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Isobel Campbell: There Is No Other

Read More Isobel Campbell Isobel Campbell started off her career in the band Belle & Sebastian (you may have heard of them?), she released two albums under her own …

Scottish singer/songwriter Isobel Campbell released a brand-new third album There Is No Other (Cooking Vinyl Records) to little fanfare. To be fair, the timing couldn’t be worst, as the world’s in a middle of a coronavirus pandemic, and there are more things to worry than trying to promote a record. With all concert touring coming to a halt, and record stores (no essential stores) asked to close temporarily… you probably didn’t know about Campbell’s latest release.

Like many of you, I first heard of Isobel Campbell through Belle & Sebastian. When she left B&S to create her project The Gentle Waves, I was on board! You see, Campbell had always had a wonderful sense of music arrangement and her sugarly-sweet vocals lends itself to such beautiful, calming songs. Unfortunately, despite Swansong For You being a great album, she retired the Gentle Waves name… and released her debut solo record Amorino.

It’s about this time, that she met Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan, and the two decided to collaborated on a few successful albums. The pairing is perfect, really. I named this type of dueling vocals, “Beauty & the Beast”, as Lanegan’s vocals sounds like an animal… while Campbell provide such a sweet, sweet soothing singing voice.

With Isobel Campbell’s latest, There Is No Other, we see a return to a music style, much like circa-2000 Belle & Sebastian and Amorino. There’s lovely guitar plucking, there’s sparse arrangements, there’s some very catchy melodies, and, best of all, some wonderful string arrangements (courtesy of Nina Violet).

I’m not going to break down the album for you, but let’s just say if you enjoy B&S’ The Boy With the Arab Strap and The Gentle Wave’s Swansong for You, you’ll love There Is No Other.

I believe Campbell chose “The National Bird of India” as her single, which I don’t fully love. Instead, I recommend, “Runnin' Down a Dream” or “Ant Life”.

P.S., if you buy There Is No Other on Amazon, it includes “Autorip” so you’ll have the MP3 in your locker (and can listen to it via Echo or other Amazon products). This is the only way I buy music nowadays, as I have the CD as backup… but able to access my personal music locker where it’s convenient.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

R.I.P. Steve Martin Caro (The Left Banke)

The Left Banke: There's Gonna Be A Storm - The Complete Recordings 1966-1969 Read More The Left Banke Incidentally, towards the end of the song: A lady stepping from the songs we love until this day You'd settle for an epitaph like "Walk Away, Renee" This is a reference to the Left Banke's hit song "Walk Away Renee". …

Steve Martin Caro, the co-founder and original singer to The Left Banke has died at the age of 71. Their biggest hit song, “Walk Away Renee”, influenced many bands, including Belle & Sebastian who referenced the line in their song “Piazza, New York Catcher” (we we previously wrote in July 2007).

For the full death list head over to Musicians who died in 2020.

January (36)

[18 Jan 2020] Dennis Garcia (Filipino rock bassist for Hotdog), 69

[16 Jan 2020] R. Sathyanarayana (Indian musicologist), 93

[16 Jan 2020] Barry Tuckwell (Australian horn player and conductor), 88

[15 Jan 2020] Chris Darrow (American musician for Kaleidoscope and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), 75

[14 Jan 2020] Guy Deplus (French clarinetist), 95

[14 Jan 2020] Naděžda Kniplová (Czech operatic soprano), 87

[14 Jan 2020] Bruno Nettl (Czech-born American musicologist), 89

[14 Jan 2020] Steve Martin Caro (American singer for The Left Banke), 71

[14 Jan 2020] Chamín Correa (Mexican guitarist), 90.

[13 Jan 2020] Ștefan Petrache (aka Стефан Пертаке) (Moldovan singer), 70

[13 Jan 2020] Hylda Sims (English folk musician and poet), 87/88

[11 Jan 2020] Alana Filippi (French singer and Songwriter), 51.

[10 Jan 2020] Tom Alexander (Scottish musician for The Alexander Brothers), 85

[10 Jan 2020] Wolfgang Dauner (German jazz fusion pianist), 84

[10 Jan 2020] Marc Morgan (Belgian singer-songwriter), 57

[10 Jan 2020] Carlos Cuco Rojas (Colombian harpist for Cimarrón), 65

[09 Jan 2020] Petar Introvič (Czech blues singer), 68, injuries sustained in a cycling accident

[09 Jan 2020] Bobby Comstock (American pop singer), 78

[09 Jan 2020] 5th Ward Weebie (American rapper), 42, complications from heart surgery

[09 Jan 2020] Harry Hains (Australian actor and musician), 27

[07 Jan 2020] Pat Collins (Irish rock and jazz fiddler for Mushroom, Hotfoot)

[07 Jan 2020] Neil Peart (Canadian Hall of Fame drummer for Rush), 67, glioblastoma

[06 Jan 2020] Martin Griffin (English drummer for Hawkwind)

[05 Jan 2020] Nancy Falkow (American singer/songwriter), 49, ovarian cancer

[05 Jan 2020] Mark David Fisher aka MD! (American DJ), 50

[05 Jan 2020] Jonathan Rhys Hill (Welsh composer for BBC's The Trial of Christine Keeler), 36

[05 Jan 2020] Martin Binks (English conductor for Leeds Symphony Orchestra), 79

[04 Jan 2020] Emanuel Borok (Soviet-born American violinist Boston Symphony Orchestra and concertmaster), 75, lung cancer

[03 Jan 2020] Mikey Lawless (British bassist for Falling Red)

[03 Jan 2020] Bo Winberg (Swedish guitarist for The Spotnicks), 80

[02 Jan 2020] Lorraine Chandler (American singer and songwriter)

[01 Jan 2020] Lexii Alijai (American rapper), 21

[01 Jan 2020] Marty Grebb (American musician for The Buckinghams), 74

[01 Jan 2020] Tommy Hancock (American musician), 90

[01 Jan 2020] Jaap Schröder (Dutch violinist and conductor), 94

[01 Jan 2020] Micki Singer (American DJ and drummer for Buzzy Martin and the Trespassers), 63, car accident

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Belle & Sebastian at Weesner Family Amphitheater, Apple Valley (23 July 2019)

Belle & Sebastian 2019 Tour B&S Setlist Dog on Wheels Step Into My Office, Baby Sister Buddha She's Losing It Wrapped Up in Books Sweet Dew Lee Sukie in the Graveyard The Fox in the Snow Nice Day for a Sulk Family Tree If She Wants Me Stay Loose Like Dylan in the Movies The Boy With the Arab Strap I Didn't See It Coming You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC cover) I Want the World to Stop -- Encore -- This Is Just a Modern Rock Song (abridged) Funny Little Frog Me And The Major Tour Dates 08/08 – 08/12/2019 The Boaty Weekender 2019 10/31 – 11/03/2019 Pitchfork Music Festival Paris 2019 11/08 – 11/09/2019 Primavera Weekender 2019 Read More Belle & Sebastian Our favorite Scottish band Belle & Sebastian is releasing Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance tomorrow, January 20th, via Matador Records, their first new record since 2010's Write About Love. ... Men I Trust Men I Trust to open. This all-girls group from Montreal, Canada, features Jessy on bass/guitar, Dragos on keyboards and Emma vocals/guitar. ... DJ Jake Rudh This is billed as a Transmission (aka DJ Jake Rudh) / BNLX release show, but music fans may want to take note that at nearly midnight, The Ocean Blue is scheduled to appear. …

Scottish band Belle & Sebastian graced the Weesner Family Amphitheater at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Prior to live music, DJ Jake Rudh (from Transmission) played a mix of 60s/70s-ish pop songs for fans. Some songs on the playlist includes Lulu’s “To Sir With Love”, Twinkle’s “Golden Lights” (mixed with The Smiths?) and Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony’s “The Hustle”.

Montreal-based trio Men I Trust (Emma Proulx, Jessy Caron, and Dragos Chiriac) opened up the show with “Tailwhip”. Singer Emma Proulx mentioned that they’ve opened up for Belle & Sebastian before, and was more than happy to play with them again at the Minnesota Zoo.

