Cathy Dethmers' High Noon Saloon top five

Cathy Dethmers wears plenty of hats at the High Noon Saloon: owner, bartender, booking agent, and bookkeeper, to name a few. Not surprisingly, she’s also an all-around music fan. Since owning and running the place means she gets to see a lot of acts, Decider asked Dethmers to give us a rundown, in her own words, of her favorite shows from each of the past five years ahead of the venue's fifth-anniversary show tonight.

2004: May 5, Opening night. While the music was good (Bottle Rockets, Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash, Fastball, The Honeydogs, and MaeRae), for me it was really all about two things: Relief that my trek to re-open "O'Cayz" [Dethmers' former club on East Wilson Street, which was destroyed in a 2001 fire] was finally over, and excitement about what the years ahead would bring for the club. We were down to the wire as far as getting final approval to open our doors, so there was a line forming to get into the club already when I returned with the official okay.

2005: Sept. 19, NoMeansNo. These guys hadn't played in town since their last show at O'Cayz in (I believe) 1999. They've been around for a couple decades and they really know how to bring their all to the stage. This was one of the most energetic shows I'd seen yet at High Noon—they really put all the younger bands to shame at this show, which brought a lot of old-school punk fans out of the woodwork, so it ended up being a O'Cayz scene reunion of sorts.

2006: April 14, Low. This was a band that I had always heard about from friends, but never really checked out before. They played on an unusually warm April day, and our air conditioning happened to break down that evening. So the club was packed and sweaty, and Low just washed over everything with the most beautiful music; it seemed like everyone just forgot about the uncomfortable conditions. It was a truly mesmerizing show, and a great surprise for me—Low is now one of my favorite bands.

2007: June 13, Hackensaw Boys. 2006 and 2007 saw an influx of punk-bluegrass hybrid bands. I was never a huge bluegrass fan before, but bands like Split Lip Rayfield, .357 String Band, DeWayn Brothers, and the Hackensaw Boys lured me into a real appreciation of traditional music. This particular Hackensaw Boys show drew a smallish crowd of devoted fans, but they played as though performing to a packed house. Then for their encore, they brought their instruments down to the floor in front of the stage and played un-amplified while the crowd circled around them, stomping their feet and singing along.

2008: Aug. 3, Melvins. These guys have been my favorite band for many years, but they've typically skipped over Madison to play Milwaukee or Chicago instead. We were lucky enough to get them twice in the past 5 years. For this show, they changed their lineup a bit to include a second drummer, who played in synchronicity with Dale Crover, with just slight variations here and there. The effect was amazing—a deafening double-drum attack that you could feel through your whole body.