Lucius, with Pure Bathing Culture, at First Avenue, Minneapolis (23 March 2016)

Poster Lucius Setlist Dusty Trails Tempest Nothing Ordinary Almost Makes Me Wish for Rain Madness Truce Turn It Around Something About You Born Again Teen Gone Insane Almighty Gosh How Loud Your Heart Gets Genevieve Better Look Back -- Encore -- Two of Us on the Run Go Home Pure Bathing Culture Setlist Dream the Dare Clover The Tower She Shakes In the Night, in the Peaceful Night Pray For Rain I Trace Your Symbol Scotty Read More Lucius At their Rock the Garden show, Lucius previewed a new song (“Dusty Trails”), which just appeared on their latest album Good Grief. … Pure Bathing Culture Pure Bathing Culture opened up the show, playing a forty-minute set of songs like "Dream The Dare" from their debut Moon Tides album, out now on Partisan Records. Their sound is often compared to …

It’s the first night of the Lucius’ Good Grief tour (after SXSW, of course), and it is started out exceptionally well with a sold out show at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

Pure Bathing Culture

Portland’s Pure Bathing Culture opened up the show. We previously saw the band with Tennis and compared them to the Cocteau Twins, thanks to the ethereal vocals singer Sarah Versprille. Seeing them on Wednesday night, I felt that Versprille’s singing performance has upgraded to a more passionate nature (particularly in the hand gestures department). For a “first night of the tour”, Pure Bathing Culture were playing like seasoned professionals. One impressed fan in the audience even asking what they were called during Versprille’s thanking of Lucius for having them on tour.

Breaking down their set, it is a good selection of Moon Tides and Pray for Rain, both albums available now on Partisan Records. My favorite was their closing song, “Scotty”, a song that drew its lyrics and melodies from Benny Mardones’ “Into the Night”.

For a very long time, Brooklyn’s Lucius (fronted by dual vocalists Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig) toured in support of their debut Wildewoman (Mom + Pop), going back to their first appearance in Minneapolis on 24 Oct 2013. Even as far as their last Minneapolis appearance at Rock the Garden on 20 June 2015, they were still playing tracks from that album (with the exception of one new song on their setlist). You couldn’t blame the band, especially if you follow the band closely, that they’ve been on constant tour since 2012 and hadn’t had much time for personal time or writing new songs. Even with Wolfe had to comment, “When we started writing for this record, we had been away from home for nearly two years. We had just returned from tour, having gone through such varied emotions—loneliness, sadness and exhaustion alongside excitement, fulfillment and some of the most joyful moments in our lives…Whenever one of us had an idea or a feeling, the other was already a witness to it and could help navigate through it—for the two of us, this usually came in song form.”

The result is that their new album, Good Grief, is finally out on Mom + Pops. As expected with a new album tour, the band were more than happy to play the new songs. Breaking down their setlist, they basically played the entire album (save leaving out only two songs), starting with the harmonizing sweet tender song “Dusty Trails” and ending their set with the equally lovely song “Better Look Back”.

Based on fans’ reactions, they were loving the new songs... but possibly even more excited for some older favorites, like “Turn It Around” (done midway in their set) and double song encores “Two of Us on the Run” and “Go Home”.

As previously mentioned, Lucius has sold out every Minneapolis appearance to date, so if you were hoping to catch them next time - get your tickets early.

Lucius’ Good Grief is out now.

Remaining tour dates:

03/24 Chicago, IL Metro* 03/25 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom* 03/26 Toronto, ON Opera House* 03/28 Montréal, QC Fairmount Theatre* 03/29 Boston, MA Royale* 03/31 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall * 04/01 New York, NY Webster Hall* 04/02 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer* 04/05 Dublin, IE Academy 04/06 Manchester, UK Gorilla 04/08 Glasgow, UK Art School 04/09 Leeds, UK Brudenell 04/10 Nottingham, UK Rescue Rooms 04/11 Bristol, UK Thekla 04/13 London, UK Koko 04/14 Paris, FR La Maroquinerie 04/15 Paris, FR Le Printemps 04/16 Brussels, BE Botanique 04/19 Amsterdam, NL Melkweg 04/20 Hamburg, Germany Prinzenbar 04/21 Berlin, DE Privatclub 04/22 Munich, DE Strom 05/05 Los Angeles, CA Fonda Theatre 05/06 Santa Barbara, CA Soho 05/07 Santa Cruz, CA Catalyst 05/09 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom 05/10 Vancouver, BC Imperial

05/11 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre 05/13 Salt Lake City, UT The Grand 05/14 Denver, CO Gothic Theatre 05/16 Omaha, NE Waiting Room 05/17 Des Moines, IA Wooly’s 05/18 St Louis, MO Ready Room 05/20 Dallas, TX Trees 05/21 Austin, TX Emo’s 06/04 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amph 06/05 Oceanside, CA Oceanside Pier Amph 06/08 Birmingham, AL Saturn 06/10 Bonnaroo 06/13 Charlotte, NC Visulite Theatre** 06/14 Saxapahaw, NC Haw River Ballroom** 06/15 Richmond, VA Broadberry** 06/19 Washington, DC 9:30 Club** 06/21 Portsmouth, NH 3S Arts Space** 06/22 Clifton Park, NY Upstate Concert Hall** 06/24 Pawling, NY Daryl’s House Backyard** 07/10 Winnipeg Folk Festival 07/16 Latitude Festival 07/22-07/24 Way Home Festival 07/29-07/31 Osheaga Festival 08/13 Eau Claires Festival *supported by Pure Bathing Culture **supported by Margaret Glassy

Lucius at First Avenue, Minneapolis (23 March 2016)

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