Stevie Jackson (from B&S) would later say that it was Men I Trust’s last show with the group and they were sad to see them go…. But don’t feel so bad for them, as they’re landing in South Korea in a few days to play the Holiday Land Festival.

The trio had an easy electronic-pop/indiepop sound to them and expect to hear more from them once their upcoming Oncle Jazz album (with 24 tracks!) comes out in September 2019. Maybe they’ll do a promotional tour around that time (which is actually perfect for SXSW).

Glasgow’s Belle & Sebastian came on the stage shortly. The band currently features singer/guitarist/keys Stuart Murdoch, singer/guitarist Stevie Jackson, singer/violin/flutist Sarah Martin, keys Chris Geddes, drummer Richard Colburn, bassist/guitarist Bobby Kildea, and additional guitarist/bassist Dave McGowan. The group is so large, that they’ve actually lost their drummer (left him at a Walmart) on their way to Palace Theatre in St Paul in August 2017.

As you know, I’ve seen B&S at every appearance in the Twin Cities, going back to Oct 2003, and the band just gets better and better. With the Minnesota Zoo’s on their mind, they started their set with “Dog on Wheels” (their very first single). The animal-thing is actually pretty cool, even though we previously seen them at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney in 2015.

More animal-banters as Stuart mentioned how the lions came out and Sarah jokingly re-naming “Stay Loose” as “Stay Moose” (there were images of a moose on their backdrop as they played that song)… and Stuart adding “I couldn’t care what’s on FOX news”. Songs from the animal-named Tigermilk, “She’s Losing It”. It was a good choice, but on the setlist, the alternate options were “Belle & Sebastian” and “Seeing Other People” (the later would have been my song choice).

Every song was greeted with happy cheers from the audience. This is possibly based on fan’s request, who heavily influenced the setlist, at least that’s the impression I got from hearing Stuart describing about directly talking to their fans. Of course, that didn’t stop some people from shouting out their favorites (one being “Funny Little Frog”, which they did eventually honor on the encore).

After “Family Tree” a fan asked for “It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career” and although Stevie started to hum and attempted to play, they had to stop and say, “Maybe next time”. They just weren’t prepared for it.

It’s standard now, but, of course, when “The Boy With the Arab Strap” was played, the band invited their dedicated fans to come on stage and dance with them… making for a very satisfying show stopper. Fans were invited to stay on for the following song “I Didn't See It Coming”.

The clear highlight for everyone at the Minnesota Zoo show has got to be their amazing impromptu cover of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”. Apparently, Stuart spotted someone in the audience with the Australian band’s T-Shirt and had Bobby Kildea just play a bit of the song… before you know it, the entire band is playing in sync. This song isn’t normally played, but hearing and watching them, it’s clear they’ve practiced before. I found out later that the band did play at their Sheffield show a few weeks ago, and the Minnesota Zoo was only their second time playing the song ever. It was so good, I hope they include this song on their set going forward.

That’s not all. For the faithful who stayed for the encore, we were rewarded with the rarely heard live rendition of “This Is Just a Modern Rock Song”. The studio track is over seven minutes long (longer than “Your Cover’s Blown”), so it made sense that the band won’t really play the song in concert. To bring us the song, Stuart mentioned that he’ll shorten the song… and at first you think they’ll just play a minute or two, but they actually went on pretty long. The abridged version leaves out the personal ending (“Stevie's full of good intentions/Richards into rock 'n' roll/Stuart's staying in and he thinks it's a sin that he has to leave the house at all”), but closing as it should be with “I count "three, four" and then we start to slow, because a song has got to stop somewhere”.

Although the band’s latest release is the compilation How to Solve Our Human Problems, they actually didn’t play too many songs from this new record. Instead, this current tour seems to something of a rarity and greatest hits collection live… and it’s actually my favorite show from them (having seen them six times now). They just keep getting better.

Men I Trust

Men I Trust

Men I Trust

Belle & Sebastian Setlist

Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian at Weesner Family Amphitheater, Apple Valley (23 July 2019)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Minneapolis: July 18 to July 24, 2019

Here are some shows taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area from July 18 to July 24, 2019.

Read more: Minneapolis Music Guide.

Belle & Sebastian 2019 Tour Read More Belle & Sebastian Our favorite Scottish band Belle & Sebastian is releasing Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance tomorrow, January 20th, via Matador Records, their first new record since 2010's Write About Love. ... Men I Trust Men I Trust to open. This all-girls group from Montreal, Canada, features Jessy on bass/guitar, Dragos on keyboards and Emma vocals/guitar. ... DJ Jake Rudh This is billed as a Transmission (aka DJ Jake Rudh) / BNLX release show, but music fans may want to take note that at nearly midnight, The Ocean Blue is scheduled to appear. …

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN
+ Men I Trust, DJ Jake Rudh
Weesner Family Amphitheater
Tue 07/23/2019 (7pm/$56)
suemclean.com

With all my cards on the table, I have to let you know that Scottish band Belle & Sebastian is one of my favorite bands. Yes, I own all their records, own all their singles, and have seen the band every time they play in Minnesota (which you can count on one hand: 4 times).

I’m very excited to let you know that B&S is back in the area, they’ll be playing the Weesner Family Amphitheater at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. That’s a bit of a drive (for me), but they’re worth it.

Let’s hope the band will play older/classic B&S songs, considering that their last release were three singles, collected into one How to Solve Our Human Problems compilation album (available on Matador Records). I have read that they’re recording a new album called Days of the Bagnold Summer, but I don’t think the band will be playing forthcoming songs.

Special guests Men I Trust will open. The all-girls band was previously in town with Wild Nothing in November 2018.

For the Minnesota show, it’s listed that Transmission’s DJ Jake Rudh will play music pre-show.

Tour dates:

11 July 2019 Sprint Pavilion, Charlottesville, VA
13 July 2019 House of Blues Boston, Boston, MA
15 July 2019 MTELUS, Montreal, QC
18 July 2019 Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, PA
19 July 2019 – 21 July 2019 Pitchfork Music Festival 2019
23 July 2019 Weesner Amphitheater, Minnesota Zoo, MN
08 August 2019 – 12 August 2019 The Boaty Weekender 2019
31 October 2019 – 03 November 2019 Pitchfork Music Festival Paris 2019
08 November 2019 – 09 November 2019 Primavera Weekender 2019

Other shows in the area:

Cate Le Bon 2019 Tour La Misa Negra/Dos Santos at Cedar Jackie Venson at 7th Street Entry Night Moves at First Ave The Posies Chris Smither: Call Me Lucky Drugdealer at 7th Street Entry Read More Night Moves The locally based band, promoting their debut, Colored Emotions (Domino) impressed us enough opening for Poliça (in Minneapolis and Colorado) and Django Django last year…

PARQUET COURTS
+ Cate Le Bon
First Avenue
Thu 07/18/2019 (7pm/$25)
first-avenue.com

Parquet Courts will be headlining First Avenue (a one-off date extending from Pitchfork Festival?) this Thursday, July 18th.

Cate Le Bon, who is touring in support of her new Reward album (available on Mexican Summer) will open the show. We last saw Le Bon in May 2016 and mentioned, “It was an incredibly healthy turn out for the Los Angeles, by the way of Wales, Cate Le Bon. Words must have spread since her last appearance in Minneapolis, in January 2014... despite the fact that Cate Le Bon physically could not say the words ‘Minneapolis’. Le Bon, in her thick Welsh accent said, “Wish ah could sae your city’s name. Ah just carn’t say it.””

Cate Le Bon Tour Dates:

July 12 - Seattle, WA @ Doug Fir Lounge
July 13 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Cafe
July 18 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
July 19 - Chicago, IL - Constellation
July 20 - Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Festival
Aug. 23 - Bethesda, UK @ Neuadd Ogwen
Aug. 24 - West Lothian, UK @ Jupiter Rising Festival
Aug. 25 - Edinburgh, UK @ Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Aug. 27 - Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
Aug. 28 - Leeds, UK @ Riley Smith Theatre
Aug. 29 - Cardiff, UK @ Portland House
Sept. 1 - Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival

LA MISA NEGRA / DOS SANTOS
Cedar Cultural Center
Fri 07/19/2019 (7pm/$18)
thecedar.org

Seven-piece California band La Misa Negra and Chicago’s quintet Dos Santos co-headlining tour will stop by the Cedar Cultural Center on Friday, July 19th.

