I came across Rituals of Mine back in 2019 when they opened for Y La Bamba. I covered the night for Buzzbands. You can read that article here. I had specifically wanted to cover that set, because I ran across Y La Bamba in 2017 at the Music Tastes Good festival in Long Beach and really enjoyed their set.
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| Rituals of Mine at Zebulon |
Rituals of Mine was nothing like Y La Bamba. They blasted the ear drums with industrial rock sounds. Honestly, I was in a state of brief confusion while watching their set. Not so much about Rituals of Mine, but about Y La Bamba. I remember thinking that opening acts should somewhat complement the sound of the headliner, "Hmm, maybe I was getting Y La Bamba confused with another band I saw at Music Tastes Good?" When Y La Bamba came on, I had an internal laugh with myself. You can even see that in my review where I wrote the following about Rituals of Mine, "Was their pulsating sound even expected by the crowd that was there for the quieter tunes of Y La Bamba?"
The band's Spotify bio says the following about their sound, "Indie pop/downtempo r&b act." Was my initial impression of the band's sound wrong or has lead singer Terra Lopez mellowed out the sound over the years? Who knows, but the band did make an impression on me. In October, I happened to notice that the band was playing a show at Zebulon and so off I went -- my first time catching a live set since that 2019 date.
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| Rituals of Mine at Zebulon |
Her three piece backing band came up on stage and started off the set. Near the sound booth, Lopez said hello to the crowd before making her way towards the stage. The first song "Trauma" had those heavy beats that reminded me so much of that 2019 date. To show her Los Angeles pride, she wore a Dodgers jersey. Since this write-up is going up a few weeks after this set, I should mention that on a baseball timeline, the Dodgers were waiting to play the Brewers in the NLCS. On the back of her jersey, she pinned a cloth sheet that read, "Dismantle Colonial Borders."
She told her audience how happy she was that they were there, "It f*cking means the world. Especially right now when the world is so . . . doesn't make much sense. This sh*t [music] makes sense to me." With that, she touched her heart.
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| Rituals of Mine at Zebulon |
Throughout the set, she used the full stage, engaging with audience members throughout. "Come Around Me" had an R&B sound with lyrics that addressed the frustrations of life, "I don't have the time. I don't have the words inside my mind. I've got a 9 - 5." I suspect that many in the audience could related to those lyrics. "Ride of Die" emphasized her vocals. Based on the band's Instagram Stories that were posted from the set, that song was definite a fan favorite as I saw 7 or so reposts.
The set ended with "Devoted." The only song title that Lopez specifically called out. "Doing this has saved my life so many times. And it continues to," she stated before the band performed the song. The song started off with the sounds of a shofar (or just my interpretation of what I was hearing - many of her song lyrics do use religious words such as "prayer"). Half way through the song, Lopez walked out into the crowd to finish up the song with fans surrounding her in a loving circle as she sang out the lyrics:
The only
Proper longing, I'll be your devoted one
Partial Setlist: Trauma, 65th St, Come Around Me, Reflex, Ride of Die, Devoted.
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