W♥M

Flashback: The Get Up Kids at Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (2011-07-10)

Setlist Your Petty Pretty Things I'm a Loner Dottie, a Rebel Regent's Court Action & Action No Love Off the Wagon Overdue Shatter Your Lungs Red Letter Day Woodson Pararelevant Shorty Holy Roman Campfire Kansas Rememorable Don't Hate Me Walking on a Wire -- Encore -- Girls & Boys (Blur cover) Holiday Don't Hate Me Beer for Breakfast (The Replacements cover) Ten Minutes Read More The Get Up Kids As far as I know, The Get Up Kids doesn’t have a new album, but their breakout album Something To Write About got a “Deluxe” reissue recently. The band also appeared on Episode 3 of Vagrant Records: 25 Years on the Streets …

With The Get Up Kids playing the Turf Club in St Paul this coming October 03, 2021, let’s take a look back at the band 10 years ago, at the defunct Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis on July 10, 2011. They were just as popular now as they were a decade ago.

>>>
The Get Up Kids haven't been around for a few years, but they are NOT forgotten, as evident by the nice turnout for the band on a hot Sunday evening at the Triple Rock Social Club. And you know what that means: three bands for triple the rock.

Major Crimes

I thought the first band, Major Crimes, sounded great. They were tight, was especially impressed with the drums. As it turns out, this trio went under the name Brian Bonz and the Major Crimes (Bonz is the drummer), but what's interesting is that Bonz is not doing the vocals on stage. Instead, singing duties were left to the guitarist and bassist.

The Globes

The Globes were up next. I thought their debut Barsuk album, Future Self, was well produced, and I was glad to see they carry their spacey progressive rock sound live. As expected, they did a lot of songs from their album, complete with strange neck playing of the guitars, cowbells, and weird loops and guitar pedals.

For those who aren't familiar with The Get Up Kids, they were maybe unfairly grouped together with the emo scene of the 90s. This scene includes such hot acts like Dashboard Confessional, Thursday, Jimmy Eat World, and Saves the Day. While the band hated this tag, I believe it also help boost their rise in popularity.

What I liked about their setlist, is that they get it right: they'll sandwich new songs between old favorites, like "Woodson", etc. You can always tell which one were the old songs as everyone is singing along.

Jim Suptic told this story about how they were at Summerfest and they had started a massive "USA" chant. Hilariously the "USA" chants was repeated throughout the show.

When the last song, "Walking on a Wire", was done, the crowd went into the usual "USA" chant for the traditional encore. The true irony is that they opened up their encore with a cover of UK's Blur song "Girls and Boys". This is quite an interesting cover choice for the band, and as much as I enjoyed the cover, the song was lost on its younger audience who has probably never heard of the song and/or could care less.

The other three encore songs included two Get Up Kids favorites "Don't Hate Me" and "Ten Minutes", and between those two songs was another cover: The Replacements' "Beer For Breakfast". The 'Mats was clearly a song choice chosen for the Minneapolis show. Outro song was Lou Reed's "Perfect Day". I don't know if the outro song was a request by the band, but it seems quite fitting for this show.

The Get Up Kids' fifth studio album, There Are Rules, was released in January. Go see them on tour to welcome them back.

The Get Up Kids at Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (2011-07-10)

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Kelly Lee Owens at Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis (2021-09-16)

09/16/2021: Kelly Lee Owens at Fine Line   Setlist Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (Radiohead cover) Keep Walking Lucid Anxi. L.I.N.E. Bird On Night Re-Wild Jeanette Evolution Melt! Kingsize (Jenny Hval cover) Read More Kelly Lee Owens Kelly Lee Owens is touring in support of Inner Song Remix Series EP, a remix album of last year’s Inner Song (Smalltown Supersound). The album which NPR Music called “reclaiming space for women in dance music … Andrew Broder Andrew Broder and 37𝖽03𝖽’s residency at the Turf Club starts on Wednesday, January 9th. The two will be playing the Turf every Wednesday in January. …

Welsh electronic musician and producer Kelly Lee Owens headlined the Fine Line Music Café, in downtown Minneapolis, on September 16th, 2021, as part of her tour Inner Song… the follow-up to her critically acclaimed self-titled album.