As of this writing, they haven’t announced an opening band.

Tour Dates

07/19/2019 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, MN
07/20/2019 John Michael Kohler Arts Center Sheboygan, WI
07/26/2019 The Ritz San Jose, CA
08/22/2019 Mill Hill Park Trenton, NJ
08/23/2019 S.O.B.'S New York, NY
08/24/2019 World Cafe Live - Upstairs Philadelphia, PA
08/27/2019 Leicht Memorial Park Green Bay, WI
10/05/2019 Moe's Alley Santa Cruz, CA

JACKIE VENSON
+ Mina Moore
7th St Entry
Sat 07/20/2019 (7:30pm/$16)
first-avenue.com

Austin-born Jackie Venson will be playing the 7th Street Entry on Saturday, July 20th.

Tour dates:

07/11/2019 Smith's Olde Bar Atlanta, GA
07/20/2019 7th St Entry Minneapolis, MN

NIGHT MOVES
+ Lady Lark, Sam Cassidy
First Avenue
Sat 07/20/2019 (8pm/$15)
first-avenue.com

Local Minneapolis Night Moves will be headlining First Avenue on July 20th, a send-off start of their tour for their new album Can You Really Find Me.

We saw Night Moves in January 2014 and wrote, “ Local band Night Moves, ably taking over the opening spot from the previously announced Night Beds, was literally feeling the Blues. For the duration of their 40 min set, the band members (guitarist/vocalist John Pelant, bassist Micky Alfano, and multi-instrumentalist Mark Ritsema , with drummer Jared Isabella) were literally bathed in muted blue stage lights, which was mood evocative of their easy-going, slightly psychedelic 70s album rock-vibed sound.”

Lady Lark and Sam Cassidy to open.

Tour Dates

July 20 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
July 23 – Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room
July 24 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Jones Assembly
July 26 – Dallas, TX @ Ruins
July 27 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
July 28 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
July 29 – Houston, TX @ Satellite Bar
July 30 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
Aug 2 – Indianapolis, IN @ LO-FI Lounge

THE POSIES
Turf Club
Sun 07/21/2019 (7pm/$22)
turfclub.net

The Posies returns to the Turf Club this Sunday, July 21.

Tour dates:

11 July 2019 McGonigel's Mucky Duck, Houston, TX
12 July 2019 Andy's Bar, Denton, TX
19 July 2019 Chicago Premium Outlets, Aurora, IL
20 July 2019 Back Room, Milwaukee, WI
21 July 2019 Turf Club, St. Paul, MN
02 Sep 2019 Fremont Abbey Arts Center, Seattle, WA

CHRIS SMITHER
Dakota Jazz Club
Mon 07/22/2019 (7:30pm/$30)
dakotacooks.com

Americana songwriter Chris Smither is returning to Minneapolis, this time playing the Dakota Jazz Club on Monday, July 22nd, touring in support of his new album Call Me Lucky (Signature Sounds). This is the performer’s first studio album in six years.

Tour dates:

07/22/2019 Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant Minneapolis, MN
07/23/2019 The Redwood Grove Berkeley, CA
07/24/2019 Bakersfield Music Hall Bakersfield, CA
07/26/2019 Palms Playhouse Winters, CA
08/02/2019 3S Artspace Portsmouth, NH
08/03/2019 Stone Mountain Arts Center Brownfield, ME
08/16/2019 The Guthrie Center Great Barrington, MA
08/17/2019 The Guthrie Center Great Barrington, MA
09/06/2019 Fur Peace Station Pomeroy, OH
09/07/2019 Fur Peace Station Pomeroy, OH
09/08/2019 Fur Peace Station Pomeroy, OH
09/09/2019 Fur Peace Station Pomeroy, OH
09/20/2019 Club Passim Cambridge, MA
09/21/2019 The Locks Philadelphia, PA
11/01/2019 My Father's Place Roslyn, NY
11/02/2019 New Hope Winery New Hope, PA
11/15/2019 Peterborough Players Theatre Peterborough, NH
11/16/2019 One Longfellow Square Portland, ME
02/21/2020 Me & Thee Coffeehouse Marblehead, MA
02/22/2020 Narrows Center Fall River, MA

DRUGDEALER
+ Summer Carols
7th St Entry
Wed 07/24/2019 (8pm/$15)
first-avenue.com

Michael Collins’ collective project Drugdealer will be playing the 7th Street Entry in support of their new album Raw Honey (Mexican Summer).

Opening will be Summer Carols to play a “Beatles set”.

Tour dates:

July 10 - Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
July 12 - Austin, TX @ Barracuda Inside
July 13 - Houston, TX @ Satellite Bar
July 14 - New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
July 15 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
July 16 - Washington, DC @ Union Stage
July 17 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
July 21 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café
July 22 - Detroit, MI @ El Club
July 23 - Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
July 24 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
July 27 - Calgary, AB @ Palomino Social Club
July 29 - Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
July 30 - Vancouver, BC @ The Fox Cabaret
July 31 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Aug. 2 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Aug. 4 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriets

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Belle & Sebastian at Palace Theatre, St Paul (15 August 2017) (Update)

Setlist Act of the Apostle I'm a Cuckoo We Were Beautiful A Summer Wasting Seeing Other People The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner We Rule the School Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John Photo Jenny I Can See Your Future Play For Today Expectations The Boy with the Arab Strap The Blues Are Still Blue The State I Am In -- Encore -- The Party Line Judy and the Dream of Horses Tour Dates 09/01 Netherlands, Utrecht, Vrendenburg 09/02 Netherlands, Into The Great Wide Open 10/04 Tokyo, Zepp University 10/05 Osaka, Big Cat 10/07 Asagiri, Asagiri Jam, Rainbow Stage Read More Belle & Sebastian Our favorite Scottish band Belle & Sebastian is releasing Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance tomorrow, January 20th, via Matador Records, their first new record since 2010's Write About Love. ...

Beloved Scottish band Belle & Sebastian headlined the Palace Theatre in St Paul last week (15 August 2017)... but the show almost didn’t happen!

The rather large band (Stuart Murdoch on vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboard, and “keytar”, Stevie Jackson on electric guitar, Chris Geddes on keyboards, Richard Colburn on drums, Sarah Martin on keys, guitars, violin, flute and vocals, Bobby Kildea on guitar and bass, Dave McGowan on bass, guitar, and keyboards, plus extra players and staffs) accidentally left their drummer Richard Colburn, in North Dakota, on their way to St Paul. Colburn, armed with only a credit card (no phone), his pajamas, and with help from fans, was able to get on a plane to make it to St Paul just in time to play!

Transmission’s DJ Jake Rudh warmed up Palace Theatre, playing appropriate songs to the indiepop audience (The Cardigans, The Smiths, etc). The DJ hour long set led nicely to Julien Baker’s appearance on stage.

Baker started her music career in 2010 in the band The Star Killers (renamed themselves Forrister), when she was 15 years old, but decided to go solo in 2015.

Unfortunately, the shy singer and guitarist’s songs were often drowned out by the chatty crowd (at least where we were at), who were clearly weren’t there to give the opener a chance. It didn’t help that Baker was seemingly troubled by something with her guitar... and didn’t really get her groove in until ‘Funeral Pyre’... which was a song left off her debut record Sprained Ankle.

It was just the wrong venue for Julien Baker, her quiet, sensitive, reflective songs would go over well over at the Cedar Cultural Center, or a smaller, intimate set at the 7th Street Entry... not a big room like the Palace Theatre.

Baker recently released her new single ‘Appointments’, taken from her forthcoming sophomore album Turn Out The Lights.

