Friday Night: Thao with the Get Down Stay Down at the Great American Music Hall

Joseph Schell

​Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Great American Music Hall
Friday, Feb. 5, 2010
Better Than: Thao, at the Treasure Island Music Festival.

It appeared that the entire population of Valencia Street had packed into a sold-out Great American show Friday night to see San Francisco's own Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. The group's front woman, Thao Nguyen, pulled off equal parts cute and baddass as she tromped across the stage in her cowboy boots, headbanging her shaggy haircut like she's possessed, while ripping it up on her enormous guitar. Thao's on-stage charisma is contagious, and her wild, energetic style feels very San Francisco. 

Considering the packed-in crowd of twenty-somethings ogling Thao from the dance floor, it was surprising to hear that she'd played for an audience of roughly four people for the band's last show on its European tour in Manchester, England. (Thao also mentioned that those four fans were all doing very distracting "noodle dances" while she was trying to get through her set). The group was clearly happy to be back on its home turf, and crowd members seemed happy to have them back.

Joseph Schell

​Thao and the Get Down Stay Down mostly played tunes from the latest album, Know Better, Learn Faster, but the group also threw in a few from its 2008 album, We Brave Bee Stings and All. Although Thao's songs are mostly catchy and upbeat, the lyrics suggest plenty of heartbreak and sadness behind those bangs. Thao prefaced her most booty-shake-inducing song, "Easy," the same way she does on the album, by saying: "This is a song about how sad people dance too."