{"id":310533,"date":"2026-05-11T17:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/310533\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T17:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:15:20","slug":"joining-the-crane-wives-nest-in-house-of-blues-the-ucsd-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/310533\/","title":{"rendered":"Joining The Crane Wives\u2019 nest in House of Blues \u2013 The UCSD Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there is one thing indie rock band The Crane Wives are known for, it\u2019s their adoring fans. On May 1, The Crane Children lived up to the hype, flocking to House of Blues San Diego to hear music from across the band\u2019s five albums.<\/p>\n

The Crane Wives\u2019 whimsical, magical realism-inspired discography befitted the venue, its interior walls painted with spirals, stars, and cryptic, patterned imagery. In the sea of flower crowns and fantasy-inspired fits, The Crane Wives\u2019 cult following was immediately apparent. As merely a casual listener, I felt like I had infiltrated their lair.<\/p>\n

The lights dimmed, and we were transported into an eerie swampland bathed in blue light and buzzing cicadas. A person wearing a deer mask emerged from backstage and wordlessly placed four lanterns on the ground, then left as quickly as they had appeared. When the band members stepped out to stand in the circles of flickering light, a massive screen above their heads lit up to read \u201cTHE CRANE WIVES,\u201d set against the backdrop of lakes, stones, and estuary reeds. The first note of their opening song, \u201cStrangler Fig,\u201d was met with a delighted scream from the crowd, followed by a chant of each lyric, beginning to end.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Katelyn Brus<\/a><\/p>\n

During an instrumental interlude, guitarists and lead vocalists Emilee Petersmark and Kate Pillsbury ran to face each other at center stage, furiously picking and strumming in a tense duet. And so a bluesy, playful, on-and-off guitar duel \u2014 a quintessential part of The Crane Wives experience \u2014 began. Their frequent guitar battles grew in intensity with each song, overlaying a hard rock sound upon rich, crooning folk ballads. Chanted melodies like the visceral, foot-stomping \u201cBlack Hole Fantasy\u201d transformed the stage into nothing short of a sparring ground, backdropped by ever-present anthemic drumlines from Dan Rickabus and bass lines from Ben Zito.<\/p>\n

Even as those around me sang out every note to Petersmark\u2019s and Pillsbury\u2019s guitar solos, I didn\u2019t feel as isolated as I thought I would. This was not a moshing concert; it was a standing-and-admiring concert, and anyone ready to fully immerse themselves in the band\u2019s instrumentation and lilting vocals was welcomed with open arms. Some gazed up from the pit while others clung to the balcony bar above, ready to hit it to the beat of the band\u2019s most rock-heavy songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Petersmark and Pillsbury created a charming dichotomy from opposite sides of the stage. Kicking and dancing through each song, Petersmark was a live wire in contrast to Pillsbury\u2019s more grounded presence. Pillsbury\u2019s signature belt soared in \u201cQueen of Nothing\u201d as she sang straight to the audience members house right, who enthusiastically waved or threw up hearts with their hands.<\/p>\n

In response to the singers\u2019 infectious energy, fans fitted a chanting rhythm on everything from top hits to unreleased songs. During swelling rock anthems like \u201cThe Hand That Feeds,\u201d the audience sing-along turned into impassioned, rhythmic screams.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Katelyn Brus<\/a><\/p>\n

The crescendo continued until the lights-flashing, cymbals-crashing rock anthem \u201cSleeping Giants,\u201d when blue and red lights strobed down upon our dueling soloists. The audience begged the empty, lamplit stage for an encore until the lights finally dimmed again. In a brief moment of anticipatory, thrumming darkness, the venue held its breath before the four members stepped back onstage.<\/p>\n

Petersmark and Pillsbury\u2019s showdown culminated in the two jumping in synchrony to \u201cTongues & Teeth,\u201d hair whipping and guitar strings strumming. My fellow battle spectators and I shrieked and cheered until our two warriors fell to their knees center stage, each one playing the other\u2019s guitar in a moment of joyful chaos until Petersmark collapsed limply on the stage floor, defeated. Pillsbury stood victorious, smiling at the roaring audience.<\/p>\n

I walked into House of Blues not knowing what to expect, but I left the weird, fantastical world of The Crane Wives having laughed, cried, and screamed until my throat was sore. For The Crane Wives\u2019 devoted community, live music doesn\u2019t seem to be about getting the closest to the stage or knowing the most lyrics \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s about reveling in the sound, together.<\/p>\n

If The Crane Wives return to San Diego anytime soon, you will find me in the crowd \u2014 with a flower crown to match.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If there is one thing indie rock band The Crane Wives are known for, it\u2019s their adoring fans.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[12742,130298,26626,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-310533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-concert-review","tag-crane-wives","tag-house-of-blues","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}