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Flying Lotus at First Avenue, Minneapolis (20 August 2019)

Flying Lotus at First Ave Tour Dates 08/26/2019 Corona Theatre Montreal, QC 08/27/2019 House Of Blues Boston, MA 08/29/2019 Franklin Music Hall Philadelphia, PA 08/30/2019 The Brooklyn Mirage Brooklyn, NY 08/31/2019 Mass Moca North Adams, MA 09/02/2019 Express Live! Columbus, OH 09/02/2019 Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA 09/03/2019 Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA 09/03/2019 Express Live! Columbus, OH 09/04/2019 Marathon Music Works Nashville, TN 09/05/2019 Madison Theater Covington, KY 09/05/2019 Madison Theater Cincinnati, OH 09/06/2019 Fillmore Charlotte Charlotte, NC 09/07/2019 The National Richmond, VA 09/08/2019 John F. Kennedy Center Washington, DC 09/10/2019 The Ritz Raleigh, NC 09/11/2019 Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA 09/12/2019 Joy Theater New Orleans, LA 09/13/2019 Warehouse Live Houston, TX 09/13/2019 Warehouse Live Houston, TX 09/14/2019 Emo's Austin, TX 09/15/2019 South Side Ballroom Dallas, TX 09/18/2019 The Van Buren Phoenix, AZ 09/19/2019 House Of Blues San Diego, CA 09/19/2019 House Of Blues San Diego, CA 09/20/2019 The Novo Los Angeles, CA 10/10/2019 Desert Daze 10/11/2019 Desert Daze 10/13/2019 Desert Daze 10/24/2019 Suwannee Hulaween Read More Flying Lotus The first time I saw the name Flying Lotus, I thought of the 70s band The Flying Lizards... you know the British band famous for covering "Money (That's What I Want)"? … Brandon Coleman This work offers some tasty stuff - good dancing jams D. Washburn 5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh jams May 29, 2019 … Salami Rose Joe Louis Keynoodles Salami Rose Joe Louis Original Release Date: April 17, 2017 Release Date: April 17, 2017 Label: Hot Record Societe Copyright: ℗© 2017 Salami Rose Joe Louis Duration: 1:18 minutes … PBDY Eucalyptus & Lavender / So Help Me (DOG) PBDY Original Release Date: August 7, 2019 Release Date: August 7, 2019 Label: Brainfeeder Copyright: ℗© 2019: Brainfeeder …

The Flying Lotus brought his spectacular 3-D show to First Avenue on Tuesday, August 20th, in downtown Minneapolis.

Opening the show was Salami Rose Joe Louis, a lone DJ/mixer playing on her keyboard and singing songs over melodic sound. Like all the acts, videos were shown on the big backdrop while they play. Not sure if the images were specific to the songs, but they were definitely custom made.

The Californian native was playing songs from her recently released album Zdenka 2080, available on Brainfeeder.

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 lots of percussions, while the second set (after Brandon Coleman) felt more chaotic and noise-centric. The latter set probably had more to do with the crew moving and setup for Flying Lotus.

Throughout his set, the logo of Brainfeeder was on display on the backdrop. Apparently PBDY is one of the spokespersons for the music label and currently running the music collective, TAR.

Prior to Brandon Coleman (billed as Brandon Coleman Spacetalker) coming on stage, a video of “spacetalker” was shown - which turned out to be a nice tribute to Ras G (aka Gregory Shorter), one of the founders of Brainfeeder and Los Angeles Beat Scene.

Coleman only had excitement about playing at the legendary First Avenue, citing how he remembered watching Purple Rain all those years ago and how incredible it was for him to play on the same stage as Prince. He dedicated “Love” (or as announced as “Unconditional Love”) to the purple one.

Filmmaker, producer, and DJ The Flying Lotus (aka FlyLo) closed out the show.

Before we talk about show, we should mention that the 3D show was a step up from most shows. The high-res 3-D video were powered by an Alienware laptop, with the aid of a dedicated external Graphics Amplifier. Each show seemed like they were different, with the video director making small modification to the videos before the main show.

Every paying guest was given a passive 3D glasses, like the ones you get at the movie theaters. These particular glasses had Flying Lotus branding on them, making them the perfect souvenir to remember the fabulous show.

Center stage was FlyLo in his custom DJ stand, which looked like it was inspired by Katsuhiro Otomo’s cyberpunk classic Akira. Starting his set off with a video, featuring Twin Peaks creator David Lynch, playing perfectly into “Fire is Coming”.

Like all 3D shows, you really need to view the show in the center. Unfortunately, since it was really crowded, if you got in late and saw the show at the side, it’s not a great viewing experience.

