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Jim James, with Amo Amo, at First Avenue, Minneapolis (14 May 2019)

Jim James at First Ave Jim James Setlist Over and Over Rome Out of Time A New Life Just a Fool Throwback No Secrets Here in Spirit No Use Waiting All in Your Head True Nature Yes to Everything Same Old Lie We Ain't Getting Any Younger -- Encore -- My Morning Jacket Set Golden I'm Amazed Of the Mother Again State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.) Amo Amo Setlist The Only Thing I Got to Live for Is Love Teacher Closer to You Spanish Song (Cover Song) When I Look at You Change Your Mind Antidote Read More Jim James Jim James (you know, that guy from My Morning Jacket), with Twin Limb, is playing the State Theatre 12/01 J.J. Grey & Mofro and Parker Millsap will play First Avenue … Amo Amo Jim James (from My Morning Jacket) is back in town… and he’s bringing Los Angeles psych pop band Amo Amo with him. Tour dates: .…

Fans showed up in force at last night’s appearance of Jim James at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

Los Angeles psych pop band Amo Amo (Love Femme, Omar Velasco, Justin Flint, Shane Mckillop and Alex Siegel) opened up the show. For a new-ish band (having only formed in mid 2017), they were already opening for Karen O, Danger Mouse and My Morning Jacket. In fact, Jim James loved the band so much that he produced their self-titled debut album.

Since Amo Amo had a limited number of songs, the band basically played their entire debut self-titled album in their 40-min slot. They even threw in Spanish song (which I believe may be a cover song, but my Españo is not so caliente so I couldn’t tell you for sure).

Singer (and guitarist) Love Femme is clearly comfortable in a risqué outfit (and a quick investigation and it seems commonplace that she’s often in these near-topless outfits). It’s not just the outfits, but her dance moves and getting completely lost in their music - you can just tell she loves being on stage.

Love Femme sang or took lead vocals on most of the songs, with the exception of “Change Your Mind”, which had Omar Velasco taking lead. This is somewhat important to note, because you find out later that Velasco and Love Femme are backup vocals and part of Jim James’ band.

My favorite song on their set is the super groovy and funky and psychedelic set closer “Antidote”.

Despite not being a full My Morning Jacket band, fans still love Jim James and his solo effort since 2012 (which we wrote about). Now with three solo albums (and a few EPs) under his belt, you can kind of see the directions that James is heading in… and it may be a few years before we get another MMJ album (the last one came out in 2015). To be honest, based on the strong support from his fans, I’m not really sure he needs MMJ and should be writing music that he’s interested in exploring.

As you can see from the setlist, James played nothing but solo material, and the crowd didn’t mind it one bit. For the faithful, if you stuck around for the encore, you were treated to two MMJ songs, “Golden” and “I'm Amazed”.

Jim James’s double album Uniform Distortion and Uniform Clarity are out now. Clarity is the acoustic version of Distortion.

Remaining tour dates:

05/15: St Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
05/17: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
05/18: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
05/19: Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
05/20: Portland, ME @ State Theatre
05/22: Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
05/23: Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
05/23-26: Chillicothe, IL @ Summer Camp Fest
06/14 Southern Theatre Columbus, OH
06/20 Telluride Bluegrass Festival
06/21 Eccles Theater Salt Lake City, UT
06/22 KettleHouse Amphitheater Bonner, MT
06/24 The Showbox Seattle, WA
06/27 Oregon Zoo Amphitheatre Portland, OR
06/28 Britt Pavilion Jacksonville, OR
06/29: San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
06/30: San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
07/02 House Of Blues Anaheim, CA
07/03 Wiltern Los Angeles, CA
07/04-07/07: Quincy, CA @ High Sierra Music Festival
08/03: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Ampitheatre
08/09-11: San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands

Amo Amo

Amo Amo

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Amo Amo

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Amo Amo

Amo Amo

Jim James Poster

Jim James

Jim James

Jim James at First Avenue, Minneapolis (14 May 2019)

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

The Dandy Warhols at First Avenue, MInneapolis (12 May 2019)

Dandy Warhols at First Ave Read More The Dandy Warhols You know we like The Dandy Warhols... and they love "Minnesoter." Minneapolis is pretty much the only city where they will automatically play "Minnesoter", which are often not written on their .… Cosmonauts Cosmonauts is the co-headliner. Cult of Lip to open. Additional details at first-avenue.com, $10 entry fee. 04/04/17 Scottish trio Biffy Clyro sold out the Turf Club on Tuesday..… 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. …

The Dandy Warhols celebrated their 25th Anniversary with a show at First Avenue on Sunday, May 12th.

Cosmonauts and DJ Jake Rudh opened the show.
B Stay tuned for a full re-cap.

Dandy Warhols Setlist

Forever Holding Me Up STYGGO We Used to be Friends Crack Cocaine Ranger Motor City Steel Minnesoter Get Off The Last High Highlife Plan A The Last High Well They're Gone I Love You Be Alright Mohammed Godless Bohemian Like You -- Encore -- Every Day Should Be a Holiday Pete International Airport > Boys Better

DANDY WARHOLS TOUR DATES

05/14/19 Denver (Englewood), CO Gothic Theatre
05/16/19 Los Angeles, CA Theatre at the Ace Hotel
05/17/19 San Diego, CA The Observatory at North Park
05/18/19 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
05/24/19 Napa Valley, CA Bottlerock Festival

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

Dandy Warhols

Cosmonauts

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Dandy Warhols at First Avenue, MInneapolis (12 May 2019)

john (johnc@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

The Lemonheads at First Avenue, Minneapolis (11 May 2019)

