Flashback: Blitzen Trapper at Triple Rock Social Club (29 July 2007)

Blitzen Trapper 2007 Tour 07-11 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill $ 07-13 Los Angeles, CA – Spaceland $ 07-14 Tempe, AZ – Stinkweeds $ 07-16 Austin, TX – Emo’s Lounge $ 07-17 Dallas, TX – The Loft $ 07-18 Houston, TX – Walter’s on Washington $ 07-19 Hattiesburg, MS – Thirsty Hippo $ 07-20 Atlanta, GA Drunken Unicorn $ 07-21 Wilmington, NC – Bella Festa $ 07-22 Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel $ 07-23 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s $ 07-24 Allston, MA – Great Scott $ 07-25 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge $ 07-26 Buffalo, NY – The Icon 07-27 Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig $* 07-28 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle 07-29 Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock 07-30 Omaha, NE – The Slowdown 07-31 Denver, CO – Hi-Dive % 08-01 Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court 08-03 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile Cafe ^ $ with David Vandervelde ! with the Shaky Hands, Pseudosix ^ with Jennifer Gentle % with Smoosh, Aqueduct * with Canada Read More Blitzen Trapper Blitzen Trapper will be taking over the First Avenue main room on Sunday, October 4th and you will definitely want to be there. I have never been able to see these …

Portland’s Blitzen Trapper wrapped up their November 2024 in support of 100's of 1000's, Millions of Billions (Yep Roc Records). The new album features Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats and singer-songwriter Anna Tivel.

We did try to cover their appearance at the Turf Club on Nov 14, 2024, but it didn’t quite work out.

So, I guess the next best thing is to talk about the first time I saw Blitzen Trapper, when they were on tour for Wild Mountain Nation in 2007. They were then signed to Sub Pop, and I was a big fan of the label since they got famous by signing Nirvana.

The other thing is my realization that every time I went to the Triple Rock, they literally had three bands. On that night we had two opening bands: The Godevils (named after some sports team?) and folk singer Patrick Tierney (not to be confused with Australian singer Pat Tierney).

Original report:
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I guess I’ve never noticed it before, but the reason why it's called The Triple Rock Club is that a show usually calls for three bands (one headliner and two openers).

This venue is mostly known for their punk rock shows, although they do book a variety of indie and experimental bands from time to time.

The two opening bands sounded nothing like Blitzen: an alt-country band The Godevils and folk singer Patrick Tierney. Both bands are from Minneapolis.

It was hard for me to understand The Godevils because the singer didn’t speak clearly into the microphone most of the time. They started off with the banjo/drums/cello and ended their set with an electric guitar and bass.

Patrick Tierney did a pretty long set, half of which seemed like they were cover songs. Covers included Bob Dylan, White Stripes and Leonard Cohen.

Blitzen Trapper was late to the venue because they took Highway 61 (the nice scenic route along the Great River) from Chicago to Minneapolis. So they hadn’t had time to setup their instruments or had a proper soundcheck, so a good 10 minutes were spent uttering the words “check check check check” or “can I get more sound on my monitor”.

When they actually started playing, it was very loud and really put a little life into the audience - this was a band that was meant to play in front of a very large crowd. Unfortunately, because it’s late night on Sunday (and normally people have to work the next morning), hardly anyone showed up. However, the people that did show up were very responsive (e.g. talking back to the band and recognizing all the songs).

I just think that if they played on a Friday or Saturday that they would’ve had a much better turnout.

They added a few more dates, so check them out if you live in these places.

PS, as usual, Triple Rock had no one working on the lights, so it was constantly dark red throughout the entire show.

Read more Flashback.

Blitzen Trapper at Triple Rock Social Club (29 July 2007)

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