Local musician Andrew Broder opened the show. Broder is also in the trio Fog (not to be confused with England’s The Fog), who released For Good, and went on a world tour with Polica in 2016.

For the Fine Line show, Broder is strictly doing DJ stuff… cranking handles, pushing buttons, and staring intensely at a laptop screen. Admittedly watching DJs doing their thing isn’t always the most exciting thing, but that’s not the point. The point is putting out music to get the crowd to move… and it did get the audience to bop, rave, and dance.

It’s been a long time since Broder was back on the stage, you can tell he seemed really excited to be performing again.

Kelly Lee Owens started her set in complete darkness, hidden under a hooded robe playing a cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”.

As movie projected on the canvas at the back of the stage, you see Owens in her sheer dress, singing “Keep Walking”.

Jenny Hval singing "Kingsize" (vuart)

Owens ended her set with a Jenny Hval cover, “Kingsize”. This is such an odd choice of cover, as no one in America will be familiar with the Norwegian singer. We know Hval, we heard her perform that song in Sep 2015, but Owens version is technically its own song. The song is such a departure that it was actually released as “Kingsize (Kelly Lee Owens Rework)”.

Remaining tour dates:

09/19 - Portland, OR @ Holocene
09/22 - Oakland, CA @ Starline
09/25 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
10/22 - 10/23 - Miami, FL @ III Points Festival

Off topic, but in reading up on Kelly Lee Owens, I found out that when she first moved to London, she interned at XL Recordings and ended up playing bass in The History of Apple Pie. We actually wrote about that band in Nov 2012 and said how Graham Coxon (Blur) was a massive fan.

Kelly Lee Owens

Andrew Broder

Kelly Lee Owens

Kelly Lee Owens

Kelly Lee Owens

Kelly Lee Owens at Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis (2021-09-16)

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Dog days of Summer

Read more Dog Day Afternoon, Who Let the Dogs Out? and When Animals Attack.

that dog.: Old LP Read More That Dog You'll remember that Waronker, along with Rachel and her twin sister Petra, were in a band called That Dog (who had that "Minneapolis" song that we Minnesotans love). …

THAT DOG
hellomerch.com/that-dog

Beloved Los Angeles band That Dog (stylized as that dog.) will be releasing a new album Old LP on October 4, 2019 via Ume… their first new album in 22 years (or 3.14 in dog years)!

As we previously mentioned, the trio (currently guitarist/vocalist Anna Waronker, drummer Tony Maxwell, and bassist/vocalist Rachel Haden) recorded the album in over three years in Los Angeles and features a variety of guests, including Maya Rudolph, Randy Newman, Blur’s Graham Coxon, and Go-Go’s Charlotte Caffey, among many other guests.

Old LP track listing:

1. Your Machine
2. Just The Way
3. Bird On A Wire
4. Drip Drops
5. If You Just Didn't Do It
6. When We Were Young
7. Alone Again
8. Down Without A Fight
9. Never Want To See Your Face Again
10. Least I Could Do
11. Old LP

PBDY: Eucalyptus & Lavender / So Help Me (DOG) Read More PBDY Between sets, PBDY (Paul Preston) was the DJ. He played about 15-20 minutes of some dance/electronic beats. The first set (after Salami Rose Joe Louis) was a little calmer, space out with …

PBDY
twitter.com/paulpbdy

We just saw PBDY last week. The Los Angeles-based producer and DJ recently released his brand new single “Eucalyptus & Lavender / So Help Me (DOG)” via Brainfeeder.

The track features Jeff Parker (of animal-named Tortoise) on guitar, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on viola and Justin Brown (from another animal-named band Thundercat) on drums.

If you get a chance, check out PBDY and Flying Lotus on tour:

08-29 Philadelphia, PA - Franklin Music Hall
08-30 Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Mirage
08-31 North Adams, MA - MASS MoCa
09-02 Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE
09-03 Columbus, OH - Express Live
09-04 Nashville, TN - Marathon Music Works
09-05 Cincinnati, OH - Madison Theater
09-06 Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore
09-07 Richmond, VA - The National
09-10 Raleigh, NC - The Ritz
09-11 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
09-12 New Orleans, LA - Joy Theater
09-13 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
09-14 Austin, TX - Emo’s
09-15 Dallas, TX - South Side Ballroom
09-18 Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren
09-19 San Diego, CA - House of Blues
09-20 Los Angeles, CA - The Novo