It’s a real trip to see flying particles and roller coasting movements. When it’s in full effect, watching the 3D videos and hearing the music, it blows away any regular DJ sets. Let’s face it, most DJ shows aren’t that exciting, as you’re just watching some guy(s) pushing buttons and pulling knobs. The Flying Lotus shows solves this problem, making his 3D show a truly unique experience.

Salami Rose Joe Louis

PBDY

Brandon Coleman Spacetalker

Brandon Coleman Spacetalker

Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus at First Avenue, Minneapolis (20 August 2019)

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

Snail Mail at First Avenue, Minneapolis (15 July 2019)

Snail Mail at First Ave Snail Mail Setlist Intro Heat Wave Dirt Slug Golden Dream Thinning Deep Sea Pristine Let's Find an Out Full Control Speaking Terms Solo (New Song) Stick Sasami Setlist Morning Comes I Was A Window At Hollywood Not the Time Take Care Jealousy Free Adult Contemporary Callous Pacify My Heart Read More Snail Mail Matador’s youngest signing Snail Mail (aka 18-yr-old Lindsey Jordan) will be stopping by the 7th Street Entry in support of her debut album Lush - out now. … Sasami Los Angeles-based artist Sasami (stylized as SASAMI) is returning to the area, at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St Paul on Saturday, April 20th. SASAMI’s debut self-titled album is available for pre-order now .…

Baltimore-based Snail Mail (aka Lindsey Jordan) headlined First Avenue, in Minneapolis, on July 15th.

Los Angeles-based artist Sasami (stylized as SASAMI) opened the show. Sasami Ashworth is joined by drummer Adrian Young and bassist Maryanne (sorry, couldn’t make out her last name during the band introduction).

We saw Sasami when she was first being noticed (new to the music scene) in October 2018 and wrote, “Music has always been part of Sasami’s life, from starting with the French horn in orchestras, graduating from Eastman School of music, to joining local rock bands like Dirt Dress (playing synth). After leaving the group Cherry Glazerr, Sasami decided to strike on her solo career, working on her much-anticipated solo album (set for release in early 2019). We got glimpses of it from her brief set, including the latest release, “Callous”. Sasami is still relatively new to the scene, but expect her to build a solid fanbase, especially if she continues to tour with like-minded women like Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, or Mitski.”

Since we first saw her and seeing her now, her performance has drastically changed from a calm typical band to dangerously rocking band. Maybe it’s influenced by her yearlong touring with other women or First Avenue’s much bigger stage allows for the violent dancing. But what a difference a year make.

Her set was brief and seemed to play without any issues, except for “Take Care”, which Sasami had to take a few minutes to tune her guitar. During this process, you learned that Steve forgot to do this prior to the show. Sasami jokingly asked the audience to shout out, “F*** you, Steve!”

As you can see from her setlist, all her songs were taken from her self-titled debut album from Domino Records, including the new single, “Free”.

Snail Mail is currently singer/guitarist Lindsey Jordan, bassist Alex Bass, drummer Ray Brown, and guitarist/keys Madeline McCormack. The band took the stage shortly after 9pm, playing almost everything from the debut album Lush (Matador Records).

This was Snail Mail’s fifth time in the Minneapolis area (which we previously listed or spotlight every time: May 2017, July 2017, October 2017, June 2018, and July 2019), but this was the first time she’s graced the larger mainroom at First Avenue. Lindsey smiled and said, “Thanks for making this happen.”

The dancefloor was completely filled with young fans, dancing and singing along. It’s clear that all her previous appearances (which all happened within two years!) that she’s built up a solid fanbase from word of mouth.

Watching how easily Snail Mail plays as a band, easing into the next song, and just naturally performing on stage. It’s hard to believe that Lindsey is only 20 years old. It should be interesting to see what they have in store for us for the inevitable next album.

Remaining tour dates:

07/18/2019 Off Broadway Nightclub St. Louis, MO
07/19/2019 Turner Hall Ballroom Milwaukee, WI
07/21/2019 Pitchfork Music Festival
07/23/2019 Exit / In Nashville, TN
07/24/2019 Headliners Music Hall Louisville, KY
07/25/2019 Skully's Music Diner Columbus, OH
07/26/2019 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH
07/27/2019 Mo Pop Music & Arts Festival
07/28/2019 Rex Theater Pittsburgh, PA
07/31/2019 Brooklyn Steel Brooklyn, NY
08/15/2019 Gallivan Center Salt Lake City, UT
08/17/2019 Bluebird Theater Denver, CO
08/20/2019 The Rebel Lounge Phoenix, AZ
08/21/2019 The Irenic San Diego, CA
08/22/2019 The Wiltern Los Angeles, CA
09/05/2019 Downtown Raleigh Raleigh, NC

Sasami

Sasami

Sasami

Sasami Setlist

Snail Mail

Snail Mail Poster

Snail Mail Setlist

Snail Mail

Snail Mail

Snail Mail at First Avenue, Minneapolis (15 July 2019)

