Untethered Moon, earlier this summer on Warner Bros. Records. Entry to the show is $25. RSVP here.

Jazz composer and tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington makes his way to Omaha tonight to play Slowdown with The Delve Trio (formerly Luke Polipnick Trio). Washington has enjoyed an overflow in popularity in 2015 after three-hour, aptly-titled The Epic released in May on Flying Lotus’ label Brainfeeder. Pitchfork called it “an extravagant love letter” to soul jazz, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. This, after touring with Snoop Dogg and serving as a studio musician for rapper Kendrick Lamar’s hit LP To Pimp A Butterfly. Entry is $25. RSVP to the show here.

Saturday, No Tide will swing into Lincoln on their Midwest tour to play their de-facto home venue in Knickerbockers. Austin, Texas, punk band Thieves and Lincoln’s Letterbomb fill out the bill. Thieves and No Tide have shared the road on this most recent tour. Both are signed to Massachusettes independent punk label Take This To Heart Records. RSVP to the $5 show here.

For the rest of the weekend slate, head to our statewide calendar at hearnebraska.org/events. If you do not see your show or one you plan to attend, email us at news@hearnebraska.org, or add it yourself. And keep those song submissions, story ideas and news tips coming.

Out and about this weekend? Feel free to hit us up via Instagram and Twitter using our handle @hearnebraska. Happy show-going.