The Lemonheads at First Ave Lemonheads Setlist It's About Time Hospital The Turnpike Down Great Big No It's a Shame About Ray Can't Forget (Yo La Tengo cover) Rudderless Abandoned Left for Dead Tenderfoot (Smudge cover) It Looks Like You My Idea (Chris Brokaw cover) I Just Can't Take It Anymore (Gram Parsons cover) My Drug Buddy Big Gay Heart Hannah & Gabi Stove If I Could Talk I'd Tell You Style Take It Easy (Eagles cover) Frank Mills (Galt MacDermot cover) Skulls (Misfits cover) All My Life Tommy Stinson Setlist Last Time? Bad News* Running Out of Breathing Room Not a Moment Too Soon Come to Hide The Man Who Drank Himself to Death Match Made in Hell Zero To Stupid Come to Hide Nothing* Friday Night (Is Killing Me)* * Bash & Pop song Tour Dates 05/14: Denver, CO Bluebird Theatre 05/17: Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern 05/18: Vancouver, B.C. Rickshaw Theatre 05/19: Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge 05/21: San Francisco, CA Slim's 05/22: Petaluma, CA Mystic Theatre 05/24: Los Angeles, CA Teragram Ballroom 05/25: San Diego, CA Casbah 05/26: Tempe, AZ Marquee Theatre 05/27: Albuquerque, NM Launchpad 05/29: Oklahoma City, OK Tower Theatre 05/30: Dallas, TX Granada Theatre 05/31: Austin, TX Barracuda 06/01: Houston ,TX White Oak Music Hall 06/03: New Orleans, LA House Of Blues 06/04: Atlanta, GA Terminal West 06/06: Nashville, TN Exit/In 06/07: Charlotte, NC The Underground 06/08: Charleston, SC Music Farm 06/09: Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle 06/11: Lancaster, PA Chameleon Club 06/12: Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Smalls Theatre 06/13: Washington, D.C. 9:30 Club 06/14: Philadelphia, PA The Foundry At The Fillmore 06/15: Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club Read More The Lemonheads Originally, The Lemonheads were scheduled to play in the closet-sized 7th Street Entry, but seeing as tickets sold-out, they upgraded the band to the full-sized room at First Avenue. … Tommy Stinson This Tommy Stinson (bass player for this little known band called The Replacements) with Milwaukee's Midnight Reruns and Philadelphia's Beach Slang is sold out. .…

90s alternative rock The Lemonheads headlined First Avenue’s mainroom on Saturday, May 11th, in support of his all-covers album Varshons 2.

In typical rock star schedule, Tommy Stinson was fashionably late to open the show. Not a surprise, and to be honest, it’s to be expected. If you don’t know who Stinson is, he’s probably best known for being the bass player for The Replacements (and later joined Guns & Roses in the late 90s and Soul Asylum in the mid ‘00!) … so he’s a bit of a legend in most music circle.

Stinson also known for creating Bash & Pop shortly after the ‘Mats broke up in 1991, and based on songs on his setlist, that band’s music is still reflective of Stinson’s love for those songs. In fact, after breaking up the band in 1994, Stinson resurrected the band in 2015, with a proper tour (we caught Bash & Pop in Sep 2015).

With most, if not all, of Stinson’s previous appearance, he never had a written setlist, he explained that the reason why he doesn’t have a setlist anymore is because he’s wearing glasses now and simply cannot read the setlist. As a result, he just plays random songs. Sure, he does have some idea (for example, he always end with Bash & Pop’s “Friday Night (Is Killing Me)”), but he tends to just play songs off the cuff. Sometime it’s amazing, hearing rarely heard songs, but sometime it’s a bit of an annoyance as Stinson is taking up to three minutes to tune his guitar (this could’ve been planned better).

Since this was Stinson’s somewhat “home show”, there were definitely some huge Replacements fans in the audience… Some of them screaming out various ‘Mats songs when Stinson announced that it would be “All request Saturday!”. He did take some request, playing “Zero To Stupid” and “Nothing”.

Near the end of his set, Stinson took off his coat and was a little confused about the guitar plug. After hearing some fans give him a hard time, Stinson jokingly fired back, “I’m f****ing 52, and I don’t give a sh**!” He pretty much summed it up, but I don’t honestly think he would give a f**** when he was in his 20s either.

Since Stinson was late, it pushed The Lemonheads start time about 15 later than advertised.

As you know, I first came to being The Lemonheads fan around the time they were promoting It's a Shame About Ray with its title track as single in 1992. They were featured on MTV’s 120 Minutes, but frontsman Evan Dando seemed more popular in the UK (I hate to say it, but for a time, it just felt like the Lemonheads were ignoring the USA).

We finally got to see Evan Dando in Feb 2010 and described it as, “Conversely, watching Evan Dando perform in 2010 hardly differed from watching him with the Lemonheads in 1992. I came to this conclusion when I literally felt bummed out. Few things prompt soul pain like a forty-two-year-old “slacker sex kitten” whose unassuming stage presence suggests a lifetime of discomfort. Dando arrived late to the venue, cruised through his set on autopilot, barely spoke a coherent word to his fans, and exited amidst a POOF of rose-colored fog.”

We saw Dando again at NXNE 2011 in Canada, and this time he was with his old friend Juliana Hatfield. It wasn’t a full Lemonheads setlist, but there was enough there that left us satisfied, “I was also happy with their setlist, I was worried that they would be doing new songs, but they did a bunch of old Lemonheads song (including "Into Your Arms", "Bit Part" and "Drug Buddy") and two Juliana numbers ("Choose Drugs" and "Dear Anonymous"). None of the three big hits were played, but I suspect that has more to do with the two of them playing acoustics vs a full band.”

My suspicion was right, as The Lemonheads, with a full band, came to Minneapolis in October 2011 and basically played the entire It’s a Shame About Ray album.

With this new 2019 tour, it’s in support of The Lemonheads’ Varshons 2, which is an all-covers album (the follow-up to the original all-cover album ten years prior called Varshons). So as expected, a bunch over cover songs were played, but oddly songs that would make sense for Minneapolis, such as The Jayhawks’ “Settled Down Like Rain” or Paul Westerberg’s “Things”, were not played.

Maybe they’ve gotten all the 90s songs out of their system with their 2011 tour, but very few old songs were played. They did do their signature hit single, “It’s a Shame About Ray” and “Rudderless” a few songs after, but it’s mostly songs I didn’t recognized or non-Lemonheads songs.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that Evan Dando was extremely laid back, like all his previous appearances, he rarely spoke between songs and barely moved. It’s not the most exciting show to see, but if you’re a Lemonheads fan, you probably used to this or it didn’t really matter.

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The Lemonheads at First Avenue, Minneapolis (11 May 2019)

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

Snow Patrol at First Avenue, Minneapolis (08 May 2019)

Snow Patrol at First Ave Snow Patrol Setlist Take Back the City Chocolate Empress Open Your Eyes Run Set the Fire to the Third Bar You Could Be Happy This Isn't Everything You Are Life on Earth Make This Go On Forever Shut Your Eyes Called Out in the Dark Heal Me The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?) Chasing Cars You're All I Have -- Encore -- What If This Is All the Love You Ever Get? Just Say Yes We Are Scientists Setlist The Great Escape Now or Never KIT Tonight After Hours Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt No Wait at Five Leaves Ryan McMullan Setlist This Could Be Love Ghosts A Winter's Coat Bowie on the Radio In the Back of My Mind Oh Susannah Read More Snow Patrol Expect Snow Patrol to play songs from their latest album Wildness (their first album in seven years!), but also some fan-favorites, such as “Run”. … We Are Scientists We Are Scientists took the stage quite late into the night, and Chris Cain and Keith Murray chatted with the audience frequently between songs. They had a booming rapport that reminded me … Ryan McMullan That’s not all, they’re bringing We Are Scientists and Ryan McMullan on this tour. What a great lineup. Tour dates: April 29 /// Boston, MA /// Orpheum Theatre April 30 /// New York, NY /// Terminal 5 May 3 /// Toronto, ON /// Danforth Music Hall …

Irish rock band, by the way of Scotland, Snow Patrol, headlined First Avenue’s mainroom on Wednesday, May 8th.