I may have criticized Belle & Sebastian’s last appearance in Minneapolis at Rock the Garden in June 2015. You see, we haven’t seen the band since 2006, and instead of playing long, lost songs, the band stuck to playing songs from their then-new album Girls in Peacetime Wants to Dance. Which would normally be fine, since that was the current tour they were on... but because they’ve been absent in the area for so long, it would’ve been nice to hear some more older songs in that nine-year gap. Still, having the band back in town, it was still worth it, especially for the start of their set closing song ‘The Boy with the Arab Strap’.

This time around, since they have a longer set (slightly over an hour and fifteen minutes) and no new album to promote, they gave us some great old songs and some “deep cuts”, particularly the wonderful b-side ‘Photo Jenny’ (only played twice on this 2017 tour). As you can see from the setlist, they had the option of also playing ‘Mayfly’, but instead of offering the vote to the audience, the band all decided they were just going to play ‘Photo Jenny’. “This song is really old. In fact, it has the year ‘1995’ in it,” said Stuart Murdoch.

Of course, the band made a lot of missing drummer jokes at Richard Colburn’s expense, but it was all in good fun. For ‘A Summer Wasting’, Murdoch changed the first few lines to ‘A Drummer Wasting’. Later in the show, the band said they’ve implemented a new system for missing drummers with a slide that read, “Someone Is Off The Bus”. Murdoch jokingly laughed, “We have a system now!” You know Colburn will never, ever live down this embarrassing story.

The new song ‘We Were Beautiful’ (written in 2016) was played early in the set. Another new song ‘Sweet Dew Lee’ made it on their setlist, but ultimately was not played. These tracks would likely appear in a forthcoming ninth album, probably on Matador Records.

‘We Rule the School’ was dedicated to Andy Thomson, a Minnesotan who worked with the band (string arrangements) for Girls in Peacetime Wants to Dance. After the song, Murdoch commented about the kindness of people, “This country, you know it’s a great country... because of people like you. It’s not people on television or Fox News. The people tonight, I know that you know that it’s a tricky time. But it’s a blip, and we will win. Peace will win. Gentleness will win. Compassion will win!”

A couple of duets were included on the setlist. The first ‘Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John’ had live vocals from Sarah Martin (replacing the original recorded Norah Jones vocals), while ‘Play For Today’ had pre-recorded Dee Dee Penny on vocals via video.

The show’s highlight is ‘The Boy with the Arab Strap’, which typically, the band will invite a handful of fans in the front to come on stage to dance. We’ve seen it before, but it’s always fun to see.

The stage lights all turned blue for, ‘The Blues Are Still Blue’, followed by the slow intro to ‘The State I Am In’. Despite a slow start, the song does pick up and had the audience singing along to their first song.

After a brief break, the band came back. Murdoch has a Shepard Fairey’s “Muslim, We The People” t-shirt on. They started their encore with the recent hit ‘Party Line’. Murdoch actually sang most of the song in the audience, which probably wasn’t a good idea for fans in the back of balcony!

They took requests from the audience and settled on ‘Judy and the Dream of Horses’ as the final song. That song was the optional song for ‘The State I Am In’, but I’m glad that both songs were played.

Belle & Sebastian - The Blues are Still Blue

Julien Baker

Someone Is Off The Bus

Setlist

B&S

Stuart Murdoch

Belle & Sebastian at Palace Theatre, St Paul (15 August 2017)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Minneapolis: August 14 to August 18, 2017

Here are some concerts taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area from August 14 to August 18, 2017.

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide.

Read More Belle & Sebastian Our favorite Scottish band Belle & Sebastian is releasing Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance tomorrow, January 20th, via Matador Records, their first new record since 2010's Write About Love. ...

BELLE & SEBASTIAN
at Palace Theatre
Tuesday 08/15/17 (7pm/$40)
palacestpaul.com

Our favorite Scottish band Belle and Sebastian will be returning to Minnesota this Tuesday, August 15th, at the new Palace Theatre. The last time we saw B&S, they played Rock the Garden 2015... and it was a sight to behold! See our photograph of the stage near the end of their set: photo

The band recently released a new single called ‘We Were Beautiful’, written in 2016, but finally officially released on digital format only. I won’t buy digital, and full confession: I own everything B&S released on Jeepster and Matador Records. I prefer seeing them sit on my book shelf.

Memphis’ Julien Baker will open.

Tour Dates:

08/10 San Francisco – Outside Lands, Independent
08/11 San Francisco, – Outside Lands
08/13 Missoula, Red Sky Brewing Festival
08/15 St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
08/16 Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
08/17 Louisville, KY – Iroquois Amphitheater
08/19 Omaha, NE. Maha Festival
09/01 Netherlands, Utrecht, Vrendenburg
09/02 Netherlands, Vileland, Into The Great Wide Open
10/04 Tokyo, Zepp University
10/05 Osaka, Big Cat
10/07 Asagiri, Asagiri Jam, Rainbow Stage

Read More Howard Jones You know, we've already mentioned how much we love Howard Jones. He'll be stopping by the Fine Line Music Café as part of his "The Songs, The Piano & The Stories'" tour. ..... English Beat Here's a tour teamup that can't be beat: English Beat with The Paul Collins Beat tour! The tagteam ends at the Mill Cit Nights in Minneapolis, but the English Beat continues on their tour in Missouri. ..... Men Without Hats After forty years, Men Without Hats, are still an excellent band. Known in America as a one-hit-wonder band for "Safety Dance", but I have to say, I love them anyway. Katrina Leskanich Katrina Leskanich kicks off her North American tour next week in support of her latest solo album entitled Blisland (Listen to Blisland streaming via Popmatters.) The album is her first collection ....

RETRO FUTURA TOUR
at State Theatre
Thursday 08/17/17 (7pm/$53)
hennepintheatretrust.org

What a great lineup for this so-called “Retro Futura Tour”! We love all these bands, having seen many of them throughout the years.

However, if you’re not familiar with these guys, I’ll summarize them:

We previously saw Katrina (from Katrina and the Waves) in April 2015 and wrote, “For her set, which just ran over an hour, Leskanich and band played many of her 80s favorites as well as introduced most of the mostly baby boomer-aged crowd, to some of her newer solo material. The NYC backing threesome brought a rough and gritty feel to the music, though thankfully most of the older Katrina and the Waves favorites were done as authentically as possible, instead of re-interpreted.”

English songwriter Paul Young is famous for his single ‘Love of the Common People’ and ‘Everything Must Change’.

New wave Modern English had a huge hit with ‘I Melt With You’ (you may have heard it on a Burger King commercial, sadly).

Most people will know Men Without Hats as the band that sang ‘The Safety Dance’. We love them so much, we flew to Canada to see them play at SXSW 2011.

Co-headliner is the legendary ska/punk band The English Beat... They actually have a new album (in over three decades!) called Here We Go Love. Rolling Stone called the new record “savagely witty as Elvis Costello”.

Closing the show will be Howard Jones. I may have mentioned that he’s known for ‘What Is Love?’, but was quickly reminded that he’s known for ‘Things Can Only Get Better’.

Retro Futura Tour

Aug 09 State Theater- New Brunswick, NJ
Aug 10 Dunkin Donuts Center- Providence, RI
Aug 11 Borgata Casino- Atlantic City, NJ
Aug 12 Oakdale- Wallingford, CT
Aug 13 Times Union Center- Albany, NY
Aug 14 Lynn Auditorium- Lynn, MA
Aug 17 State Theatre - Minneapolis, MN
Aug 18 Star Plaza Theater (Chicago)- Merrillville, IN*
Aug 19 Family Arena (St. Louis)- St. Charles, MO*

Howard Jones, The English Beat, Men Without Hats, Modern English, Paul Young, Katrina (* signifies no Paul Young. Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow on line-up)

Read More Shakey Graves Austin, TX’s Shakey Graves (aka Alejandro Rose-Garcia) immediately followed on the Stars stage, starting and ending his set as a solo artist, but accompanied by a full band, in-between. … Beck So you like Beck and was thinking about picking up Odelay (1996). Well don't! Wait until January 29, 2008, because there's a Deluxe 2-disc version coming out. More details on our press page …

Other shows in the area:

08/14/2017 Nashville’s Blank Range will be stopping by the Turf Club in St Paul to promote their debut album Marooned With The Treasure (Sturdy Girls Records/Thirty Tigers). Co-headlining will be Nick Eagon and Stone Arch Isles. 8pm, $8.

