I had such a blast shooting this show! I arrived shortly after doors opened and was hardy enough to be among the few who stuck it out after 1am and through the three (amazing and awesome and ridiculous) “just one more song, you guys” encores done by Mike Michel and Carnage the Executioner.

The condensed version: The Electric Fetus, a record store in Minneapolis, was damaged by a tornado on August 19, 2009. The store went into debt to pay for repairs to the damage it sustained and nearly half of its floor space was closed in the months after the storm hit.

The following bands came together to support the Fetus: Peter Wolf Crier, Cloud Cult, Roma Di Luna, Total Babe, Jeremy Messersmith, Caroline Smith and The Good Night Sleeps, Trailer Trash, Ruby Isle, Unknown Prophets, and Bill Mike Band with Carnage.

I took photos and I tossed them into iMovie and here you are, about to watch the silly little slideshow that I made.

Vimeo gives you the option of watching this slideshow in full-screen mode. You so totally should, yo.

The Electric Fetus Tornado Benefit at First Avenue from Meredith Westin on Vimeo.

Music: “Everybody Here Is A Cloud” by Cloud Cult, “Where Has Sally Gone” by Caroline Smith and The Good Night Sleeps, and “Shape Up” by Total Babe.

I’m not the only one talking about this show: Andrea Swensson of City Pages wrote a review of the show, Star Tribune did a write-up, Leslie Plesser posted photos at vita.mn, Staciaann Photography put together a slideshow, and howwastheshow.com posted some of my photos.