Opening up the sold-out show was Northern Ireland’s Ryan McMullan, accompanied by Paul “Hammy” Hamilton (Foy Vance’s drummer). He is a young singer, and in fact, this was his first U.S. tour, and his first time in Minneapolis. Hearing one note from him, you can tell that he’s clearly a talented singer and natural performer. He’s charming and easily manipulating the audience to help him sing his song, “In the Back of My Mind”.

McMullan arranged his brief 30-min set with the first three songs using the piano, and the remainder of the show on guitar. McMullan ended his set with a sad, breakup song called “Oh Susannah”, dedicated to We Are Scientists, as it was their last night of the Snow Patrol tour.

Next up was New York, by the way of Berkeley, We Are Scientists. The duo features Keith Murray on lead vocals and guitars and Chris Cain on bass and backing vocals, but for the live shows, they’ve added Keith Carne on drums.

I’ve told this story before, but I first discovered the band in 2006, when the band had a massive breakthrough success with their debut With Love and Squalor. Just simply listening to the album for the first time, we were all singing along - that’s to show you how catchy their songs are.

Their set seemed shorter than usual, but that’s probably done on purpose. Since it’s their last night of the tour, they spent a few minutes thanking Snow Patrol for bringing them on tour. Often their banters were incoherent (something about “baby be damned”??), but the gist of it is, if the band asks you to support them on tour, “take that opportunity!”. They sure seem to have had a lot of fun on this tour.

The band dedicated “Tonight” to Ryan McMullan, stating, “Since he dedicated a breakup ballad to us, we wanted to return the favor with ‘Tonight’.” (which, in turn, was another sad, breakup ballad).

We Are Scientists ended strong with a marathon of medley of “After Hours”, “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt” and “No Wait at Five Leaves”. You’re not quite sure where and when the song ended and when the next one started, but the way they played the song(s), it felt like one epic closer.

It’s good to have Snow Patrol (singer/guitarist Gary Lightbody, guitarist Nathan Connolly, bassist Paul Wilson, drummer Jonny Quinn, and guitarist/keys Johnny McDaid) back. Although technically, the band came here last year with the very popular Ed Sheeran, the First Avenue show marked the band’s first headlining gig since 2012. The reason for such a long gap (seven years), was that the band was experiencing writer’s block (according to singer Gary Lightbody’s interview in the NME). Eventually the band overcame their creative struggle, and their seventh studio album Wilderness came out last year. With the new album, the band’s been hard at work getting the word out with this headlining world 2019 tour.

I have to say that the long break was good for the band, they seemed happier and excited to perform and meeting their fans face-to-face. Singer Gary Lightbody’s voice is still amazing, and their hit songs like “Chasing Cars” and any songs from Final Straw (“Chocolate”, “Run”), went over incredibly well with the audience.

With Wilderness as Snow Patrol’s first album in seven years, the band did sprinkle in a few new songs: “Empress”, “Life on Earth”, “Heal Me”, and first encore song “What If This Is All the Love You Ever Get?”. Based on feedback from the crowd, I would have to say that the band might have another hit on their hands.

Normally, Snow Patrol play stadium-size venues or hanging out with Ed Sheeran, so this 2019 tour is really a great way to experience the band. Like We Are Scientists said earlier, if they’re coming to your town, you should “take that opportunity” and see the band (unless you’re slow and they’ve sold out).

Remaining tour dates:

05/10 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre 05/11 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot 05/13 - Vancouver, BC - Queen Elizabeth Theatre 05/14 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theatre 05/15 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo 05/18 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint @ Hard Rock 05/20 - San Francisco, CA - The Warfield 05/21 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern 12/05 - Newcastle, England - Metro Radio Arena ^ 12/07 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - The SSE Arena * 12/08 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - SSE Arena* 12/11 - Dublin, Ireland - 3Arena* 01/14 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Ziggo Dome 01/15 - Hamburg, Germany - Barclaycard Arena 01/16 - Berlin, Germany - Velodrom 01/18 - Munich, Germany - Zenith 01/19 - Zurich, Switzerland - Samsung Hall 01/20 - Oberhausen, Germany - Konig Pilsner Arena

01/22 - Brussels, Belgium - Forest National 01/23 - Paris, France - Zenith 01/25 - Birmingham, England - Birmingham Arena % 01/26 - London, England - O2 Arena % 01/27 - Bournemouth, England - Bournemouth % 01/29 - Leeds, England - First Direct Arena % 01/30 - Manchester, England - Manchester Arena % 01/31 - Glasgow, Scotland - The SSE Hydro % 02/02 - London, England - Wembley Arena % 02/08 - Frankfurt, Germany - Jahrhunderhalle 02/09 - Vienna, Austria - Gasometer 02/11 - Milan, Italy - Fabrique 02/13 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz 02/14 - Madrid, Spain - La Riviera 02/16 - Lisbon, Portugal - Campo Pequeno % Special Guests: Kodaline And Roe ^ Special Guests: Foy Vance And Roe * Special Guests: Ryan Mcmullan And Sam Fender

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Snow Patrol Setlist

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Snow Patrol at First Avenue, Minneapolis (08 May 2019)

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

Foals at First Avenue, Minneapolis (30 April 2019)

