Great Northern is an independent band with a lot of commercial success.  The second Los Angeles band of the night, they were glad to be back in California.  They looked crowded on stage as they set up, but soon everyone was in their place.  One band member had a long cardboard box and started handing out lights to others in the band.  The long slender lights lit up to a nice strong blue.  After these were in place they seemed ready.

The first song was good, though the backup vocals were too low.  The music drew a lot of support from the keyboard sounds and would do so for several songs which is not a crime, but something to note.  By the next song it was clear the drummer liked flipping his sticks.  He usually did it in between songs but there was at least one time he did so within the music.  A couple songs later they played one from their new record that came out...(singer Rachel Stolte paused, reaching for a thought) ...”not too long ago".  It was a good one and had keyboard effects that sounded much like a high pitch whale (a good thing). 

The next song was a mellow one that started with only the back up male singing.  The following song was even mellower where Stolte was on her knees, rocking side to side as she sang.  At the end her vocals without lyrics were not loud enough to hear, but did not take up a significant amount of the song.  This was followed by another soft piece of music that was started by the male singer that I personally enjoyed more than most of the others.  Before the next song the drummer either failed in a flip or decided he was done with a drumstick.  The stick landed at the edge of the stage but was taken by a fan in the blink of an eye. 

The following song had some nice slow building.  At a point near the end the drummer let us know the percussion was over by giving his legs a stretch and resting his feet on the bass drum.  There would be one more song though.  In a band member's words "One more, then night night”.  Right before starting the drummer repeated "night night" in a way that made me chuckle.  The song had many ending strums before finally finishing.  They were the yummy center of the night's delicious indie rock sandwich.