Joyero: Release the Dogs Read More Wye Oak Wye Oak will be returning in 2014 with a brand new yet-untitled album from Merge Records, the follow-up to their 2011's Civilian. Singer Jenn Wasner talked to Spin Magazine about the new album…

JOYERO
mergerecords.com/joyero

Joyero is the new project from Andy Stack (the founding member of rock duo Wye Oak). His solo debut record Release the Dogs is out now on Merge Records. Personally speaking, I’m not that surprised, considering that the other half of Wye Oak, Jenn Wasner has her own project with Flock of Dimes… so that probably left Stack with a little time on his hands to produce this solo album.

Check out Joyero’s music video for “Dogs” on youtube.com.

To promote the new record, Joyero will set on tour:

Sep 07 Raleigh, NC – Hopscotch Music Festival
Sep 17 Glasgow, UK – The Hug and Pint
Sep 18 Leeds, UK – Headrow House
Sep 25 Copenhagen, DK – Lille Vega
Sep 26 Berlin, DE – Bi Nuu
Sep 27 Leipzig, DE – UZ Connewitz
Sep 28 Hamburg, DE – Elbphilharmonie
Sep 30 Brussels, DE – Botanique
Oct 02 Manchester, UK – Band on the Wall
Oct 03 Bristol, UK – St. George
Oct 04 London, UK – Union Chapel
Oct 05 Paris, FR – La Maroquinerie
Oct 06 Nancy, FR – l'Autre Canal
Oct 08 Zurich, CH – Rote Fabrik
Oct 09 Fribourg, CH – Fri-Son
Oct 10 Milan, IT – Circolo Ohibò
Nov 03 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
Nov 07 San Francisco, CA – August Hall
Nov 08 Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
Nov 09 Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
Nov 13 Denver, CO – Globe Hall
Nov 15 Dallas, TX – Kessler Theater
Nov 16 Austin, TX – Mohawk
Nov 17 Houston, TX – The Heights Theater
Nov 19 Asheville, NC – The Mothlight
Nov 20 Durham, NC – Motorco
Nov 21 Charlottesville, VA – The Southern
Nov 22 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
Nov 23 Baltimore, MD – Union Craft Brewing

Darrin Bradbury: Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs Read More John Moreland John Moreland will play Turf Club in St Paul this Friday. Will Johnson (formerly of Centro-matic) to open. Johnson’s latest Hatteras Night, A Good Luck Charm is available now. 8pm, $12. …

DARRIN BRADBURY
darrinbradbury.com

Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs is the new album from Darrin Bradbury. The record comes out September 20th on ANTI- Records.

To promote the record, Bradbury is heading out on tour… opening for John Moreland and later for Jarrod Dickenson:

Sept 10-15 – Nashville, TN – AMERICANAFEST
Sept 30 – Baltimore, MD – Creative Alliance *
Oct 1 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere *
Oct 4 – Garwood, NJ – Crossroads *
Nov 22 – London – The Cavendish Arms ^
Nov 23 – Broadhempston – Broadhempston Church ^
Nov 24 – Shrewsbury – Henry Tudor House ^
Nov 25 – Manchester – Gullivers ^
Nov 27 – Halifax – The Lantern ^
Nov 28 – Norwich – Waterfront Studio ^
Nov 29 – London – The Cavendish Arms ^
Nov 30 – Liverpool – Prohibition Recording Studio ^
Dec 1 – Glasgow – The Blue Arrow ^
Dec 2 – Edinburgh – The Voodoo Rooms ^
Dec 3 – Newcastle – Cluny 2 ^
Dec 5 – Bristol – Rough Trade ^
Dec 7 – Belfast – Ulster Sports Club ^

* supporting John Moreland
^ supporting Jarrod Dickenson

Smooth Hound Smith: Dog In A Manger Read More Smooth Hound Smith Lindi Ortega with Smooth Hound Smith will be at Cedar Cultural Center (7pm/$15) You may recall we caught the singer in 2013 at Icehouse when she was touring in support of Tin Star (Last Gang Records). …

SMOOTH HOUND SMITH
smoothhoundsmith.com

Nashville’s Smooth Hound Smith (husband-and-wife duo of Zack Smith and Caitlin Doyle-Smith) just released Dog In A Manger on Tone Tree.