Foals at First Ave Foals Setlist     Intro: New Intro (“Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost”) On the Luna Mountain at My Gates Snake Oil Olympic Airways My Number Black Gold Spanish Sahara Syrups Providence Sunday Red Socks Pugie Exits In Degrees White Onions Inhaler -- Encore -- What Went Down Two Steps, Twice Preoccupations Setlist Newspaper Spoons Continental Shelf Espionage Disarray Memory March of Progress Tour Dates 10/05/2019 Concorde 2, Brighton, UK 12/05/2019 Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium 13/05/2019 Le Bataclan, Paris, France 15/05/2019 Les Docks, Lausanne, Switzerland 16/05/2019 Fabrique, Milan, Italy 17/05/2019 Den Atelier, Luxembourg, Luxembourg 19/05/2019 Paradiso Grote Zaal, Amsterdam, Netherlands 20/05/2019 Huxleys Neue Welt, Berlin, Germany 23/05/2019 O2 Academy Leeds, Leeds, UK 24/05/2019 This Is Tomorrow, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK 25-26/05/2019 BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, Middlesbrough, UK 26/05/2019 Fat Sams, Dundee, UK 05/06/2019 Große Freiheit 36, Hamburg, Germany 06-08/06/2019 Northside Aarhus, Denmark 07-09/06/2019 Rock im Park Rock, Nürburg, Germany 11/06/2019 O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester, Manchester, UK 12/06/2019 O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester, Manchester, UK 14/06/2019 Bedgebury National Pinetum & Forest, Goudhurst, UK 15/06/2019 Digbeth Arena, Birmingham, UK 16/06/2019 Digbeth Arena, Birmingham, UK 18/06/2019 SWG3, Glasgow, UK 20/06/2019 Thetford Forest, Suffolk, UK 21/06/2019 Alexandra Palace, London, UK 22/06/2019 Alexandra Palace, London, UK 24-26/06/2019 INmusic Festival Zagreb, Croatia 26/06/2019 Bournemouth Int’l Centre, Bournemouth, UK 27/06/2019 Club Pryzm, Kingston Upon Thames, UK 02/07/2019 Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland 03-06/07/2019 Festival Cruïlla Parc del Fòrum, Barcelona, Spain 05-07/07/2019 Down the Rabbit Hole Beuningen, NL 12/07/2019 Great Hall, , Auckland, New Zealand 13/07/2019 Great Hall, Auckland, New Zealand 19-21/07/2019 Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay, NSW, Australia 26-28/07/2019 Truck Festival Hill Farm, Steventon, UK 26/07/2019 Low Festival Estadio, Benidorm, Spain 28/07/2019 Y Not Festival 2019 Aston Hill Farm, Matlock, UK 31/07/2019 Zelt-musik-festival, Zirkuszelt, Freiburg, Germany 01-03/08/2019 Szene Open Air Lustenau, Austria 02-04/08/2019 OFF Festival Katowice, Poland 07-11/08/2019 Boardmasters Festival Fistral Beach, Newquay, UK 16-18/08/2019 Summer Sonic ZOZO Marine Stadium, Tokyo, Japan 1-24/08/2019 Zürich Openair, Zürich, Switzerland 22/08/2019 Check In Party, Guéret, France 23/08/2019 Rock en Seine Paris, France 24/08/2019 Aerodrome De Gueret Saint Laurent, Guéret, France 25/08/2019 Domaine National de St Cloud, Paris, France 27/08/2019 Art-Zavod Platforma, Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine 29/08/2019 Adrenaline Stadium, Moscow, Russia 30/08/2019 Morze, St. Petersburg, Russia Read More Foals "Are you ready? Because you don't sound f****ing ready!," yelled Foals' singer Yannis Philippakis as he worked the crowd. Foals rocked hard at First Avenue in Minneapolis last night to a group of young British rock music fans. … Preoccupations Preoccupations is back in town with their latest New Material (Jagjaguwar Records). The band may be more famous for their former, unintentionally … OMNI 04/03/17 OMNI with Brilliant Beast and Spooky Ghost to play the 7th Street Entry. $10 gets you in the door. 04/04/17 Local favorites …

Consider us all saved--

The always entertaining Foals, from Oxford, UK is back, out in support of their latest full-length, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1 (Warner Bros/Transgressive Records) and took their live performance to literal new heights, with a raucous show in Minneapolis at First Avenue.

The evening’s triple-bill lineup began with a buzzing trio from Atlanta, Omni (Philip Frobos, ex-Deerhunter guitarist Frankie Broyles, with live drummer Chris Yonker- perhaps named after the now-demolished Georgia arena?), who just signed to Sub Pop’s new Singles Club, playing both new songs, ‘Delicacy’ and ‘I Don’t Dance’, and more during their brief opening set.

The trio plays an antsy and addictive blend of post-punk rock, sharpened by staccato riffs and cerebral arrangements and is working on their third full-length, visibly happy about their recent signing and the chance to be on this bill. From the enthusiastic reception gauged, expect the band back, when the new record completes.

Calgary’s Preoccupations was up next (Matt Flegel- vocals, bass; Scott Munro-guitar, synth; Daniel Christiansen- guitar; and Mike Wallace- drums), with their own darker blend of self-described "labyrinthine post-punk" in support of third full-length, New Material (Jagjaguwar Records).

The band began their thirty minute set with the foreboding drum beats of ‘Newspaper Spoons’, from their 2015 debut full-length, when their band was named something more controversial. The moniker change and new musical material are welcome, providing a sense of rebirth, and their set played like one long piece, with bursts of white noise or droning sounds, filling the space between tracks.

With a stage decorated by assorted palm plants and vertical lighting, set in front of a large banner with emblazoned stone lions that complement the new album’s cover, Foals began their ninety-minute set list with the new ‘On the Luna’. Restless singer/guitarist Yannis Philippakis emoted, “we had it all, but didn’t stop to think about it” then didn’t give the crowd any time to catch its breath, seguing into 2015 hit, ‘Mountain at my Gates’ with everyone gleefully clapping along.

The band (huge in Europe and elsewhere, so we are lucky to see them in clubs here) has an aggressively prolific rest of the year planned, traveling all over the world and playing most major festivals, including headlining their hometown Truck Festival, and is releasing their companion follow-up album in September, “They’re two halves of the same locket,” Philippakis explains. “They can be listened to and appreciated individually, but fundamentally, they are companion pieces.”

The band (Philippakis along with Jack Bevan- drums; Jimmy Smith- guitar; Edwin Congreave- keys; and touring bassist Jeremy [Everything Everything] Pritchard) is already very musically tight, leading smoothly from 2008’s ‘Olympic Airways’ and Philippakis chanting “re-a-ppear”, directly into 2013’s breakout jangly hit, ‘My Number’.

Foals’ musical style is nearly indescribable, deftly melding several styles into something unique, similar in scope to Talking Heads and late cellist Arthur Russell, and the ambitious new two-album work, is perhaps their most focused and accurate mirror of the band’s vision to date (from a listen to Part 1 anyway).

The solemn ‘Spanish Sahara’ found Philippakis pleading to “forget the horror here” with the narrator all-knowing as “the ghost in the back of your head” with the singer then asking himself out loud on the new ‘Syrups’, “won’t you find a way from me somehow?”

New single ‘Sunday’ is apocalyptic in theme, but still extols finding the needed time to clear your head, and ‘Exits’, which is still getting regular airplay locally, sounded even more urgent live, its lyrics of powerlessness set against a nontraditional, complicated and highly effective musical math-rock arrangement.

