W♥M: Early Eyes

06/18/2022

It Came From Minneapolis

07/08 Keep For Cheap with Bugsy and Early Eyes at Cedar Cultural Center

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Keep For Cheap to open. Tour dates Nov. 27 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades Nov. 28 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades Dec 1. – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas …

01/23/2022

Cancellations and Postponements

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Black Angels

Forget the Polar Vortex, the Winter Psych Storm is coming. A taste of Texas psychedelia hits the road as Austin’s The Black Angels brings 13th Floor Elevators rock legend Roky Erickson …

Adele

First up is Adele's 21 album has sold over 25 million records worldwide (10 million in the U.S. alone!). According to the press announcement, Adele is the only European female …

CNN wrote that concerts cancellations and postponements will be commonplace due to COVID-19 as Adele fights back tears when she announced her Las Vegas residency shows had been postponed.

According to On Gametime, the leading app/site for last minute tickets, two tickets to Adele’s show at Caesars Palace were going for over $96,950 (each seat is $48,475) including service fees.

Adele at the Theatre De La Jeune Lune (02 Jun 2008)

We are happy to brag that we saw Adele, front row seat, for $17.50 in June 2008. No one knew who she was at the time, having only just released her debut album 19. She actually didn’t have enough songs to fill out a full headliner show, so she threw in four cover songs, including Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” and Sam Cooke’s “That’s It I Quit I’m Movin’ On”.

Anyway, it’s sad to see the Adele cancellations, but this isn’t anything new to us, as we have experienced many last-minute cancellations since venues re-opened in July 2021 (Horsegirl at 7th Street Entry).

If you have a show booked this or next month, I suggest you check with the venue or the band’s social media accounts.

Recently, The Black Angels had to announce their show cancellation/postponement. Here is the message:

We're very sad to announce that we have to postpone our upcoming tour due to ongoing concerns and uncertainty about the spread of Covid-19. We will be announcing the rescheduled dates very soon, so please hold on to your tickets and they will be honored for the rescheduled shows. Can't wait to see you all when we get back out on the road soon!!!

Cancellations and Postponements.

Cancelled - Jan 19 Lomelda at 7th St Entry

Cancelled - Jan 20 OKnice at 7th St Entry

Cancelled - Jan 20 Dawn Richard at Turf Club

Cancelled - Jan 20 Wolves In The Throne Room at Fine Line

Cancelled - Jan 21 Early Eyes and Dante Elephante at 7th St Entry

Cancelled - Jan 21 Happy Birthday Janis at First Avenue

Cancelled – Jan 23 The Kernal at 7th St Entry

Cancelled – Jan 24 Diet Cig at 7th St Entry

Postponed – Jan 25 Jeff Rosenstock at First Avenue

Cancelled – Jan 27 Reptaliens and Yot Club at 7th St Entry

Postponed – Jan 28 Tall Heights at 7th St Entry

Cancelled - Jan 29 The Current's 17th Anniversary Party at First Avenue

Cancelled – Jan 29 Asaf Avidan at Fine Line

Postponed – Jan 30 STRFKR at First Avenue

Cancelled - Jan 30 Tim Lopez Birthday Show at 7th St Entry

Cancelled – Feb 3 Becky Kapell at Turf Club

Postponed - Feb 5 The Black Angels at First Avenue

Postponed - Feb 7 Pinegrove at First Avenue

Cancelled - Feb 11 Willie Wisely and The Scarlet Goodbye at Turf Club

Cancelled - Mar 2 The Staves at First Avenue

Cancelled - Mar 4 Jonathan Richman at The Fitzgerald Theater

Cancelled - Mar 5 Nothing But Thieves at First Avenue

Postponed - Mar 16 Vundabar at The Cedar Cultural Center

Cancelled - Mar 28 GASHI at Fine Line

Cancelled - Mar 31 FUR at 7th St Entry

10/14/2021

Halloween: Early Eyes, Cannibal Corpse, Full of Hell, Boiled in Lead

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Early Eyes

Early Eyes is a name new to many, the Minneapolis indie-pop/rock quintet only becoming a band in late 2016, but they’ve already attracted Hippo Campus-like buzz from very early-on. Second EP, Decorating, is just out and …

