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John Maus at First Ave
John Maus Setlist
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Taking a long break from music, it was good to see cult favorite John Maus, resuming his tour after brother Joe Maus died last year. After a Maus took a break and resumed his tour (but without a backing band)… ending his 2019 North American tour at First Avenue’s mainroom on February 28th.
With a brief 30-minute, six-song set, lukdlx (pronounced as “Luke Deluxe” and not to be confused with LuxDeluxe) took the stage, slightly later than advertised. The local soul/pop musician had a full band setup of guitarist, bassist, drummer, and keys… plus three backup singers.
It was fun, watching lukdlx run back and forth across the stage, as he mentioned he was covering Billy Ocean’s “Promise Me”, and ended his set with the title track of his EP, “Bad Haircut”.
In stark contrast to the eight-piece band that started the show, John Maus is a one man performer (with a laptop).
Compared to Maus’ previous show at the sold-out Cedar Cultural Club in April 2018, seeing Maus alone on such a large stage wasn’t as compelling (despite his funky, pogo-jumping, intense dance movies and air punches).
With a band, they had some improvising elements… but with a laptop, it just felt like a weird Karaoke show. Also, since each background music is perfectly timed, maybe the show actually ended earlier than you would normally expect from a regular rock/pop show.
Maus, as usual, wore his dress shirt and jeans and did not speak throughout his performance. No one hated it, as all the fans out that night were all Maus fans and loved what he was doing.
Still, it felt like maybe this show would have been better on a smaller stage, like the 7th Street Entry or the Fine Line Music Café. I understand why they booked him at a larger-capacity venue, as both 7th Street and Fine Line would’ve sold out immediately.
With Maus doing the same pogo jumping in place and emotional baritone singing on almost all the songs, it was actually a little fun to watch the audience doing their similar style dancing with Maus.
Maus ended his show with “Believer”, a strong single from his 2011 album We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves.
With a brief 30-minute, six-song set, lukdlx (pronounced as “Luke Deluxe” and not to be confused with LuxDeluxe) took the stage, slightly later than advertised. The local soul/pop musician had a full band setup of guitarist, bassist, drummer, and keys… plus three backup singers.
It was fun, watching lukdlx run back and forth across the stage, as he mentioned he was covering Billy Ocean’s “Promise Me”, and ended his set with the title track of his EP, “Bad Haircut”.
In stark contrast to the eight-piece band that started the show, John Maus is a one man performer (with a laptop).
Compared to Maus’ previous show at the sold-out Cedar Cultural Club in April 2018, seeing Maus alone on such a large stage wasn’t as compelling (despite his funky, pogo-jumping, intense dance movies and air punches).
With a band, they had some improvising elements… but with a laptop, it just felt like a weird Karaoke show. Also, since each background music is perfectly timed, maybe the show actually ended earlier than you would normally expect from a regular rock/pop show.
Maus, as usual, wore his dress shirt and jeans and did not speak throughout his performance. No one hated it, as all the fans out that night were all Maus fans and loved what he was doing.
Still, it felt like maybe this show would have been better on a smaller stage, like the 7th Street Entry or the Fine Line Music Café. I understand why they booked him at a larger-capacity venue, as both 7th Street and Fine Line would’ve sold out immediately.
With Maus doing the same pogo jumping in place and emotional baritone singing on almost all the songs, it was actually a little fun to watch the audience doing their similar style dancing with Maus.
Maus ended his show with “Believer”, a strong single from his 2011 album We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves.
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John Maus at First Avenue, Minneapolis (28 Feb 2019) |
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