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Samia at First Avenue (Jun 6, 2025)
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First Ave was the venue for three local bands playing a sold-out, all-ages show to a devoted audience. Doors were 6:30 and the opening act, Ava Levy, was kicking things off at 6:45. Apparently there was a line of kids around the block ready to go as doors opened, so with minimal ID checks the show started with a solid crowd. I wouldn’t know for sure because when I got there at 6:43 I had to wait in line for will call and didn’t get inside until Ava had played a few songs. Note to self: be early for all-ages shows if I want to catch all of the opening act.
Luckily, I was able to catch ~4 songs from Ava, a Twin Cities singer-songwriter who has been performing on stage with her dad, Adam, since she was in her teens. Her comfort with the stage was obvious. She was on stage at First Ave playing to a full (not sold-out level, yet) crowd, and holding her own. She brought a collaborator and great friend up on stage and the two of them sang a lovely song while goofing around with dance moves and fake fighting. I’m certainly glad I was able to see what I saw. I’ll make sure to get there early next time.
Up next, Raffaella! The New York-raised artist who has made Minneapolis home since early 2020 thanks to now-fiancée Jake Luppen of Minneapolis-based Hippo Campus (a play on everyone’s favorite brain structure, the hippocampus, named because it looks like a sea horse or hippocampus in Latin). Rafaella has stage presence and played a ten-song set, which had the crowd energized. She was charming in her “stream of conscious” banter with the audience as well as her ability to bust a move. My guess is that she was a ballerina at some point.
The set was half unreleased songs and half off of her debut two-part EP Live, Raff, Love, which she co-wrote and produced with Jake. The audience was able to sing along with all of the songs, so clearly knew her work. One of the highlights was “Courtney”, which she said is about Courtney Love but also just friends she knows who are strong. “Polly Pocket” and “Blonde”, a single off of the EP, were crowd favorites with big reactions. It’s great to see Raffaella so nicely settled into the Minneapolis music scene.
As Samia’s set started, her band took to the stage first. I had a photo pass for the show, which allows me to be in “the pit” directly in front of the stage for the first three songs; it was so fun to be two feet from Samia as she came on stage and to see the genuine joy on her face as she took in the love from the sold-out show. She had one of those authentic smiles that lit up her entire being. For me, that in and of itself, made the show and it hadn’t even really started.
The first song was Triptych” off of her debut album, The Baby, released in 2020 (see playlist to the right for full list). “Fair Game” off of Bloodless had Samia moving around the stage and dancing to the rhythm of the guitar and the beat of the drum. She knows that she is the spotlight of the show and used that to highlight her bandmates by almost snuggling (see picture below) with each of them in turn throughout the show. I think this was in lieu of actual introductions and was sweet, demonstrating, I think, her affection for each of them. I could be completely wrong about that but that’s what I’m choosing to believe.
“Bovine Excision” and “Carousel” are two of my favorites and clearly crowd favorites as well with the latter demonstrating her flexibility and core strength as she went from kneeling to laying back on the stage with her knees beneath her and back up without using her hands. I felt my quads tearing just typing that. Maybe my favorite song by Samia is “Spine Oil”, which has a great hook, a high energy drum beat and beautiful chorus. It’s interesting to me that this song was described as one of her weaker efforts by one reviewer when I find such an emotional connection to it. There are many ways to evaluate music.
“Craziest Person” is a fun, quick song where Samia sat while singing and “North Poles” had the crowd singling along. “Pants” coming in around seven minutes was the final song before the encore. The highlight of the three-song encore was undoubtedly “Honey”, which had seemingly everyone associated with the show up on stage singing and bouncing along (see the blurry picture below) while the crowd sang along. I think the world could use more experiences like this.
| matt ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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