08/15/2017 Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires will be playing the 7th Street Entry this Tuesday. The band recently released their album Youth Detention, a double LP spanning 17 songs. Eleganza! and The Bad Man to open. 8pm, $10.

08/15/2017 Shakey Graves returns to First Avenue on Tuesday... bringing with them David Ramirez. The show is sold out. 7pm, $22/Sold Out.

08/16/2017 Scottish Celtic rock band Skerryvore will be stopping by the Cedar Cultural Center for a rare appearance. The band’s last release Decade came out in 2015. Andy Cook to open. 7pm, $18.

08/17/2017 Beck sold out the Palace Theatre. He hasn’t been to MN in a long time, but we saw him at Coachella, so all is good. No opening band announced. If you couldn’t get tickets to this show, he’ll be back with U2 in September. 6:30pm, $50/Sold Out.

08/17/2017 Chicago indie-rockers The Kickback will be playing the 7th Street Entry in support of their PledgeMusic sophomore record. The Usual Things and Candid Kid to open. door 7pm, $12.

08/17/2017 When not playing with Bruce Springsteen or as bandleader for Conan O’Brien, Max Weinberg is billing himself as Max Weinberg's Jukebox on tour. He’ll play the Dakota Jazz Club this Thursday. 7pm, $45.

08/18/2017 Michael Franti is back at the Cabooze Plaza, with Satsang. 5:30pm, $40.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

W♥M's Favorite 15 Shows of 2015

Read More Sleater-Kinney What are you doing on V-Day? If you're a Sleater-Kinney fan, you'll be at this sold out show. According to my bad memories and physical ticket stubs, I've seen Sleater-Kinney at least three times, and have expressed sadness ... The Decemberists Sure, their music is associated with hipsters and it's fair to assume singer Colin Meloy writes lyrics like he's from 1920, but The Decemberists are an unbelievably good band. … Belle & Sebastian Our favorite Scottish band Belle & Sebastian is releasing Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance tomorrow, January 20th, via Matador Records, their first new record since 2010's Write About Love. ... Sam Smith Sam Smith has sold out Madison Square Garden in NYC and The Forum in Los Angeles in minutes, with a second show in Los Angeles being added on January 29, 2015. The month-long .... Big Star Big Star is releasing some singles on Record Store Day. This is to coincide with the release of the documentary of Big Star called "Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me", which you can check out the … Blur After the release of The Magic Whip (first album since Think Tank was released in 2003), this world tour sees Blur play Australia (including the Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay) … Wizard World Minneapolis Wizard World Minneapolis officially began its pop culture weekend takeover last night, with a kickoff event held last night at the rotunda in the Mall of America. In addition to a trivia contest for … Violent Femmes Violent Femmes have announced details of their eagerly awaited new EP, HAPPY NEW YEAR. The four-track EP will be released April 18th, exclusively on 180 gram champagne clear vinyl … Go 96.3 We were really impressed with Go 96.3 FM's first Go Show #1 (featuring New Politics and Banks at Aria on Mar 2015). We were wondering how they can top that debut show … Festival Palomino We covered Trampled By Turtles' first ever Festival Palomino last year. It was such a great learning experience for us, and we had a great time... so much that it made it onto my top ten favorite shows from 2014 (out of … The 1975 Matt Healy, lead singer for Manchester UK band, The 1975, is a marked man. And this past weekend, he returned to the city where it all happened. … The Adicts The version Cristina loves is the Adicts' version. Song of the week is Adicts' "Falling in Love". ... FFS FFS - the unique collaboration between Franz Ferdinand and Sparks - have announced their first ever North American live dates. This once-in-a-lifetime tour .… Weezer Weezer's singer Rivers Cuomo brought out his dad, Frank Cuomo, and they play "Back to the Shack". One of the most touching things I have witness in my many years of watching Weezer shows. … Carole King Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a musical on the life of songwriter Carole King, based on the biography written by Douglas McGrath. The musical has a residency at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis until the end of November. …

This year (2015), W♥M covered 346, which is an absolutely amazingly large number considering that we basically don't cover shows from December to February.

With so many shows, it's hard to just pick 15 shows to talk about... and I know there are a few that I feel bad about leaving off the list. I recommend looking over our list below and clicking on the shows you are most interested in reading and checking out for yourself.

With that said, here 15 favorite moments of 2015:

Sleater-Kinney at First Avenue
14 February 2015

This was my fourth time seeing Portland's Sleater-Kinney, and it was possibly my favorite. After "breaking up" in 2006, it was a bit of a surprise when they announced their reunion in October 2014 (with a new album No Cities to Love no less!). Of course, their entire 2015 North American show immediately sold out, but we were lucky enough to be there.... as were all the dedicated fans (who we haven't seen in quite a while).

We wrote, "I also wanted to mention that this wasn't just a SK reunion, but a reunion for all their fans. Personally speaking, I saw old friends I have not seen in nine years and it was all because SK came back to the music scene... so from the bottom of my heart, thank you Sleater-Kinney. "

The Decemberists at Northrop Auditorium
24 March 2015

Similar to Sleater-Kinney, beloved The Decemberists disappeared from the music scene in 2011. We caught singer Colin Meloy solo in 2013, and although he did play some Decemberists songs, it just didn't feel the same. When the opportunity to see them live, after they announced an unexpected new album What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, we jumped on board on the sold out show.

Their encore, with a giant whale, was a delight: "...then was a direct hit to the gullet, with their other folky mega-epic, the bouncy ‘The Mariner’s Revenge Song’ which stretched some twenty minutes. People were prompted to scream at a certain part ¾ of the way into the song, and the reaction was not unwarranted as a large cut-out profile of a whale ambled on stage to slowly eat each of the band members in a row, to the crowd’s shrieking delight."

Belle & Sebastian at Enmore Theatre and Rock the Garden
29 January 2015/20 June 2015

My all-time favorite post-Britpop is Scottish band Belle & Sebastian. Although the band experienced some difficulties with their label (basically Jeepster Records didn't think they can grow beyond their cult-like status) and losing a few key band members (including sweet songstress Isobel Campbell), the band seemed to be in top form on this 2015 tour. They first hit the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, Australia, and eventually made their way to Minneapolis at Rock the Garden.

Personally speaking, as a diehard fan, I felt it wasn't their strongest performance in Minneapolis. They've been gone for 9 years from the city, and their song choices weren't what I wanted or expected. Still, despite all that, their two song finales were unfortgettable: "The two closing tracks, ‘The Boy With the Arab Strap’ and ‘I Didn't See It Coming’ were absolutely unforgettable. Murdoch walked on the front barrier and asked if anyone wanted to dance and encourage fans to come on stage. About thirty fans jumped to the stage and just had an absolute blast singing and dancing... and, yes, taking plenty of selfies."

Sam Smith at Roy Wilkins Auditorium
24 January 2015

We were lucky enough to have caught Sam Smith right before his road to stardom: winning six Grammy Awards (in Feb 2015) - including Record of the Year and Song of the Year - and Brit Award winner for British Breakthrough Act and Global Success.

We wrote, "With his career just starting (though he mentioned he’s had a manager since age 12) and a strong chance that he walks away with several Grammys next weekend, Sam Smith’s local debut was worth the wait, with likely several more appearances in the years ahead, to come."

Wizard World Minneapolis
01-03 May 2015

The second annual Wizard World Minneapolis was a whole lot of fun. Unlike 2014's show, this year they had a few musical acts in conjunction to the comic book/geek fandom show: Critical Hit and our favorite Japanese Superhero band Peelander-Z. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, the Peelander-Z show was cut short.

As we reported, "After just 25 minutes, the venue cut off the band's instruments!! Everyone in the audience and the band looked incredibly puzzled by the shutdown. The fans were screaming "One more song! One more song!" and Pink replied, "If only we could, but they won't let us play!"