07/14/2018

Basilica Block Party - Day Two at Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis (07 July 2018)

Basilica Block Party: Saturday

Saturday Lineup

Great Clips Stage

Cake
Børns
Third Eye Blind
Flint Eastwood

PreferredOne Stage

Andy Grammer
Judah & The Lion
Early Eyes

Star Tribune Stage

Reina Del Cid
The Shackletons
Lazy Scorsese

Cake Setlist

Frank Sinatra
Sad Songs and Waltzes (Willie Nelson cover)
Opera Singer
Stickshifts and Safetybelts
Long Time
Sick of You
Love You Madly
Mexico
Sheep Go to Heaven
Guitar
Never There
Short Skirt/Long Jacket
The Distance

Andy Grammer Setlist

intro
Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)
85
Always
Fine By Me
All Time Low / Stay
Spaceship
Freeze
Keep Your Head Up
Working on It
Grown Ass Man Child
Poem
Give Love / Sorry Not Sorry (Demi Lovato cover)
Smoke Clears
Fresh Eyes / Don't Let Me Down (Daya cover)
Back Home
Honey, I'm Good

-- Encore --
Good Parts

Børns Setlist

Supernatural / Second Night of Summer
Holy Ghost
God Save Our Young Blood
Dug My Heart / I Don't Want You Back
10,000 Emerald Pools
Dopamine
Past Lives
We Don't Care
Seeing Stars/Tension
Holiday (Madonna cover)
Blue Madonna
Faded Heart
Sweet Dreams
Electric Love

Judah And The Lion Setlist

Booty Wurk (One Cheek at a Time) (T‐Pain cover)
Twenty-Somethings
Hippie Dance
Conversations
Reputation
Mr. Brightside (The Killers cover)
Suit and Jacket
Stockholm
Going to Mars
Rich Kids
Take It All Back 2.0

Third Eye Blind Setlist

Graduate
Faster
Wounded
Never Let You Go
Losing a Whole Year
10 (Happy Diving cover)
Motorcycle Drive By
Company of Strangers
Jumper
F**k Forever (Babyshambles cover)
Semi-Charmed Life
How's It Gonna Be

Flint Eastwood Setlist

Push
God Only Knows
Monster
Glitches
Rewind
Real Love
Queen

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Basilica Block Party

We like the annual Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis, so we always make sure they get the spotlight whenever we do these previews. They always bring in some really good bands ....

It wasn’t thought possible, but the weather improved even more, to provide a picture-perfect evening on the second and final day of the Basilica Block Party, The Basilica of Saint Mary in downtown Minneapolis

Once again, ten acts were spread across three stages for each night- the Main Stage (sponsored by Great Clips) located in a back lot behind the building along the highway, a Church Stage (sponsored by Preferred One) out front, and a smaller local stage (sponsored by Star Tribune) .

The one downside of having so many bands over a six-hour span is that set times overlap, so it often requires some planning (and maybe a little racing between stages) to catch the acts you want to see most.

Star Tribune Local Stage

Lazy Scorsese is, in addition to being one of the more creative band names, a local trippy psych-rock group with dashes of funk and pop who has a recent EP, Grigio and single ‘In Good Health’ out. Happy to set a mood and carry you away with them, the band seems as comfortable jamming away as laying back and letting things flow.

The Shackletons could have been named The Campbells as there are three siblings (Colin-voc/gtr; Cameron-bass; Evan- drums) that compose this stomping blues rock band. Breaking out locally last year with the locally-centric song ‘Minnesota Girls’, their 2^nd EP dutifully titled Second Attempt, shows further promise of things to come.