The bouncy, synth-heavy new ‘In Degrees’ and the driving rock of ‘White Onions’ moved into the main set’s closer, ‘Inhaler’, with Philippakis asking the crowd beforehand, “Are you ready?” to riled up cheers as the band fired up the 2013 song, with ferocious energy. Oddly, photographers were only allowed to shoot the last few songs of the show, instead of the standard first three, and the reason why, became very clear with the encore.

As the bustling crowd chanted the band’s name to help goad them back (“you guys have been awesome tonight!”, Philippakis remarked) the singer briefly waxed nostalgic about playing to a sparse crowd next door their first time here in 2010, before shredding into 2015’s ‘What Went Down’, with the real story being what went up. Philippakis jumped into the front pit with guitar not once but twice, causing a frenzy, then making his way up the venue’s right stairs to rest on the balcony rail.

“Feisty bunch, aren’t ya? You want it to get a bit spicy tonight” Philippakis asked during the set-closing “Two Steps, Twice’ as the crowd clapped along, himself taking two steps off the edge and then a balcony dive down into the left side crowd, as applauding hands supported him and carried him safely back to the stage for an amazing finish.

With Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Foals finds itself purposely on its next creative level as a band- with their live shows already legendary, and a good handful of memorable songs, it’s only a matter of time before America catches up to the rest of the world, making this band an even more major draw. From the capacity crowd on this night, no one was lost, they were all musically saved.  

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

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Preoccupations Setlist

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Foals at First Avenue, Minneapolis (30 April 2019)

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Jungle at First Avenue, Minneapolis (12 March 2019)

Jungle at First Ave Jungle Setlist Smile Heavy, California The Heat Julia Happy Man Beat 54 (All Good Now) Cherry Pray Lucky I Got What I Want Platoon Crumbler Lemonade Lake Casio House in L.A. Drops -- Encore -- Busy Earnin' Time Tour Dates 03/19/2019 Terminal 5 New York, NY 03/20/2019 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA 03/21/2019 9:30 Club Washington, DC 03/22/2019 The Orange Peel Asheville, NC 03/23/2019 Marathon Music Works Nashville, TN 03/29-31/2019 6Music Festival Liverpool, UK 04/18/2019 The Power Station Auckland, NZ 04/19/2019 Bad FridayFraser Park, Marrickville, Australia 04/24/2019 Enmore Theatre, Newtown, Australia 04/26/2019 The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley, Australia 04/27/2019 The Esplanade Hotel , Saint Kilda, Australia 04/28/2019 Forum Melbourne, Australia 04/30/2019 Teatro Vorterix, Buenos Aires, Argentina 05/02/2019 Cine Joia, São Paulo, Brazil 05/04/2019 Festival Fauna Otoño 2019 05/08/2019 C.C Barranco Arena, Lima, Peru 05/10/2019 Teatro Nacional Sucre, Quito, Ecuador 05/16/2019-05/19/2019 Hangout Fest 2019 05/29/2019-06/02/2019 Primavera Sound Festival 2019 06/07/2019-06/08/2019 Field Day 2019 06/08/2019-06/09/2019 Parklife Festival 2019 06/13/2019-06/15/2019 Piknik I Parken 2019 06/26/2019-06/27/2019 Plissken Festival 2019 06/26/2019-06/30/2019 Glastonbury Festival 2019 06/27/2019-06/30/2019 Rock Werchter 2019 06/29/2019-07/06 2019 Roskilde Festival 2019 07/12/2019-07/14/2019 Forecastle Festival 2019 Read More JUNGLE JUNGLE + Houses First Avenue Jungle returns to the USA to promote their latest album For Ever (available now on XL Recordings). … Houses They are bringing Los Angeles-based Houses (aka songwriter/producer Dexter Tortoriello) on tour… good thing, because …

“When you smile, the world feels a little better” - Jungle, ‘Smile’

There were plenty of smiling faces from those who managed to get into a sold-out Mainroom at First Avenue in Minneapolis for a set from UK soul/funk/disco collective Jungle.

The evening opened with a band returning to the scene after a five-year absence – Houses, led by singer Dexter Tortoriello, who after a few years of songwriting and producing for others and re-locating from Chicago to LA, released EP Drugstore Heaven (Downtown Records) last fall.

The band played as four-piece, happy to be back on the road, capping their short set with ‘Fast Talk’, from the recent EP that’s been a slow but steady bubbler in terms of gaining increased local airplay, but is a distinctive song, with colorful lyrics like, “Maybe God is just a cop that we can fast talk. What if death is just another pair of handcuffs, well then we’d better run”

A quick set change revealed a wall of lighted bulbs as backdrop and their large logo above it all, as London neo-soul collective Jungle took to the stage for their eighty-seven minute headlining set. The band is out in support of second full-length For Ever (XL Recordings) and began with the two opening songs from that record, ‘Smile’ and Heavy, California’.

Founded by frontmen Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson, their mid-tempo lush retro funk/soul style is immediately apparent as the band is about establishing a groove, then maintaining and sustaining it throughout. Add to the fact that both usually sing in tandem (in a higher falsetto and often also along with their two backup singers) and you have a musical style that can be immediately identified as theirs.

Big radio hit ‘The Heat’ was played early on, with the lights on stage turning an appropriate mix of reds and oranges, and logo glowing. “Minneapolis on a Tuesday night- come on!” they urged to greater applause. “I’m sorry it’s been such a long time” they (unnecessarily) apologized, having last played the area and the venue in October 2014.

Musically, the band is precise and very well-rehearsed, picking up after ‘Julia’ with another four new songs, to make sure everyone was as acquainted with the new record, as their well-received 2014 debut. On 2014’s ‘Lucky I Got What I Want’, they implore “don’t you forget about me” in repetition as a cacophony of sounds, beats, and sirens mix about, and their first single ‘Platoon’ dating from 2013, reminds us “It’s how good you are” perhaps also referring to their musical exactness.

Newest single ‘Casio’ maintains that mid-tempo and isn’t as electronic as the title might infer, instead is a story of love lost set against a mid-70’s laid back soul groove and featured some smooth vocals from singer Rudi Salmon.

‘Drops’, a dreamy tune that starts soft but builds its musical muscle would end the main set, but the band quickly returned for a two-song encore starting with perhaps their most well-known song, ‘Busy Earnin’ (used in numerous games, commercials, and TV shows) and finished with 2014’s ‘Time’ in which the lyrics urge to “just let it out” which the sold-out crowd did, in the form of clapping along, moving in place, and erupting into end applause.