As usual with a new album release, the duo will be heading out on tour (note: they’ll be in the Twin Cities on October 20 at the Turf Club):

Aug 28 - Nashville, TN @ Grimeys In Store
Sep 01 - Nashville, TN @ Live on the Green
Sep 12 - Nashville, TN @ The Basement
Sep 13 - Nashville, TN @ 5 Spot (AmericanaFest)
Sep 19 - Charlotte, NC @ The Evening Muse
Sep 20 - Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern
Sep 21 - Easton, MD @ Stoltz Listening Room
Sep 23 - Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
Sep 24 - Washington, DC @ Pie Shop
Sep 25 - New York City, NY @ Mercury Lounge
Sep 26 - Cambridge, MA @ Atwoods Tavern
Sep 27 - Portsmouth, NH @ The Press Room
Sep 28 - Portland, ME @ Portland House
Sep 29 - North Truro, MA @ Vinegrass Festival
Oct 01 - Montreal, QC @ Quai Des Brumes
Oct 03 - Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
Oct 04 - Rochester, NY @ Abilene Bar & Lounge
Oct 05 - King of Prussia, PA @ workhorse Brewery
Oct 06 - Pittsburgh PA @ Club Cafe
Oct 10 - Knoxville, TN @ Open Chord Music
Oct 11 - Newport, KY @ Southgate House Revival
Oct 12 - Lexington, KY @ The Burl
Oct 16 - St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House
Oct 17 - Arlington Heights, IL @ Hey Nonny
Oct 18 - Berwyn, IL @ Fitzgerald's
Oct 19 - Kaukauna, WI @ Calmes' Pub
Oct 20 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Oct 22 - Omaha, NE @ O'Leaver's Pub
Oct 24 - Boulder, CO @ eTown
Oct 25 - Greeley, CO @ Moxi Theater
Oct 26 - Denver, CO @ Lost Lake Lounge
Oct 28 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Urban Lounge
Oct 29 - Boise, ID @ The Olympic
Oct 31 - Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern

Old Salt Union: Where The Dogs Don’t Bite

OLD SALT UNION
oldsaltunion.com

Stringband Old Salt Union released their fourth studio album Where The Dogs Don’t Bite on Compass Records. The Alison Brown produced record offers up a musically expansive and slightly darker side from Old Salt Union.

See the band on tour now (they just passed through Minnesota):

8/24 @ Riverside Park | La Crosse, WI
9/4 @ The Bend Concert Series | East Moline, IL
9/5 @ Gabe's | Iowa City, IA
9/6 @ The District | Ankeny IA
9/7 @ Hey Nonny | Arlington Heights, IL
9/8 @ Black Swamp Arts Festival | Bowling Green, OH
9/13 @ Pickin in the Pines | Flagstaff AZ
9/19-9/21 @ Walnut Valley Festival | Winfield, KS
9/27 - 9/29 @ Roots N Blues N BBQ | Columbia, MO
10/4 @ The Castle Theatre | Bloomington, IL
10/5 @ The Ark | Ann Arbor, MI
10/19 @ The Wander Down Music Festival | Makanda, IL
10/24 @ Hodi's Half Note | Fort Collins, CO
10/26 @ Bluebird Theater | Denver, CO

SHOTGUN TORI & THE HOUNDS shotguntori.com South Africa’s Shotgun Tori & The Hounds just released their self-title album. The band is described as folk/country and draws comparisons to Drive-By-Truckers if fronted by a combination of Amanda Shires and Martha Wainwright. Shotgun Tori & The Hounds will be playing White Mountain Folk on September 27 and MixFest 2019 on September 28

DOG IN THE SNOW doginthesnow.com Dog In The Snow is the stagename for Brighton–based artist Helen Ganya Brown. Her album Vanishing Lands is due this November 15, 2019, on Bella Union. We randomly saw Brown in July 2016 at a Fear of Men show (she worked the keys and bass). The record promises “an imposing, haunting and luminous collection of songs in the darker spaces between dream-pop, art-rock and electronica, lifted by euphoric melodies, ravishing vocals and absorbing lyrics.”

