Brady Schwertfeger plays a bass solo during the show. Schwertfeger is the learning management systems administrator for UM Online and UM IT.
Local indie band Arrowleaf celebrated the second anniversary of its album “Getting By” with a live performance at Free Cycles on Saturday.
As the sun set over Missoula, event goers sat outside and mingled by fire pits located outside the Free Cycles back room while members of Arrowleaf finished setting up their equipment on stage.
Founded by Bob Giordano in 1996, Free Cycles merges the passion of music lovers and bicycle enthusiasts.
Electric guitars lay on a table in a side room of Free Cycles tuned and ready for the night's celebration on April 15.
“We feel it’s important to celebrate [and] to bring people together so people can socialize and talk about things as simple as the weather but as big as, like, what’s the future of Missoula,” Giordano said.
The crowd dances enthusiastically as they are serenaded by the band.
This backroom gathering was a welcome treat for those in attendance as the medley of guitar work, bass lines and the occasional trumpet provided an opportunity for the crowd to “all become an aspen grove together,” said Arrowleaf songwriter Sarah Marker. Marker said it’s important for a community to grow together, like the roots of an aspen tree.