Barenaked Ladies and Violent Femmes at Treasure Island
12 June 2015

After Brian Ritchie sued singer Gordon Gano in 2007, The Violent Femmes broke up. It was only recently (2015) that they reformed, so we were more than happy to make that long drive to Treasure Island Casino in Red Wing, Minnesota, to see them. Embarrassingly enough, I thought this was my first time seeing VF, until I was reminded by a friend of mine that we had seen them in early 2000 at First Avenue. Suddenly, the memories flooded back! I will confess that I have a terrible memory.

Anyway, seeing VF was such fun! Everyone in the audience were singing to every word (expect for the two new songs), but I will also mention that I LOVE Colin Hay (from Men At Work) and he was definitely the highlight of the Barenaked Ladies' set. BNL aren't bad either, they were surprisingly a very entertaining band.

We wrote, "Say what you will about Canada's Barenaked Ladies, but they are a great live band. All those years touring, singer Ed Robertson has developed an amazing ability to randomly improvise some raps and songs. My personal favorite was the "Ring Ding Ding for Red Wing" rap, it's clear to me that they just actually thought of it while randomly shouting out rhymes."

Go 96.3 Shows
13 March 2015/07 August 2015/03-04 December 2015

We were quite impressed with Go 96.3's very first show at Aria in early March 2015 (featuring New Politics and Banks). They spared no expenses, and it showed! They would later go on to book Go Fest 2015 (featuring Cold War Kids and Matt & Kim on 07 August 2015) and Go Snow Show (featuring Metric and Silversun Pickups on 03-04 December 2015). In fact, all the Go Shows are nothing less than spectacular. We speculate that they are possibly just losing money (thanks to their affordable pricing of "$9.63" or FREE), but we also think that getting their brand name out is well worth it.

We wrote, "So, with little Snow outside, but plenty Show inside, consider the inaugural Go96.3 Snow Show a success with the hope that this becomes a bigger and better holiday tradition, for years ahead. "

Blur in Sydney, Los Angeles, and New York
25 July 2015/20 October 2015/23 October 2015

Legendary Britpopster Blur is finally back in Australia, playing their first gig in 18 years in the country. The whole gang is back (including Graham Coxon), and we love the band so much, we travelled to Los Angeles and New York for Blur's final two US tour. It's hinted heavily that this was the band's final U.S.A. appearance. A sad reminder that for this megastar band in England... that they never really broke America.

We wrote, "I'll just say the show was bittersweet. Albarn plans to spend next year working on the band that did break the States, Gorillaz, and he has enough side projects to distract him from the band he first started out in. This may be their last concert in the country they couldn't break."

FFS (Franz Ferdinand and Sparks) at First Avenue
09 October 2015

FFS is the special project of Franz Ferdinand and Sparks. The two bands recorded an album and as expected with these type of one album-only tour, they basically played the entire album. As an added bonus, selective songs from their respective catalog was also played, including the wildly popular FF's song "Take Me Out" (the entire audience was bouncing and singing along to this number).

Of all the places the band could have chosen to play, they surprisingly added Minneapolis to their limited first-ever US tour... and it was well worth it for fans who showed up to catch this unique performance.

As we reported, "Both bands collaborated to produce some of the most interesting pop songs on the FFS album. It's smart, it's catchy, it's fun, and it's uniquely FFS. While I do not think there will be a sequel in the future, this was, by far, the most interesting team-up we've seen in a while."

Big Star's Third at First Avenue
20 September 2015

This is one of our favorite 2015 shows: Big Star's Third. Every show they do is different, mainly because they have different guests. With all these great guests, you would think they can easily screw up, but they were all surprisingly well-rehearsed and seemed to know their material and what they had to work with.

We concluded, "This show was such a massive pleasure to watch. Between a stage loaded with talent and music loaded with emotion, it was hard to walk away from this and not be inspired and heartened. Big Star created some of the most beautiful and timeless music of all time, the soundtrack to our lives. Stamey, Stringfellow and every single person who contributed to Wednesday night’s performance brought that soundtrack to life. "

The 1975 at First Avenue
10 December 2015

This was our third time seeing The 1975, fifth time if you count their two promotional appearance at Cities 97 and the Mall of America... and we called it long ago: This band is going to be massive! Not only have they sold out every appearance in the Twin Cities, but ahead of their sophomore album, they've already announced a date at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium. We think it's going to sell out, which very few bands have managed such a feat. We'll wait and see. If you need further proof that the band has made it - after we saw them at First Avenue, there were bootleg T-Shirt vendors!

As reported, "From the show’s early sell out, to the stage production, and the crowd’s intense reaction to every song, it was clear right away that the band has outgrown its club confines and is destined for bigger things (something we predicted when we first saw them too)."

Festival Palomino 2015
September 2015

We felt that the inaugural Festival Palomino last year was nothing short of perfect... however, the organizers (First Avenue and Trampled by Turtles) improved on perfection! We love the new setup and, based on these two successful shows, we're pretty sure they will be hard at work on a great 2016 Festival Palomino.

We praised, "If local festivals were racehorses, Festival Palomino is best in show. Again.

The Trampled by Turtles-curated festival, held again in the inside greens of the horse racetrack at Canterbury Park in the southwest suburb of Shakopee, triumphed once more in its sophomore year, as a prime example of a highly enjoyable, expertly-run day of music. "

Rev Horton Heat & The Adicts at First Avenue
24 September 2015

This was an odd-pairing, but we were really excited about UK's The Adicts' very first Minneapolis show. They were just super-duper entertaining. The band clearly has their live show down to a T, incorporating various fun stage props, various costume changes, and choreographic dance routines. The only down side to these shows is that they are practically the same routine every night, so if this is your second or third time seeing them, it'll get old fast... but personally speaking, since it was their first Minneapolis show: we loved it.

Worth the price of admission: "If anything, The Adicts is one of the most entertaining bands touring right now. I've never seen so many stage prop used on stage, from pounds of confetti (used in streamers, umbrellas, hats, etc.) to Chinese take-out cartons (used for "Chinese Takeaway"), playing cards (used for "Joker in the Pack") to light-up plastic glass (used during "Who Spilt My Beer?") to various costume changes (hats, gloves, shirts) to beach balls, to stuffed monkeys (thrown into the audience). Although this may seem gimmicky, you can't ignore that this was a first-rate production and worth the price of admission. "

Weezer at Burgerama IV and Basilica Block Party
29 March 2015/10 July 2015

We're big fans of Weezer since 1994. Admittedly, the band's outgrown us, but we still have a soft spot for the nerdy band. Seeing them at Burgerama IV in Santa Ana was a treat, but because Rivers' dad came on stage to sing "Back to the Shack" with the band. We caught them again locally at Basilica Block Party, and it's probably our favorite Basilica show in recent memory.

The fans loved it, "As soon as the first few chords of ‘Hash Pipe’ were played, the audience immediately recognized it and started screaming and singing. Other big hits blocks included ‘Surf Wax America’, followed by ‘Island in the Sun’ with personalized "Minneapolis" lyrics, and ‘Beverly Hills’ (which did gangbuster in California, but surprisingly did really well in Minnesota as well)."

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
25 November 2015

This one is still fresh in my mind, so it's one of my favorite music event I've attended. I can probably count on my hand the few plays and musicals I've attended (The King and I, Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, etc.), but watching Beautiful: The Carole King Musical was simply just magical. The seamless set changes, the constant costume changes (and one great "quick change" costumes), the great singing and music playing... they were just flawless! It probably helped that they act the same scene night after night for the last 200+ shows, but it was still pretty amazing to witness live. I have told people that it is like watching a movie, only it's completely live.

We concluded, "If you're a fan of live musical, you definitely will want to attend a show. It is a lot of fun, and the musical numbers will bring back a lot of wonderful memories."