HACKTIVIST hacktivist.uk.com British rap metal band Hacktivist released their new single “Dogs of War” this month. The song was inspired by a series of talks by Mark Passio and George Orwell’s themes of “double think” and “news speak” (from the novel 1984). Hacktivist consists of: Jermaine "J" Hurley Josh Gurner Richard Hawking Jot Maxi James Hewitt

HOUND THE WOLVES bandcamp.com Portland’s Hound the Wolves recently released the video for “Everything Lies Veiled In Numbers”, taken from the band’s album Camera Obscura. Formed in 2015, the band was started as an art project among friends has transformed into the full-blown heavy rock experience of Hound the Wolves. Hound The Wolves is: Tim Burke – lap steel, drones, soundscapes Juan Carlos Caceres - Guitar, vocals, words Cory DeCaire - Bass Ryan McPhaill - Drums Nate Wright – Moog, aux percussion

vu (vu@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.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:

Blur at Madison Square Garden, New York (23 October 2015)

Setlist Go Out There's No Other Way Lonesome Street Badhead End of a Century Ghost Ship Coffee & TV Out of Time Country Sad Ballad Man Beetlebum Thought I Was a Spaceman Trimm Trabb Tender Parklife Song 2 To the End This Is a Low -- Encore -- Stereotypes Girls & Boys For Tomorrow The Universal Read More 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) …

It seems Damon Albarn of Blur has felt the years-long sting of not quite being able to translate the band's massive popularity in their native England into the same success in the more elusive U.S.

Damon Albarn in Los Angeles

Playing only two dates in North America at ambitiously large venues -- the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden in New York -- Albarn seemed to be making a statement: we were meant to be legends here, too. Neither show sold out, despite impressive turnouts of diehards from Britpop's '90s heyday to younger late converts and just fans of the pub-by hit "Song 2" (the one where you scream "Woo-hoo!" after your team wins).

Since I'm one of those diehard fans, 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.

This may be their last concert...

The band stuck mostly to their set list from L.A., with the addition of the beautiful, swelling pop ballad "End of a Century" and the random, fuzzed-out buzz of "Country Sad Ballad Man," with a blistering, trancelike solo from guitarist Graham Coxon. Fans all around the Garden flashed their cellphone lights in tribute to "Tender," a touching moment likely for fans and band alike. With no Fred Armisen as in L.A., Albarn announced that comedian Mike Myers was also approached but unable to stand in for Phil Daniels on "Parklife." Instead, a small group of fans came onstage, with one lucky young woman giving her all for the first verse while Damon filled in the rest. From "There's No Other Way" to "Go Out," the rest of the setlist was mostly a survey of singles from their catalogue (though sadly missing that charming, silly love song, "Ong Ong" from their most recent The Magic Whip.)

They can jump and thrash in fits, but this is a band that's mellowed with age, in song and in spirit. It's definitely nothing to be ashamed of -- nor, Damon, is your inability to "break America" with Blur. These are a fan's notes, and my heart soared, I sang along, and I was grateful.

robin ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Blur at Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA (20 October 2015)

Read More 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) … Robin just saw Blur at the Hollywood Bowl. Highlight of the show was comedian/singer Fred Armisen (from Portlandia) showing up to sing on "Parklife". Courtney Barnett was the opener. Tonight, Robin is in New York to catch Blur one last time. Setlist: Go Out There's No Other Way Lonesome Street Badhead Ghost Ship Coffee & TV Out of Time Caravan Beetlebum Thought I Was a Spaceman Trimm Trabb Tender Outro: "Don't fall for Trump/He's such a chump" Parklife with Fred Armisen Song 2 To the End This Is a Low -- Encore -- Stereotypes Girls & Boys For Tomorrow The Universal vu ♥ robin ♥ weheartmusic.com photo by robin

Blur at Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney (25 July 2015)

Blur Setlist Go Out There's No Other Way Lonesome Street Badhead Ghost Ship Coffee & TV Out of Time Beetlebum Thought I Was a Spaceman Trimm Trabb Tender Trouble in the Message Centre Parklife Ong Ong Song 2 Pyongyang To the End This Is a Low -- Encore -- Stereotypes Girls & Boys For Tomorrow The Universal Tour Dates 07/26/15 Splendour In The Grass (Sydney) 07/28/15 Melbourne, Australia Rod Laver 07/30/15 Perth, Australia Perth Arena 09/05/15 Electric Picnic 10/07/15 Santiago, Chile Movistar Arena 10/11/15 Buenos Aires Tecnopolis 10/15/15 Mexico City Palacio De Los Deportes 10/20/15 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl 10/23/15 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Read More Blur Blur drummer Dave Rowntree would like very much to prove that adage wrong, as according to NME, he'll run as a Labour Party candidate for the local council election in his Marylebone …

