Husky Rescue
The Rickshaw Stop; San Francisco, California
10/8/2006

Husky Rescue at ACL Fest 06 Photo: Cambria Harkey

It was a wonderful night.  The kind of night when you want all your friends to be there because you know they’re going to miss something great.  Husky Rescue stopped off midway through their west coast tour at The Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.  It was (for shame) our first visit to the Rickshaw....but let’s make that the first of many to come.  It’s a great venue to play or to go and dance, with great sound and an wonderful staff.  We also must confess to being fans of  Husky Rescue’s 2005 release, Country Falls, prior to the show.  So we wondered, can they actually pull off the atmosphere and gorgeous layers of Country Falls in a live setting?

We chatted with the band as they unloaded, just in time for the soundcheck.  Marko Nyberg (bassist & mastermind) is terribly charming and humble, while exerting a quiet confidence that suits the lush pop the band produces.  Reeta-Leena Korhola is a seasoned front-woman way beyond her years, and yes, she is just as stunning in person.  Any doubts of how well the songs would translate live was erased by the end of the soundcheck.  We found ourselves resisting the urge to clap.

So on to the show.  A room full of bodies did not muffle the fully layered sound we had heard earlier.  The band opened with "My Home Ghost," a single off their upcoming 2007 release.  Solidly played, it didn’t feel “new” and was the better of the two new tracks played.  "Summertime Cowboy" and "City Lights" were definite highlights, in our opinion their two strongest tracks to date.  Also worth mentioning was "My World," delivered with such sincerity it jumped off the stage with more force than the recorded version ever had.  "Sunset Drive" finished the set as the band stood with arms extended overhead at the finale.  Our mouths dropped open at the ballsy rockstar move, and from the looks on all the cheering faces, we weren’t the only ones who loved it. (Derrick McBride and Jill Jodar)