Below are links to all 346 shows we covered in 2015:

Rock the Garden at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (20 June 2015)

Photo Gallery Thestand4rd Lucius Courtney Barnett Conor Oberst Ian Felice Woody Harrelson Stevie Jackson Stuart Murdoch Belle & Sebastian Setlist Nobody's Empire I'm A Cuckoo The Party Line Another Sunny Day Cat in the Cream Perfect Couples Piazza, New York Catcher The Everlasting Muse The Wrong Girl Dog on Wheels Dirty Dream #2 The Boy With the Arab Strap I Didn't See It Coming Conor Oberst Setlist Time Forgot Hundreds of Ways Four Winds Southern State Artifact Cape Canaveral Soul Singer in a Session Band Meadow of a Dream (The Felice Brothers song) Method Acting Poison Oak Easy / Lucky / Free Milk Thistle Courtney Barnett Setlist Elevator Operator Lance Jr. An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York) Canned Tomatoes (Whole) Small Poppies Dead Fox Depreston Avant Gardener Kim's Caravan Scotty Says History Eraser Pedestrian at Best Lucius Setlist Nothing Ordinary Tempest Go Home Don’t Just Sit There How Loud Your Heart Gets Dusty Trails (New Song) You Were On My Mind (Ian & Sylvia cover) Turn it Around Genevieve thestand4rd Setlist Binoculars Stay Wavey Doors Vital Signs Blind Decisions Pretty Tryna **k Read More Rock the Garden Rock the Garden returns to the Walker Art Center as a two-day affair June 20/21, with acts to be announced on-air March 31st. Wishful thinking says Belle and Sebastian w/Courtney Barnett …

Rock the Garden just took place last Saturday. This is the second year that the event was expanded to two days instead of one. The benefit to this is, of course, to bring in more bands and save money by re-using the same stage and setup.

If you missed Rock the Garden this year, you can tune into 89.3 The Current on Tuesday, June 30 and Wednesday, July 1 for the rebroadcasts of the music festival.

Additionally, you'll find our recap below. For more photos, head over to Photos: Rock the Garden (20 June 2015).

thestand4rd

thestand4rd

In only their third area performance, locals thestand4rd opened up the festival and the afternoon as the youngest act ever to play, and got the crowd going with a slow-simmering 30 min. set.  MC Allan Kingdom has gathered the most buzz of the collective, being featured on Kanye West’s single, ‘All Day’ which also has Sir Paul McCartney on it, and 17 yr old Corbin has previously garnered praise under the guise of Spooky Black.

The slow, looped beats of ‘Binoculars’ were an ideal first-course to the day ahead, with tempo ramping up mid-set for ‘Vital Signs’.  With producer/MC Bobby Raps giving a shout-out to his grandparents in the audience, it seemed like a chilled and relaxed performance amongst a few thousand of their closest friends.

Lucius

Lucius

There’s a mutual love affair going on, and it’s all pretty obvious.  We’ve followed Brooklyn indie-pop band Lucius since their beginnings and have covered every local appearance, each time to greater numbers.  So, it was more than appropriate to have them added to the roster and a bonus that they were also around to see the original painting of their album cover, a 1964 work by Belgian pop artist Evelyne Axell, which happened to be on display at the Walker Art Center.

Any lack of sunshine was more than made up for as singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig wore matching lemon yellow dresses and had short cropped red hairdos.  They mentioned getting into town and going “straight to Nye’s - we had some pirogies and do-si-doed”, which endeared them to the few in the crowd that didn’t know them before. Their brief 40 min set consisted of much of their debut album, along with new song, ‘Dusty Trails’ and a cover of the obscure 60’s Ian & Sylvia/We Five song, ‘You Were on My Mind’.

Courtney Barnett

Courtney Barnett

Another first, Melbourne’s Courtney Barnett became the premier Australian act to grace the RTG stage, with a straight-ahead 60 min set,  in support of her Mom+Pop Music/ Marathon Artists debut, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit.

Joined by Dave Mudie and Bones Sloane, the trio emerged in the hot afternoon, amidst a pumped-in fog and donned in all black, and were immediately in top gear with ‘Elevator Operator’.

Lyrically surreal but irresistible, Barnett and co. bravely took a no-prisoners approach, knowing that their stage time was limited and the ferocity of basic rock ‘n roll was the ideal prescription for a festival crowd on a warm afternoon.  Slowing down only for the mid-set ‘Depreston’, she slipped a chugging ‘Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party’ into the set before radio hit, ‘Avant Gardener’, and closed with a shredding ‘Pedestrian at Best’.

Conor Oberst

Conor Oberst

Conor Oberst started his set with a few tracks from his latest Upside Down Mountain, but ended up doing a collection of old Bright Eyes songs (‘Four Winds’, ‘Southern State’, ‘Method Acting’, ‘Poison Oak’ and ‘Easy/Lucky/Free’). The audience didn't mind one bit, having a great time singing along to all these fan favorite songs.

Oberst's band was none other than The Felice Brothers, who actually played one of their song, ‘Meadow of a Dream’, midway in their set. Oberst's wife, Corina Figueroa Escamilla, joined him on stage for ‘Poison Oak’ and ‘Easy / Lucky / Free’.

While many of Oberst's songs on this set were uplifting and meant for a live audience, he decided to end with a slower song, ‘Milk Thistle’, with its haunting lyrics of like a crying baby at the bottom of a well.

Trivia: Apparently Woody Harrelson, taking a break from filming Wilson, stopped in at Rock the Garden to check out Oberst's set.

Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian

We've been steadily watching Belle & Sebastian as they made their way to Los Angeles, California (06 Oct 2014) and Sydney, Australia (29 Jan 2015)... so by the time they came here, after a nine year's absent, we kind of already knew what their set and show stopper would be. For those who didn't follow along, they were in for a treat and loving and dancing to the Scottish band.

Joining B&S on stage were Laurels String Quartet, who actually recorded tracks for the band's latest Girls in Peacetime Wants to Dance.

Several tracks from the new album were played, which went over well. Particularly ‘The Everlasting Muse’ sounded much better live, with its ups and downs, which did not translate on the studio album.

Fan invasion

Fan-favorite ‘Piazza, New York Catcher’ (dedicated to the Twins who partly sponsored Rock the Garden) was done in a totally different arrangement... which is understandable as the band probably got tired of playing the same chords. Thankfully, bandleader/singer Stuart Murdoch did not forget his lines for ‘Piazza’, unlike their 2003 appearance at Fitzgerald Theater, when he had trouble remembering the lines in the song (to be fair, that song has a gobful of lyrics).

Setlist

As you can see from their setlist, ‘The Wrong Girl’ was chosen over another Stevie Jackson-penned song ‘Jonathan David’. Personally, we preferred the latter, for sure, but that song would require fancy piano playing.

Of course, the two closing tracks, ‘The Boy With the Arab Strap’ and ‘I Didn't See It Coming’ were absolutely unforgettable. Murdoch walked on the front barrier and asked if anyone wanted to dance and encourage fans to come on stage. About thirty fans jumped to the stage and just had an absolute blast singing and dancing... and, yes, taking plenty of selfies.

NOTE: Thanks to Andrea at the Current for providing much of the set lists.

Belle and Sebastian at Rock the Garden, Minneapolis (20 June 2015)

vu + john ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Photos: Rock the Garden (20 June 2015)

Belle & Sebastian Setlist Nobody's Empire I'm A Cuckoo The Party Line Another Sunny Day Cat in the Cream Perfect Couples Piazza, New York Catcher The Everlasting Muse The Wrong Girl Dog on Wheels Dirty Dream #2 The Boy With the Arab Strap I Didn't See It Coming Read More Belle & Sebastian I've seen Belle & Sebastian twice, but have never made the commitment to tracking them down for autographs. That's got to be tough, as you know the group is large (currently: Stuart Murdoch, Stevie Jackson ...

Hi! This is just a quick post to get photographs of the Rock the Garden music festival event from Saturday (20 June 2015). Full review and recap soon.

Additional photos will be uploaded as soon as it is available and processed here: RTG 2015 Photo Gallery.

There are still a few tickets left for Rock the Garden on Sunday. This is Babes in Toyland's homecoming gig since their reunion! You have to be there!

Rock the Garden 2015 Schedule

Sunday, June 21
2:00 pm – Gates open
Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger 3:45 – 4:15 PM
JD McPherson 4:30 – 5:15 PM
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 5:45 – 6:45 PM
Babes in Toyland 7:15 – 8:15 PM
Modest Mouse 8:45 – 10 PM
10 pm – Music ends
10:30 pm – Gates close

Rock the Garden Photos (Saturday):

Belle and Sebastian at Rock the Garden, Minneapolis (20 June 2015)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Minneapolis: June 20, 2015

Here are some concerts taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area on June 20, 2015.