"Sorry we haven't been back sooner, Sydney"...."18 years!". Hang on a second... it has been 18 years since Blur played the Hordern Pavilion (that's 1997 for those who need some friendly Sunday morning maths assistance).

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) for the first time in 18 years!

Playing to a very nearly sold out crowd, Blur played a mixed bag from all eight of their albums, complete with backing singers and a four-piece (at least it looked like four from where I was standing) horn section. There's No Other Way, Trimm Trabb, Trouble in the Message Centre, Parklife, Coffee and TV and of course the crowd pleasing, Song 2; all the hits were played. (No Country House... but not sad about it)

As the tour is off the back of the release of The Magic Whip they unsurprisingly played a handful of songs form the new album. I'm not sure about the rest of the crowd, but although I do love the album, songs like Go Out, Lonesome Street and Thought I Was a Spaceman, really didn't strike the same chord in me as the older songs did.

I could not pick a fault with the show in terms of musicality. Each song played faultlessly.... except for the moment at which Graham managed to land a forward roll (whilst playing guitar), but had to miss a few notes whilst readjusting his strap. Damon was his relentlessly energetic self, Alex (dressed only in a t-shirt and shorts... dude! It's winter here!) was having an amazing time strutting his stuff for the pleasure of everyone right of stage, Graham's guitar playing was executed seemingly effortlessly and Dave... well, he's still Dave (face obscured by cymbal for the whole show, but i assume his only changed minimally).

I would also like to mention how pleasant it actually was being in the crowd. It was a significant difference from my last Blur experience: being 17 and frantically trying to be as close to the front as I could be; almost dying of heat exhaustion (I can only imagine how revolting i must have looked to anyone caught a glimpse - not that I cared); and being intermittently saturated by Damon's endless supply of "crowd water".

These days "crowd water" is still being widely thrown, but I felt no jostling or pushing. Just people happy to be there. There was even a "celebrity" sighting or three; with the dudes from Top Gear hanging side of stage. Didn't Jeremy Clarkson get the boot from that show? Who knows... who cares? Anyway, I digress....

After a mammoth two-hour set, one of two things were obvious from Graham's cheeky smiles and other facial expressions during the encore (where they played some of the classic singles: Stereotypes; Girls and Boys; For Tomorrow; and ending on a slow tune with The Universal) that Graham was either jetlagged and ready for a nice sit down, or he had played those songs so many times before that he had gone into auto-pilot mode and his mind was completely elsewhere. Either way, I was not disappointed (which is clearly evident, because the nanna in me usually gets annoyed during the short wait before an encore and is half way home before the band has finished).

Oh.. and support act? Sorry Jamie T, but I had to drink some beers in a pub down the street whilst you were playing; but by all reports you were pretty good and if time machines were a thing, I'd definitely turn up earlier to watch you.

http://www.blur.co.uk

http://www.splendourinthegrass.com

http://jamie-t.com

sally@weheartmusic.com

Blur at Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney (25 July 2015)

sally (sally@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ itunes.apple.com

W♥M213: Britpop Vu-And-Tell

W♥M213: Britpop Vu-And-Tell (36 mins) Read More Britpop April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, according to BBC6 and Radio 1. This whole month, we are devoting W♥M Radio to our love of Britpop. …

April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, so all month we're dedicating our show to the wonderful movement.

NOTE: This was originally shot on video, so if you want the visuals, you'll have to see it on YouTube. Because of YouTube's overly aggressive copyright policies, the music portion was taken out. Absolutely no thanks to Geffen Records.