Reina del Cid is a fairly well-known name in the upper Midwest after constant touring and three full-lengths (2017’s Rerun City the most recent). With a name meaning “queen of the guitar” (The aka Rachelle Cordova has nicknamed her guitar “El Cid”) the indie-folk rock singer and band tease on their Facebook page that they “melt faces and tickle brains” and though that’s a little extreme, the songwriting and musicianship (re: guitarist Toni Lindgren) continue to keep them relevant.

Preferred One Church Stage

Early Eyes is a name new to many, the Minneapolis indie-pop/rock quintet only becoming a band in late 2016, but they’ve already attracted Hippo Campus-like buzz from very early-on. Second EP, Decorating, is just out and songs like the title track and ‘Feathers’ suggest a youthful energy and musical statement that the band has a lot more to say, and they also were fun and engaging live (and easy to see, with two of the five in bright-yellow t-shirts).

Judah & the Lion has been around for almost eight years, though it’s only in the last couple, that people have really taken notice of their ‘Folk Hop ‘n Roll’ (2016 album on Cletus the Van Records) and the unique sound that blends multi-musical genres for a party-like atmosphere live..

We’ve seen them a handful of times and they always over-deliver in concert, starting this night with a T-Pain cover, very early telling everyone the only rule was to have a good time, working in a Killers cover with singer Judah Akers consistently interacting with the crowd, and killing it on songs like their biggest to-date hit, ‘Take it All Back’.

Andy Grammer and his music can’t help you not smile, as his energy and general positivity is something we haven’t seen at this level in a while, and is sorely needed in these times. Latest album is last year’s The Good Parts (S-Curve Records) and that’s exactly what he played during his seventy-five minute second stage headlining set.

With one-year old daughter Louisiana at home and biggest overall radio success to date, Grammer smiled a lot, shedding his satin jacket and Ray Bans after the first number to musically inspire on songs like ‘Good to Be Alive’, ‘Keep Your Head Up’ and ‘Honey, I’m Good’ even working in parts of Demi Lovato and Daya songs into his own compositions, to keep things fresh.

Great Clips Main Stage

Flint Eastwood is not a no-named spaghetti-western gunfighter, but a firebrand singer (Jax Anderson, in matching “Frida Kahlo” braids with bassist Joel Parks) from Detroit that opened the main stage on this second day like an unexpected firecracker. Latest is EP Broke Royalty (Neon Gold Records).

Anderson exploded with focused passion backed by electro throbs and thunderous beats on songs like the new ‘Monster’ (about coping with sadness), ‘Real Love’ (written to defy the non-inclusive policies of her local church) and the anthemic ‘Queen’.

Third Eye Blind brought the spirit of mid-‘90s alternative back again, with an hour-long set that played old radio favorites and a couple covers from their upcoming new EP Thanks for Everything (out Aug 24) that started slightly rocky as guitarist Kryz Reid emerged without a sound-ready axe for the opening ‘Graduate’, but that was remedied towards the end of the song.

Singer Stephan Jenkins seemed happier following and after borrowing sunscreen from a crowd member, admitting the sunny afternoon was the best weather they’d ever experienced, in all their years playing the city.

The profane Babyshambles cover is the EP’s first single (strange to hear in a church parking lot) and the band ended up with a little extra time at the end, adding ‘How’s It Going to Be’ to close their set, after biggest hit, ‘Semi-Charmed Life’.

BØRNS (aka Garrett Borns), the Michigan singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist continues to mesmerize and often amaze with his unique blend of psych /alterna-pop (supporting 2018’s Blue Madonna on Interscope Records), falsetto voice, and androgynous stage appearance in a flowing Gucci printed shirt.

Working in seventeen songs in his fifty-five minute set, there wasn’t a lot of time to talk in-between, but highlights included a crowd sing-a-long on ‘Dopamine’, subbing in a cover from fellow Michigander Madonna before his own ‘Blue Madonna’, and the crowd with raised hands, singing along to finale, ‘Electric Love’.