With For Ever, Jungle digs a bit emotionally deeper- musically, still very style-based, but lyrically more admitting of their personal heartbreaks, the down side of the West Coast, and dream chasing. To see it performed live with such musical tightness was revelatory as well-the band artfully carries on in the UK neo-soul tradition that Sade did in the ‘80’s and Soul II Soul and Craig David did in the ‘90s, making Jungle still one to watch. 

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

Jungle Setlist

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Jungle

Jungle at First Avenue, Minneapolis (12 March 2019)

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Mike Doughty at First Avenue, Minneapolis (09 Mar 2019)

Mike Doughty at First Ave Mike Doughty Setlist Super Bon Bon Circles Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago Sugar Free Jazz Casiotone Nation Blue Eyed Devil Bus to Beelzebub True Dreams of Wichita Screenwriter's Blues Moon Sammy Supra Genius City of Motors Uh, Zoom Zip Down to This Mr. Bitterness -- Encore -- Janine Wheatus Setlist Break It Don't Buy It Lemonade Time Stand Still (Rush cover) My Music at Work (The Tragically Hip cover) New Song (Beautiful Susan/Don't Talk About Susan) Fourteen No Happy Ending Tune Teenage Dirtbag Valentine Read More Mike Doughty Friday night Mike Doughty gave an ecstatic sold-out First Avenue crowd what they’ve been craving for so many years. The singer/songwriter is currently in the midst of a nationwide tour revolving … Soul Coughing The first time I saw Mike Doughty he was playing as the front man for Soul Coughing. It was one of those musical festivals that lasted all day with dozens of bands, and in between Garbage and the Goo Goo Dolls, Doughty … Wheatus Both Ruby Vroom Anniversary shows will feature Wheatus as opener. Tour Dates: 03/03/2019 Port City Music Hall Portland, ME 03/05/2019 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, ON …

Mike Doughty’s sold out Ruby Vroom 25th Anniversary show at First Avenue, in Minneapolis, took place on Saturday. To please fans of Soul Coughing, Doughty added a second Ruby Vroom show on Sunday. Since setlist is the same for both nights (with the exception of Wheatus, who plays different sets), we only caught Doughty on Saturday night.

New York’s Wheatus opened the show... with their first electric show on this tour. This is a large band, featuring Brendan B. Brown on vocals/guitars, Matthew Milligan on bass, Brandon Ticer on keys, Madden Klass (although their wikipedia entry lists Leo Freire) on drums, and on backing vocals: Joey Slater, Gabrielle Aimée Sterbenz, and Karlie Bruce.

Although Saturday’s evening in Minneapolis was getting about a foot of snow, no thanks to the never-ending winter in the area, the band was pleased to make it and ready to rock the stage.

You can tell that the band is very good. They play a different set every night on tour and Brown proudly announced on stage that they don’t have a setlist and would be happy to play any requests. They had prepared two cover songs, a Rush cover (“Time Stand Still”) and a Tragically Hip cover (“My Music at Work”), but found out they only had enough time to play only one of them. When the audience “voted” for Rush (louder cheers), they proceeded to play the song, but in a last-minute decision, decided to play the ‘Hip song back to back.

Wheatus’ best known song, “Teenage Dirtbag” was played near the end of the set, complete with unconventionally long break before the final chorus. Personally speaking, I felt like they should have ended their set with “Dirtbag”, because of the false ending, but their finale song was actually “Valentine”, the title track from their 2016 album.

Mike Doughty took the main stage at First Avenue after a short break. At first, it’s just Doughty, playing “Super Bon Bon”. The song is actually not part of Ruby Vroom (it’s from 1996’s Irresistible Bliss), but according to Doughty, it’s his warm-up song for the tour.

Doughty is eventually joined on stage by upright bassist Andrew Livingston, and with partial Wheatus band: Madden Klass on drums, Matthew Milligan on sampler/keys/programming, and Brendan B. Brown on guitars (usually hiding in the background).

Apparently singing his heart out at the Sleeping Village in Chicago on March 7th blew out Doughty’s vocals. His voice was clearly cracking and Doughty even admitted that he “destroyed” his vocals. I can only imagine what it was like to hear “Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago” in Chicago, as, even in Minneapolis, that song had a huge response from the audience. It’s always fun to hear the audience drowning out the band.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since Soul Coughing released Ruby Vroom. Based on hearing the audience singing along and knowing the album front to back, the album is beloved and hearing the entire album played live is a sight to behold... especially experiencing it with fan’s feedback. You can always tell which songs there the favorites, even for the more obscure tracks.

If you love Soul Coughing and their debut album, you definitely need to see Mike Doughty’s on this tour. The Ruby Vroom continues tonight and runs until the end of March.

Remaining Tour Dates:

03/10/2019 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
03/12/2019 Bluebird Theater Denver, CO
03/13/2019 The State Room Salt Lake City, UT
03/15/2019 The Crocodile Seattle, WA
03/16/2019 Aladdin Theater Portland, OR
03/20/2019 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA
03/24/2019 The Crescent Ballroom Phoenix, AZ
11/01/2019 Rough Trade Brooklyn, NY

Wheatus

Wheatus

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Mike Doughty

Mike Doughty

Mike Doughty

Mike Doughty at First Avenue, Minneapolis (09 Mar 2019)

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John Maus, with lukdlx, at First Avenue, Minneapolis (28 Feb 2019)

John Maus at First Ave John Maus Setlist My Whole World's Coming Apart Castles in the Grave Rights For Gays The Combine Keep Pushing On ...And The Rain Streetlight Teenage Witch Cop Killer Quantum Leap Bennington Touchdown Pure Rockets And Heaven Turned to Her Weeping Sensitive Recollections Pets Believer Read More John Maus In his first show in seven years, John Maus will be headlining the Cedar Cultural Center on Thursday, April 5th. Maus is known for his emotional, passionate live ..…

Taking a long break from music, it was good to see cult favorite John Maus, resuming his tour after brother Joe Maus died last year. After a Maus took a break and resumed his tour (but without a backing band)… ending his 2019 North American tour at First Avenue’s mainroom on February 28th.

With a brief 30-minute, six-song set, lukdlx (pronounced as “Luke Deluxe” and not to be confused with LuxDeluxe) took the stage, slightly later than advertised. The local soul/pop musician had a full band setup of guitarist, bassist, drummer, and keys… plus three backup singers.

It was fun, watching lukdlx run back and forth across the stage, as he mentioned he was covering Billy Ocean’s “Promise Me”, and ended his set with the title track of his EP, “Bad Haircut”.

In stark contrast to the eight-piece band that started the show, John Maus is a one man performer (with a laptop).