Here's the Britpop timeline for consideration:

Suede: Suede (Mar 1993); Dog Man Star (Mar 1995)

Blur: Modern Life is Rubbish (May 1993); Parklife (Apr 1994)

Pulp: His n Hers (Apr 1994); Different Class (Oct 1995)

Lush: Split (Jun 1994)

Echobelly: Everyone's Got One (Jul 1994)

Oasis: Definitely Maybe (Aug 1994); Morning Glory (Oct 1995)

S*M*A*S*H: Self Abused (Sep 1994)

Shed Seven: Change Giver (Sep 1994)

Sleeper: Smart (Jan 1995)

Elastica: Elastica (Mar 1995)

Salad: Drink Me (May 1995)

These Animal Men: (Come on Join) The High Society (May 1995)

Gene: Olympian (Mar 1995)

Supergrass: I Should Coco (May 1995)

Cast: All Change (Oct 1995)

Bluetones: Expecting to Fly (Feb 1996)

Marion: This World and Body (Feb 1996)

Space: Spiders (Sep 1996)

Ash: 1977 (Jun 1996)

60ft Dolls: The Big 3 (Jan 1997)

Catatonia: International Velvet (Feb 1998)

Here is the video:

--
W♥M Radio is available on iTunes, please subscribe!

Subscription Options
Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe via RSS
Add to Google
Add to Yahoo
____
Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on podomatic.com

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

W♥M212: Britpop in the USA

W♥M212: Britpop in the USA (53 mins) Read More Britpop The second part of the show is all about British magazines. We touch on some of these: Select Magazine, Q Magazine, Vox, NME, Melody Maker, The Face, Word, Uncut Magazine, Mojo …

April 2014 is the 20th anniversary of Britpop, according to BBC6 and Radio 1.

This whole month, we are devoting W♥M Radio to our love of Britpop.

Vu and John discuss the story of Britpop, the short-lived movement from 1993 to 1997.

pre-Britpop

Start of Britpop

Important album: Blur's Parklife (Apr 1994)

Britpop in Mainstream

Britpop "Time Line"

Suede: Suede (Mar 1993); Dog Man Star (Mar 1995)

Blur: Parklife (Apr 1994)

Pulp: His n Hers (Apr 1994); Different Class (Oct 1995)

Echobelly: Everyone's Got One (Jul 1994)

Oasis: Definitely Maybe (Aug 1994); Morning Glory (Oct 1995)

Sleeper: Smart (Jan 1995)

Elastica: Elastica (Mar 1995)

Gene: Olympian (Mar 1995)

Supergrass: I Should Coco (May 1995)

Cast: All Change (Oct 1995)

Death of Britpop

Politics: Labour Party was elected

Record labels merging in 1997

Oasis: Be Here Now (Aug 1997)

Death of Princess Diana

Life after Britpop

There are a lot of exciting new British bands emerging and making it big in the U.S.A... including the 1975

Most of the old 90s Britpop bands are no longer around, but the few surviving ones are worth checking out if you've never seen/heard of them.

BONUS: A bunch of Britpop-era bands and snippets of music.

Vu and Select Magazine (Apr 1993)

--
W♥M Radio is available on iTunes, please subscribe!

Subscription Options
Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe via RSS
Add to Google
Add to Yahoo
____
Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on podomatic.com

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

W♥M209: SXSW Recap

W♥M209: SXSW Recap (50 mins) Read More SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) Music is next week: March 11-16th. Since March 1st, I've received about 200 emails with the subject header of "SXSW" …

The SXSW Recap episode for W♥M Radio, with Jonathan, Christopher, Brody, and Vu.

Highlights:

Introductions of Jonathan & Christopher

Moscow Girls

Irish bands (St Patrick's Day)

The Jungle Giants

Skaters

Sosoglos

"Top Lists"

Damon Albarn vs the 1975

Tips on discovering bands

The Strypes

Longer sets

Song of the show is The Crookes' "Play Dumb".

The Crookes are on tour:

03/23/14 The Echo Los Angeles, CA, US
04/12/14 Lincoln Imp Scunthorpe, UK
04/15/14 The Bodega Social Club Nottingham, UK
04/16/14 The Cockpit Leeds, UK Find tickets
04/17/14 The Cluny 2 Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
04/18/14 King Tut's Wah Wah Hut Glasgow, UK

BONUS: The drunk driver accident, and Julian Casablancas.

--
W♥M Radio is available on iTunes, please subscribe!

Subscription Options
Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe via RSS
Add to Google
Add to Yahoo
____
Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on podomatic.com

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic