Milwaukee rock trio Diet Lite light up Vivarium at album release show

After smashing the kit for a couple songs, Diet Lite‘s Evan Marsalli took the briefest of breaks to stand up and subtly gesture with his fingers for people to come closer.

It seemed the fans at Vivarium felt they had no other choice but to oblige.

That moment at the Milwaukee rock trio’s 90-minute set Nov. 21 encapsulated the band’s greatest strength. Contrary to the name, there’s nothing light about the Diet Lite. Marsalli, and guitar-and-bass and-lead vocals-swapping frontmen Max Niemann and Kelson Kuzdas, put on such an intense, exhilarating set you can’t resist being drawn in.

That made Diet Lite the perfect first band to highlight for the Journal Sentinel’s new Local Beat column, covering Milwaukee artists in concert. And this was the best time to catch Diet Lite in action on stage. The band on Nov. 14 released their fifth full-length album “Double Wide Yukon,” with this show at Vivarium serving as the official release party.

And no, it’s not a double album, and in Diet Lite’s case, at least at this moment, that is a good thing. Across 13 songs and 30 minutes, this is the trio’s most impactful album, start to stop, with barely any dips in momentum. That relentless energy, Diet Lite’s sweet spot, was even more evident on the Vivarium stage with “Yukon” performed front to back.

After Marsalli reeled in fans with his hand gesture during third song “I Know,” he rewarded them by speeding up his drumming, an impressive feat considering he had seemingly been pounding full throttle from the jump.

With exasperated faces and guitar-swinging, stage-stomping heroics, Niemann personified the bursting attitude of “It’s All Too Much” and “Swingin’ For The Fences.” It was a full twenty minutes into the set, during “Tin Widow,” that the trio for the first time slowed down the tempo with a two-minutes of stoner grooves – only to follow it up with their fastest, most visceral jam of the night.

After that Niemann and Kuzdas swapped instruments and lead vocal duties, the latter proving to be every bit as charismatic and animated as the former fronting the band, especially during the album’s penultimate track “Devil in Deed,” with Kuzdas unleashing a wicked guitar solo. It was preceded by a short largely instrumental track with a name we can’t print in this family publication, whose existence reinforces Diet Lite’s juvenile irreverence. And that’s all well and good. You can search your soul listening to other bands. Diet Lite is determined to give you a good time, and at Vivarium, they delivered.

Once “Yukon” came and went, the band continued the set revisiting past material with stage-loving gusto. A highlight at this gig was “Madison City Parking Ticket Groove,” from their 2023 album “Into The Pudding” that cemented Diet Lite’s status as one of the local scene’s premiere rock bands. At Vivarium, the sprawling rocker was supplemented by some tangy lap steel from a friend. Another highlight: a rollicking cover of the Kinks’ “Picture Book” I’d reckon inspired some fans to dip into the classic rock band’s catalog.

By this portion of the set, the fans up front were regularly throwing themselves into each other for some playful mosh pit action. And before the night was over, merely being in front of the band for some simply wasn’t enough. Several fans helped themselves onto the stage, to get as close to Diet Lite’s infectious energy as physically possible.

Three takeaways from Diet Lite’s Vivarium concert, including opener, Milwaukee band Fellow Kinsman

• The stage ceased to be a barrier for the night’s second opener, punk band Pat and the Pissers out of Indianapolis. The stage flooded with fans at one point, drawn in large part by the undeniable in-your-face charisma of frontman Alex Beckman (yep, he’s not Pat; the band name is a reference to a friend).

• Nate Kinsman’s garage rock outfit Fellow Kinsman has been relatively quiet on the music release front the last few years, aside from two singles that dropped over the summer. But their kickoff set Nov. 21 suggested once they have more new music to giet behind, they’re poised to give the Milwaukee music scene a thrillingly rude awakening. Rounded out by Cleo Jackowick, Will Hansen, Erin Bagatta and Duwayne Davis, Kinsman threw curveball after curveball stitching together electric, eclectic elements – wavy surf guitar, Clash-inspired drive, early aughts indie rock drum fills – building up to an epic jam rock finish.

  ADVERTISEMENT

• Diet Lite also brought out a special guest after the front-to-back album portion of their set – cult poet Thax Douglas, who for decades has read poems at shows in Chicago and Wisconsin, inspired by bands on the bill, and who honored Diet Lite with a fresh work on stage at Vivarium.

Local Beat is a new column in the Journal Sentinel and jsonline.com covering Milwaukee artists in concert. Who should we check out next? Send your suggestions to [email protected] or find him on Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee rock trio Diet Lite light up Vivarium at album release show