Photos by Daniel Kielman

Not to brag or anything (OK, totally to brag), but we throw one hell of a party. To welcome in the weekend of 2014’s Noise Pop, The Bay Bridged hosted a few of our favorite bands — and at least 100 now-close friends — at Bender’s on South Van Ness.

The lineup read like a Bay Bridged Class of 2013, starting with Blood Sister. Blood Sister, who played with Mikal Cronin at The Chapel the night after, put forth a fun collection of their slightly-askew rock ‘n’ roll as folks filed in and first rounds were bought. However, the energy of the evening peaked with Cocktails (a statement that, in this case, works in two ways). Cocktails, who released their first EP last year and are bringing bouncy power-pop back to the Bay in a big way, livened things up and brought a little bit of theatricality to the corner of the bar. With their exuberant spin on rock ‘n’ roll and an energetic stage presence, even in cramped quarters, they seemed bigger than the space could contain. By the end of their set, the place had pretty much filled up, and the sun had just barely started to go down.

The last to go was Future Twin, who took it down a notch. Future Twin, on record, swing back and forth between spacey psych and up-tempo almost-punk, but stuck to mostly a lower-key repertoire this evening. Singer Jean Jeanie has a great rock ‘n’ roll howl of a voice; a full-bodied rasp that fills up a room, even one that was packed to the hilt with bodies, beer, and burgers.

Overall, Friday’s Happy Hour turned out to be a nicely-curated, something-for-everyone lineup – but would you expect anything less from us?