Cake, by design, is a seemingly simple alternative rock band that features intelligent but often sardonic lyrics sung in almost monotone against a countrified, jazz, folk, and Mariachi blend of precise music that can come off like low-impact aerobics, but the Sacramento, CA band is always more complex than their first impression.

After 2011’s Showroom of Compassion, singer John McCrea admitted they’re not much into releasing albums any more, though the record would debut at number one on the Billboard charts and the band does continue to tour.

McCrea still employs the vibraslap liberally, making for a good drinking game in the crowd every time it was heard, and often employed the crowd to clap or sing along, remarking afterward, “Powerful voices, powerful city”.

McCrea also gave away an actual tree on stage, making the chosen audience member promise to transplant it quickly and care for it the rest of their natural life, with proof to be uploaded on their website.

With closing song ‘The Distance’, the song encapsulated not only the end of Cake’s eighty-two minute headlining set, but the end to another tiring but joyous two-day celebration for a great cause, of twelve hours over music from twenty bands- “the sun has gone down and the moon has come up” – we’d happily gone the distance.

(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)

Lazy Scorsese

Reina Del Cid

Early Eyes

Flint Eastwood

Judah & The Lion

Andy Grammer

Judah & The Lion

Andy Grammer

Third Eye Blind

Børns

Cake

Cake at Basilica Block Party, Basilica of St. Mary (07 July 2018)

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

Posted at 09:16 AM in Basilica Block Party, Borns, Cake, Early Eyes, Flint Eastwood, John, Lazy Scorsese, Minneapolis, Reina del Cid, The Killers, The Shackletons, Third Eye Blind | Permalink | Comments (0)

07/01/2018

Minneapolis: July 5 to July 8, 2018

Here are some shows taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area from July 5 to July 8, 2018.

Read more: Minneapolis Music Guide.

Basilica Block Party

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Basilica Block Party

The annual Basilica Block Party starts next Friday, July 7th and spill over to Saturday. Tickets are $60 per day, or if you bought early bird tickets, they were discounted to $55. ....

BASILICA BLOCK PARTY
Basilica St. Mary
Fri 07/06/2018 (4pm/$50)
Sat 07/07/2018 (4pm/$50)
basilicablockparty.org

We like the annual Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis, so we always make sure they get the spotlight whenever we do these previews. They always bring in some really good bands, and with every ticket sold, you know the money goes into maintenance and upkeep of the Basilica St. Mary.

Since there are so many bands on the bill, the Basilica Block Party divides the lineup into three stages, a large, medium, and small stage (the papa, moma, and baby bear stages as we like to call it). If you wanted to see all the bands, logistically, it’ll be pretty tough, and you’ll have to miss some songs, as the three stages goes on at different time. Check your time schedule on their website.

Schedule:

Friday

John Butler Trio

The Revolution

Now, Now

Tabah

Kid Dakota

Delta Rae

Fitz And The Tantrums

Jason Isbell

Lady Lark

Saturday

Cake

Andy Grammer

Flint Eastwood

The Shackletons

Reina Del Cid

Børns

Third Eye Blind

Early Eyes

Judah & The Lion

Immersion: Sleepless

Proud Parents

Walker Lukens Poster

The English Beat: Here We Go Love

STS9 2018 Poster

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Wire

In my review for Wire’s Object 47, I said that they were "still amazing after all these years" and that they basically haven't changed their sound - which is a good thing. It looks like they have a new album. …

Walker Lukens

Walker Lukens and his band The Side Arms, feat. Zac Catanzaro, Mckenzie Griffin, Grant Himmler, and Kyle Vonderau, was a lot of fun, thanks to Lukens’ high energy performance (particularly on “Jacket On Ya Shoulders”) …

Other shows in the area:

IMMERSION
+ Flavor Crystals
7th Street Entry
Thu 07/05/2018 (7pm/$10)
first-avenue.com

If you love Wire (that influential band that Elastica ripped off), you need to check out Immersion at 7th Street Entry this Thursday. Immersion is the Brighton-based duo featuring Wire frontman Colin Newman and Minimal Compact’s Malka Spigel. They are touring for their album Sleepless (swim~ Records).