Compared to Maus’ previous show at the sold-out Cedar Cultural Club in April 2018, seeing Maus alone on such a large stage wasn’t as compelling (despite his funky, pogo-jumping, intense dance movies and air punches).

With a band, they had some improvising elements… but with a laptop, it just felt like a weird Karaoke show. Also, since each background music is perfectly timed, maybe the show actually ended earlier than you would normally expect from a regular rock/pop show.

Maus, as usual, wore his dress shirt and jeans and did not speak throughout his performance. No one hated it, as all the fans out that night were all Maus fans and loved what he was doing.

Still, it felt like maybe this show would have been better on a smaller stage, like the 7th Street Entry or the Fine Line Music Café. I understand why they booked him at a larger-capacity venue, as both 7th Street and Fine Line would’ve sold out immediately.

With Maus doing the same pogo jumping in place and emotional baritone singing on almost all the songs, it was actually a little fun to watch the audience doing their similar style dancing with Maus.

Maus ended his show with “Believer”, a strong single from his 2011 album We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves.

lukdlx

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John Maus

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John Maus at First Avenue, Minneapolis (28 Feb 2019)

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Aurora, with Talos, at First Avenue, Minneapolis (27 Feb 2019)

Aurora at First Avenue Aurora Setlist Churchyard Warrior Gentle Earthquakes All Is Soft Inside Home In Bottles Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) Runaway The Seed It Happened Quiet Animal Forgotten Love I Went Too Far Running With the Wolves -- Encore -- Infections of a Different Kind Queendom Other Auroras Auróra (Hungarian power-punk group) Aurora (Finnish singer) Aurora (UK hardcore group) Aurora (German gothic band) Aurora (single "Come Around") Aurora (Flamenco artist) Aurora (Mexican latin pop group) Aurora (British trance group) Aurora (Kaoru & Daisuke) Aurora (Leanna Milward) Aurora (classical instr. ensemble) Aurora (Jan and Peter) Aurora (Oldominion members) AURORA (Japanese indies band) Aurora (Pittsburgh rock) Aurora (Christian pop group) Aurora (Latvian punk rock group) Aurora (American jazz group) Aurora (house/chillout artist) Aurora (Polish coldwave band) Aurora (edm singer) Aurora (American Jazz-fusion band) Aurora (Danish black metal band) Aurora (OC ReMix artist) Aurora (Australian technoartist) Aurora (Seattle indie rock band) Read More Aurora Norway’s Aurora (aka Aurora Aksnes) is back in Minneapolis, headlining the Cedar Cultural Center this Saturday, November 12th. She previously sold out the 7th Street Entry in April 2016. … Talos She’s bringing with her, Ireland’s Talos (aka Eoin French), and they are touring for their sophomore album Far Out Dust. .…

Norwegian singer/songwriter Aurora, stylized as AURORA, because it helps her stand out from the other 26 Auroras (see sidebar). Aurora is a fairly new musician (since 2015), but she’s already built herself a very strong fanbase… playing to her biggest stage in the area yet: First Avenue’s mainroom in Minneapolis. Aurora also mentioned it as much, “You're way more people than last time I was here... how grown you've become” (referencing her previously two appearances - at the sold out 7th Street and Cedar Cultural Center).

In their very first time in Minneapolis, Irish artist Talos was excited to play some songs for us. Talos is led by songwriter/guitarist/singer Eoin French, strings/keys David O'Connell, bassist Sonny Sampson, guitarist Alex Sampson, and two percussionist: Josh Sampson and Sam McNicholl.

Talos started their set with his favorite song, “Odyssey”, from Wild Alee, singing in a moody, darkly lit stage. French didn’t say much for the first half of his set, but his songs sounds like deep thoughts and isolation.

Midway in his 40-min set, he started to play some newer tracks like “The Light Upon Us” and “See Me” (near the end of the set), both singles from his sophomore album Far Out Dust (BMG Records).

We’re glad to have seen Talos on their first Minneapolis appearance, and looking forward to seeing him again when he comes back.

Joining Aurora on stage was a full band, Alf Godbolt on keys, Max Skills on drums, Odd Martin Skålnes on bass, and Fridius Totalus on synth.

In her second appearance at the Cedar in Nov 2016 to promote her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend (Decca, Glassnote), we noted, “The twenty-year-old is very focused but playful on stage, with closed eyes and her arms moving spastically like Fiona Apple and crack band led by writing partner Odd Martin Skålnes, carefully building song after song into a sweeping brushstroke of icy dream pop. Though relatively new to the scene, her fans have grown exponentially and become feverishly loyal- handing her original artwork and handmade jewelry as gifts during the set and holding signs up in support, something very usual for a new artist and in this venue.”

The gift-giving tradition was still in effect, as fan after fan gave her things between songs and after the show (where she would come out to meet and talk to her fans).

You can tell with the paper Jellyfish, artwork in the background, and multi-layer dress/fashion, that Aurora had a hand in design and direction. She would later jokingly talk about “wearing, like, seven skirts” and how she had to take off her “pants”.

The first part of Aurora’s set were new songs heavy (from her latest album Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1)): “Churchyard”, “Gentle Earthquakes”, and “All Is Soft Inside”, but that’s fine, because it saved some of her beloved debut songs for the rest of her set.

“I Went Too Far”, a single from her debut album, got such a good reaction that Aurora had to acknowledge it with, “This is really great...do you know that!?”

For the double-song encore, Aurora bookended her set with the remaining new Infections…, including the title track, “Infections of a Different Kind” and “Queendom”. Aurora described “Infection…” as “the first song I wrote after having a long down period in my life, where I didn't really enjoy what I do, and I thought maybe I should quit being an artist... but then I wrote this song.”

Remaining Tour Dates:

03/05/2019 Royale Nightclub Boston Boston, MA
03/07/2019 Brooklyn Steel Brooklyn, NY
03/09/2019 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA
03/10/2019 Lincoln Theatre Washington, DC

Talos

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Aurora Setlist

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Aurora at First Avenue, Minneapolis (27 Feb 2019)

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The Jayhawks w/ Chastity Brown, Tuomo & Markus at First Avenue, Minneapolis (21 Dec 2018)

