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Rubblebucket Setlist
Previously
Excerpt from
7th Street (04 April 2018):
The Northampton, MA band describes their own sound as “unconscious, accessible, existential, indie, glitter, popsicle, crisis” music and that’s as good a description as any, as evidenced by latest full-length, Friends Share Lovers (Signature Sound Recordings) and more recent single, ‘2003’. Read More
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The Amsterdam Bar and Hall in downtown Saint Paul may not be one of the first music venues that people in the Twin Cities think of, but, like the 331 Club in Minneapolis (both venues are owned by the Oulman’s), has interesting bands performing there. And like their appearance in February, 2023, the band Rubblebucket was headlining at Amsterdam once again.
The opener was Hannah Mohan. This quartet hit the stage with their alt rock sound and Mohan came out strong with their opener, Walnut. The second song, Therapist, gave us the bassist as back up vocalist. This is a lively sound, with dual guitars, bass and drums. Lead singer Mohan hit keyboards on the third song, and easily switched between those keys and guitar, even in the same song. A joke about needing water but not being able to have her own (“I always kick them over”), led to a song with audience participation and Alex from Rubblebucket playing on trumpet. The next song also got the audience singing the chorus (“It’s the rebel in me”). There were a couple of songs with Mohan whistling, and I don’t know why, but that always seems something fun and fairly unique. We also got some heavier sounding vocals from the guitarist and bassist, which Mohan then rode on top of. Dumb had a great chorus and a timely take on modern society. The appearance of accordion on the final song, Upside Down, was a great finale and showed off the breadth of this band.
Rubblebucket took the stage to an eager audience. While the indie rock band has had a number of personnel changes over the years, it has always been helmed by Annakalmia Traver (vocals, saxophone) and Alex Toth (trumpet, backing vocals, keys). Focusing on their newest album, Year of the Banana, they started with the first track Stella the Begonia. The initial songs immediately showed off Rubblebucket’s strengths: quirky lyrics, the appearance of the brass instruments, and some simple, but choreographed dance moves. The fourth song was Donna, a crowd favorite from 2018’s Sun Machine.
Rubblebucket is almost as much an art project as it is a band. And in that spirit, there was a large set piece at the back of the stage (maybe 5-6 feet wide and 8-10 feet high) that the band used multiple times during the show. There were a couple of spaces halfway up where someone’s head could come through (seeing Toth’s trumpet played through that was quite funny). There was also a platform at the top and we had Traver and Toth both performing up there at several points. We also got some poetry readings from Traver, the first one after Donna, in a French accent. It was called Rattlesnake and preceded the song of the same name.
A question of who considered themselves Saint Paul and who considered themselves Minneapolis gave us the question, “Is there a term that describes you all?”. The immediate answer of “Twin Cities” stunned the band, but got the quick riposte of “We were testing you!” This was followed by the request for audience participation to sing along during the song Boomerang, and we were termed the “Twin Cities chorus”. As they got ready, an argument over starting note prior to Boomrang slowed them down, but they quickly got back on track. Sweet Spot was pure energy and soon it was “tutu time” and several members of the opener supporting the song Came Out of a Lady. A little more French accented poetry aside, the show continued to mix the new album and old favorites. A late song was a cover of The Moldy Peaches’ Anyone Else But You was fun and lively. There was a polling of the audience for which song to end on, with Carousel Ride barely winning out. As is their habit, the band had a “parade” from the stage to the sound board, with a reprise of ago All the Way with Me before calling it a night and heading to the merch table.
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Rubblebucket at Amsterdam Bar (26 Jan 2025)
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| thaddeus ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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