Space rock local band Flavor Crystals to open.

Tour dates:

07.01 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
07.03 - Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
07.05 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
07.06 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas
07.07 - Detroit, MI @ Third Man Records
07.09 - Toronto, ON @ The Drake
07.11 - Montreal, Quebec, Canada @ La Vitriola
07.13 - Allston, MA @ Great Scott
07.14 - Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade

PROUD PARENTS
Minneapolis Eagles Club #34
Sat 07/07/2018 (8pm/$?)
minneapoliseagles34.org

Madison, WI’s Proud Parents will be stopping by the Eagles Club on Saturday. The venue’s website does not list a cover charge, but generally these shows are donation-based or really cheap (less than $10). Also on this bill are: Real Numbers, Teenage Moods and Wetter.

Proud Parents’ debut album is available on Dirtnap Records.

Tour dates:

7/7 Minneapolis, MN - Eagles 34
7/8 Omaha, NB - O'leavers
7/9 Lawrence, KS - Haunted Kitchen
7/10 Fayetteville, AR - Backspace
7/11 Dallas, TX - 3 Links
7/12 Austin, TX - Beerland
7/14 New Orleans, LA - Circle Bar
7/15 Hattiesburg, MS - Looney Bin
7/16 Nashville, TN - the Cobra
7/17 St. Louis, MO - the Sinkhole
7/18 Champaign, IL - Memphis on Main
7/20 Madison, WI - Crystal Corner
7/21 Milwaukee, WI - Quarters Rock n Roll

WALKER LUKENS
+ Warren Thomas Fenzi, Ashley Groves
7th Street Entry
Sat 07/07/2018 (8pm/$10)
first-avenue.com

Walker Lukens is stopping by the 7th Street Entry on Saturday, as part of his “Summer of Love” tour.

Tour dates:

Jul 3 - New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
Jul 5 - Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
Jul 7 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry
Jul 8 - Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
Jul 9 - Kansas City, MO @ recordBar
Aug 18 - Austin, TX @ Antone's

THE ENGLISH BEAT
+ Umbrella Bed
First Avenue
Sat 07/07/2018 (8pm/$20)
first-avenue.com

Can you believe that it’s been over 30 years since The English Beat (featuring Dave Wakeling) released a new studio album ? If you love “Save It For Later”, you’ll find a lot to like in their new record Here We Go Love. Of course, the British ska band will be playing First Avenue this Saturday.

Picking up on a 2-Tone ska band Umbrella Bed to open.

Tour dates:

July 6 Chicago, IL The Metro
July 7 Minneapolis, MN First Ave
July 10 Kent, OH The Kent Stage
July 11 Milwaukee, WI Turner Ballroom
July 12 Omaha, NE The Slowdown
July 15 Denver, CO The Gothic
July 16 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex
July 18 Salem, OR Salem's
July 19 Orange, CA Irvine Regional Park
July 20 Seattle, WA The Showbox
July 25 Dallas, TX The Kessler
July 26 Austin, TX The Scoot Inn

STS9
+ White Cliffs
First Avenue
Sun 07/08/2018 (7pm/$29.50)
first-avenue.com

Californian dancefloor-pleasers STS9 will be headlining First Avenue in Minneapolis this Sunday. Brooklyn solo artist White Cliffs to open.

Tour dates:

7/6 :: Kansas City, MO @ CrossroadsKC
7/7 :: Kansas City, MO @ CrossroadsKC
7/8 :: Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
7/10 :: Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room
7/12 :: Scranton, PA @ Camp Bisco
7/13 :: Richmond, VA @ The National
7/14 :: Asheville, NC @ Pisgah Brewing Company
7/15 :: Asheville, NC @ Pisgah Brewing Company