Jayhawks at First Ave Jayhawks Setlist I'm Gonna Make You Love Me Ain't No End Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces Waiting for the Sun Everybody Knows (Dixie Chicks cover) Tampa to Tulsa Baltimore Sun Trouble Dying on the Vine I'd Run Away Bottomless Cup Smile Leaving the Monsters Big Star Gonna Be a Darkness A Break in the Clouds Backwards Women All the Right Reasons Long Time Ago Come Cryin' to Me Nothing Left to Borrow Tailspin Blue -- Encore -- Settled Broken Harpoon I'm Down to My Last Cigarette (Billy Walker cover) Haywire Until You Came Along (Golden Smog cover) Bad Time (Grand Funk Railroad cover) Chastity Brown Setlist Lost Lies Colorado Drive Slow Carried Away Wake Up Mad Love Tuomo & Markus Setlist What Are You Looking For? Spinsters Vanity Blinds Over the Rooftops America (Prince and The Revolution cover) Jayhawks Tour Dates 01/17/2019 Swyer Theatre Albany, NY 01/18/2019 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY 01/19/2019 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY Read More The Jayhawks The show was advertised as Gary Louris and Friends. For those that don't know Gary, he is one of the founding members of the Jayhawks. They have a new CD coming in September, which involves the reunion with Mark Olson. … Chastity Brown Chastity Brown played almost everything from her Back-Road Highways album, as you can see from the setlist. The band is joined on stage by Aby Wolf (for "Solely" and "Slow Time") and Hummingbirds (for "Say It" ...

The first day of Winter means the longest night of the year to us here in the Northern Hemisphere and there was no better place than to be inside of the Mainroom at First Avenue in Minneapolis, for the first of two shows from the band that has played that stage more times than any other, The Jayhawks.

The three-band evening began with a crisp set from Tuomo & Markus, a new project described as Nordic Americana from Finnish soul/jazz artist Tuomo Prättälä and singer/songwriter Markus Nordenstreng of The Latebirds. Performing as just a duo, the pair returns as a proper six-piece, in just a few weeks, in support of debut album Dead Circles, to headline the Cedar Cultural Center on January 18.

Playing the songs in a more stripped down nature, it was easy to focus more on their lyrics, Simon and Garfunkel-like delicate harmonies, and the laid back nature of songs like ‘Spinsters’ (about male not female), ‘Vanity Blinds’ (borne from an existential crisis brought on by impending fatherhood), and ‘Over the Rooftops’, co-written with their local friend, explaining it by saying, “If you need a chorus, you call Louris”.

We’ve predictably heard a lot of Prince covers in the room over the last two and a half years since he passed, but few more inventively done than the pair’s version of 1985’s ‘America’ - “I was aware of a short little man who has done a lot in this club” Nordenstreng humbly prefaced the song, also mentioning the many other Minnesota bands he grew up listening to, half a world away.

The South-meets-North combination of roots and soul from local (by-way-of Tennessee) singer/songwriter Chastity Brown has served her and the area music community, increasingly well. Still in support of last year’s Silhouette of Sirens (Red House Records), she’s been an honest and genuine artist who showcased her latest songs with her band on their final show of the year, complete with cello and violin, and co-vocalist Aby Wolf (the area’s go-to choice for vocals- if I needed a new answering machine message, she’s my first choice to record it).

Brown and the band determined their evening’s mission statement pre-show, in the venue’s Green Room- “to be patient, to play pretty, and get a little sexy” and proved it on songs like the opening ‘Lost’, radio single ‘Drive Slow’, and new single, written in response to a chance encounter with a biased white supremacist, ‘Mad Love’.

“We treat the stage as a front porch” Brown mentioned mid-set, and the friendly vibe of her and her band playing to some 1,500 Twin Cities neighbors, shone through in her forty-five minute performance.

Since reuniting in 2014 with their 1997-era line up (Gary Louris; Marc Perlman; Karen Grotberg; Tim O'Reagan; John Jackson) The Jayhawks have shown little signs of slowing down, releasing another record of new music this year, Back Roads and Abandoned Motels (Legacy Recordings), a collection of two new songs alongside contributions songwriter Gary Louris wrote for other outside projects.

With thirty-five years of material to draw from, the band’s two-hour fifteen-minute set started on a classic upswing with 2000’s ‘I’m Gonna Make you Love Me’ then dove back to the 1989 Blue Earth album for deep cut, ‘Ain’t No End’, before jumping back ahead twenty-five years to 2016’s ‘Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces’.

Louris, with now fully gray hair, glasses, and goatee (looking more like Gary Oldman) remains in fine form, and the current line-up clearly has a joyful spirit of synchronicity playing together, with drummer O’Reagan and keyboardist Grotberg getting several turns on lead vocals, letting Louris concentrate further on solos.

Louris had mentioned the songs on the new record, though written for others, still “felt in their wheelhouse” and they did seamlessly flow within the set, from The Dixie Chicks’ ‘Everybody Knows’ to “Gonna Be a Darkness’ (“a beautiful song about death” w/Jakob Dylan) to ‘Long Time Ago’ (w/Tonic’s Emerson Hart).

Louris admitted to 1997’s Sound of Lies’ as being one of his favorite records and with that lineup intact, reprised several from the disc including ‘Trouble’, ‘Dying on the Vine’, and ‘Big Star’. Former member and friend of the band Kraig (Run Westy Run) Johnson appeared mid-set, helping out on several tracks then disappeared, to re-emerge toward the show’s end.

An additional three-piece horn section perched in the back stage right corner at the midway point, to liven up songs like ‘Smile’, ’Long Time Ago’, and ‘Come Cryin’ to Me’. “We see them become part of your lives” Louris confessed to the crowd about the band’s many songs, “and it makes me very happy”.

Johnson rejoined for the main set-closing classic ‘Blue’, with the crowd singing along as well, and it wasn’t long before a generous six-song encore began, with Louris playing 1992’s ‘Settled Down Like Rain’ solo. Grotberg then joined him for 2000’s ‘Broken Harpoon’ before taking the lead herself on a Billy Walker cover, but the highlight had to be with Johnson and longtime Soul Asylum guitarist Dan Murphy (looking thinner but very happy) forming “semi-Smog” an almost lineup of alt supergroup Golden Smog (sans Jeff Tweedy) for a version of 1998’s ‘Until You Came Along’.

Pearlman and Johnson next swapped instruments for the closing ‘Bad Time’, a 1975 song from Grand Funk Railroad that The Jayhawks would cover on record twenty years later, and given some extra punch on this night, by the horn section and the additional members on stage.

With over two hours under their belt, a few songs were still missing (notably ‘Save it for a Rainy Day’) but that would just be more motivation to try and make it into the next night’s sold-out show and undoubtedly another solid performance from hometown musical heroes The Jayhawks.

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

Tuomo and Markus

Tuomo and Markus

Tuomo and Markus

Tuomo and Markus

Chastity Brown

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Chastity Brown

The Jayhawks

The Jayhawks

The Jayhawks

The Jayhawks

The Jayhawks

The Jayhawks at First Avenue, Minneapolis (21 Dec 2018)

john (johnc@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic