While Milwaukee as a whole is slowly beginning to come around to the wealth of homegrown talent making great music within our city limits, it’s still quite an accomplishment for a local band to sell out the spacious 985-capacity confines of Turner Hall Ballroom. The number of times the feat has occurred can probably be counted on one hand. The most recent such sellout came on January 9, 2016, when Milwaukee synth-pop stalwart GGOOLLDD packed the ballroom to the gills for its GOLD+ release show.
If you weren’t among the 900-some folks fortunate enough to gain entry to the crescendo of local love for this band on the rise, GGOOLLDD was kind enough to capture some of the unforgettable evening on film. This nearly 10-minute video follows throughout that early January night. It includes backstage footage of the band taking a pre-show shot together, singer Margaret Butler talking about her nervousness moments before stepping out on stage, live clips of the band’s performance, and (literally) uplifting shots of Butler being carried by the enthusiastic audience before a set-ending balloon drop.
This video’s release also comes just before GGOOLLDD takes a hiatus from playing locally to focus on writing and recording new material and touring. Before the temporary Milwaukee show moratorium, you can see GGOOLLDD close out night one of Gloss Weekend at Cactus Club on May 27, opening for Blondie at PrideFest on June 12, and opening for Passion Pit at Summerfest on June 30.