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide.

Read More Rock the Garden Rock the Garden returns to the Walker Art Center as a two-day affair June 20/21, with acts to be announced on-air March 31st. Wishful thinking says Belle and Sebastian w/Courtney Barnett … Belle & Sebastian I've seen Belle & Sebastian twice, but have never made the commitment to tracking them down for autographs. That's got to be tough, as you know the group is large (currently: Stuart Murdoch, Stevie Jackson ... Modest Mouse Anyroad, Modest Mouse released We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank on 20 March 2007. This is the first studio album featuring Johnny Marr (ex-Smiths and Healers)! It comes in three formats ... Babes in Toyland Since I love all-things Riot Grrrls, naturally I wanted to check out Babes in Toyland live. A little trivia, but the legendary Minneapolis band actually fired bassist Courtney Love in 1987 … thestand4rd I've never heard of this this Minnesota-based, who seemed to have only formed late last year, featuring Corbin “Spooky” Black, Allan Kingdom, Psymun and Bobby Raps. …

ROCK THE GARDEN
at Walker Art Center
Saturday, 06/20/15, 2pm ($64)
Details: walkerart.org

We have been super excited about Rock the Garden this year, ever since we predicted that Belle & Sebastian was going to be one of the headliner, back in February 2015.

Some notes about the 2015 bands:

Local Thestand4rd got massive buzz when Allan Kingdom performed with Kanye West at the Brit awards.

Belle & Sebastian's last Minnesota appearance was in 2006, which we were there. The Scottish band's latest album Peacetime Wants to Dance is out now on Matador Records, however, looking at their recent setlists - the band will be playing a lot of old favorites.

Babes in Toyland's homecoming show will be at the Rock the Garden festival on Sunday (their first Minneapolis show since they reformed)... before heading out on their UK tour (see complete tour dates at news.weheartmusic.com.) The rumor is that there may be a last-minute secret local show.

Of course, I bought Modest Mouse's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank album simply based on the fact that they employed The Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr ... however, was disappointed to find them sans-Marr when they toured in support of that album. The Washington band's latest album Strangers to Ourselves came out March 17, 2015.

Rock the Garden 2015 Schedule

Saturday, June 20
2:00 pm – Gates open
Thestand4rd 3:45 – 4:15 PM
Lucius 4:30 – 5:15 PM
Courtney Barnett 5:45 – 6:45 PM
Conor Oberst 7:15 – 8:15 PM
Belle & Sebastian 8:45 – 10 PM
10 pm – Music ends
10:30 pm – Gates close

Sunday, June 21
2:00 pm – Gates open
Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger 3:45 – 4:15 PM
JD McPherson 4:30 – 5:15 PM
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 5:45 – 6:45 PM
Babes in Toyland 7:15 – 8:15 PM
Modest Mouse 8:45 – 10 PM
10 pm – Music ends
10:30 pm – Gates close

Read More Stone Arch Bridge Festival Father's Day is the last day of The Stone Arch Bridge Art and Music Festival, a free Cities 97 sponsored event. … Two Harbors Opening up the show was local Two Harbors, unveiling tracks from their latest album The Natural Order of Things (out in May on Susstones Records). Singer Chris Pavlich is dressed accordingly, in 60-ish mod fashion … Reina del Cid Listed as opener, and previously mentioned in the brief talk, are Reina del Cid. I believe the band (Reina del Cid on vocals/guitars, Toni Lindgren on lead guitar, Chris Wiberg on upright bass, and Zach Schmidt on drums …

STONE ARCH BRIDGE FESTIVAL
at Riverfront District
Saturday, 06/20/15, 11am (FREE)
Details: stonearchbridgefestival.com

The annual Stone Arch Bridge Festival is also taking place Father's Day Weekend, with emphasis on bicycling and family-friendly atmosphere.

NOTE: As an added bonus, local businesses Wilde Roast and Mattie’s on Main present a new stage on Riverplace Plaza with music, food, and a beer garden. This stage is listed below as “Mattie’s Stage” and is not booked by the Stone Arch Bridge Festival.

Star Tribune Stage in Father Hennepin Park
1:15 pm – Bernice Brown Gregory
2:15 pm – Go Get ‘Em, Tiger!
3:15 pm – Swallows
4:15 pm – Jessica Manning
5:15 pm – Mother Banjo
6:15 pm –Reina del Cid

Cities 97 Stage on Water Power Park
12:45 pm – Danami and the Blue
1:45 pm – Monica LaPlante
2:45 pm – Vision the Kid & Tru
3:45 pm – Ronnie Buxtons
4:45 pm – Some Pulp
5:45 pm – Two Harbors
6:45 pm – Katy Vernon & Band

City Pages Stage under the Central Avenue Bridge
11:15 am – Bob & Lynn Dixon
12:15 pm – Fox & Coyote
1:15 pm – Mike Munson
2:15 pm – Amanda Standalone
3:15 pm – David Gerald Sutton
4:15 pm – Peter Lochner
5:15 pm – Adam Svec
6:15 pm – Brianna Lane

Mattie’s Stage on Riverplace Plaza
11:00 am – Colby Kent
12:00 pm – Jake Manders
1:00 pm – Power T and Solpower Collective
2:00 pm – McNasty Brass Band
3:00 pm – Alex Rossi & The New Roots
4:00 pm – Herschel & The Detainees
5:00 pm – Nooky Jones
6:00 pm – Hustle Rose

Read More Kopecky Family Band Last year Kopecky Family Band opened up for Lissie for a number of shows... this year, they're playing a ton of dates for their so-called "Putting the Kids to Bed Tour". …

KOPECKY
at Turf Club
Saturday, 06/20/15, 8pm ($12/18+)
Details: turfclub.net

If the name Kopecky sounded familiar, it is because they were previously in town last Rocktober 2014 under the name Kopecky Family Band.

The Nashville based is touring to promote their latest album, Drug for the Modern Age, which came out May 19th.

Madison's Dolores and Minneapolis' Treading North to open the show.

Tour dates:

6/12 at MidPoint Music Fest in Cincinnati, OH
6/13 at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, IL
6/16 at Vega in Lincoln, NE
6/18 at Vanguard in Tulsa, OK
6/20 at Turf Club in Minneapolis, MN
6/26 at U Street Music Hall in Washington, DC
6/27 at WYEP’s Summer Music Festival
7/26 at XPoNential Music Festival in Camden, NJ
8/08 at Chateau Morrisette Winery in Floyd, VA
9/18 at Bristol Rhythm and Roots

Read More Mono Not to be confused with the defunct French band, this Mono is a Japanese instrumental shoegaze band. Their last album, called Hymn to the Immortal Wind, which was three years ago …

MONO
at Cedar Cultural Center
Saturday, 06/20/15, 7pm ($12)
Details: thecedar.org

I'm actually a big fan of the French band Mono... but have never seen them live (they weren't together for very long). However, I have seen the Japanese Mono band live a long time ago in Minneapolis.

Mono will be back in town at the Cedar Cultural Center on Saturday, June 20th.

Miami's Holly Hunt (duo Beatriz Monteavaro and Gavin Perry) will open the show.

Tour dates:

06/11/15 Hamden, CT The Ballroom
06/12/15 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge
06/13/15 Cambridge, MA Middle East
06/14/15 Montreal, QC La Tulipe
06/15/15 Ottawa, ON Ritual Nightclub
06/16/15 Toronto, ON Lee's Palace
06/17/15 Detroit, MI Majestic Cafe
06/18/15 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge
06/19/15 Milwaukee, WI Rave Bar
06/20/15 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural
06/23/15 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
06/24/15 Seattle, WA Neumos
06/26/15 San Francisco, CA Independent
06/27/15 West Hollywood, CA Troubadour
06/28/15 San Diego, CA Casbah
06/29/15 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
07/01/15 Dallas, TX Dada Dallas
07/02/15 Austin, TX Red 7
09/06/15 Overload Music Fest

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