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

Bad Religion at First Avenue, Minneapolis (02 July 2019)

Bad Religion at First Ave Bad Religion Setlist Them And Us End Of History F**k You Stranger Than Fiction The Dichotomy Dearly Beloved Chaos from Within Anesthesia Suffer My Sanity The Handshake Overture / Sinister Rouge Lose Your Head Atomic Garden Los Angeles Is Burning I Want to Conquer the World 21st Century (Digital Boy) Recipe for Hate Generator No Control Against the Grain Do What You Want You Do the Paranoid Style F**k Armageddon... This is Hell Sorrow -- Encore -- Infected American Jesus Dave Hause Setlist Eye Aye I Autism Vaccine Blues Saboteurs Paradise We Could Be Kings Dirty F**ker Jane (The Loved Ones song) With You The Ditch Read More Bad Religion Age of Unreason is the band’s 17th studio album, and offers their response to our current time (they might as well have called the album Age of Trump). Co-songwriter and guitarist Brett Gurewitz (and Epitaph Records owner) … Dave Hause Singer-songwriter Rocky Votolato (from Waxwing) has announced a summer co-headline tour with Dave Hause this summer... stopping by Minneapolis at the Triple Rock Social Club …

The legendary punk band Bad Religion (singer Greg Graffin, guitarist Brett Gurewitz, bassist Jay Bentley, guitarist Brian Baker, drummer Mike Dimkich) headlined First Avenue’s mainroom in Minneapolis on July 02, 2019.

American singer-songwriter Dave Hause (billed as the band Dave Hause& The Mermaid) opened the show with a 40-min set. Near the end of their set, Hause mentioned, “we usually play over there” (pointing to the 7th Street Entry), and continued, “this room is nice as sh**!”

The dancefloor was pretty packed when Hause and company launched into “Eye Aye I”, singing “Now I do what I'm told, I used to bold, I used to bold.”

For “Dirty F**ker”, they dedicated the song to “that guy sitting in the White House.”

Before Hause played The Loved Ones (a band he used to be in) song called “Jane”, he told us this story about how 11 years ago, they were touring with The Hold Steady and almost nearly died.

It’s been a decade since Bad Religion was in town (they played Vans Warped Tour 2009 in Shakopee), and it’s good to have the band back. This was only the second night of their North American tour for Age of Unreason (Epitaph Records), the band was happy to unveil their live debut of “End Of History”. They sounded great, but unfortunately, there were some unavoidable technical difficulties that started happy around “Recipe for Hate”.

The fans, which spans generational, didn’t seem to mind one bit and often sang along to almost every song (particularly loud for “21st Century (Digital Boy)” and “Do What You Want”).

Bad Religion played hard and loud throughout their set, with the exception of “Generator”, which was done as a “festival style”. The first stanza of the song was slowed down (almost acapella) and it would speed up for the next section. It actually changes the song, as the studio version hits you like a runaway freight train from the start… so hearing it slow build almost made me a totally different song.

Otherwise, no complaints here. Greg Graffin and company played all the hits, and they were really good keeping in timing with great harmony. Again, the band were really in top form. I love seeing Brian Baker, when I saw them in the 90s, he was the “newest” band member to join and he bounced all over the place in his live performance. Sure everyone in the band is a little older now, but they still pulled off some well-practiced moves!

Bad Religion saved two of their biggest hit, “Infected” and “American Jesus” (their highest charting song) for the encore. It was satisfying to hear the entire room singing back the lyrics.

Remaining tour dates:

07/09/2019 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO
07/14/2019 Showbox SoDo Seattle, WA
07/19/2019 Majestic Ventura Theater Ventura, CA
07/20/2019 Vans Warped Tour
07/26/2019 77 Montreal
07/27/2019 Bold Point Pavilion East Providence, RI
07/30/2019 Aura Portland, ME
07/31/2019 House Of Blues Boston Boston, MA
08/03/2019 Brooklyn Steel Brooklyn, NY
08/07/2019 Royal Oak Music Theatre Royal Oak, MI
08/09/2019 Riviera Theatre Chicago, IL
08/10/2019 Agora Theatre Cleveland, OH
08/11/2019 The Fillmore Silver Spring Silver Spring, MD
08/13/2019 The Ritz Raleigh, NC
08/17/2019 Hollywood Palladium Hollywood, CA
10/12/2019 Aftershock Festival

Dave Hause & The Mermaid

Dave Hause & The Mermaid

Dave Hause & The Mermaid

Dave Hause & The Mermaid

Bad Religion

Bad Religion

Bad Religion

Bad Religion

Bad Religion at First Avenue, Minneapolis (02 July 2019)

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

Fitz and the Tantrums at First Avenue, Minneapolis (15 June 2019)

Fitz and the Tantrums at First Avenue Fitz and the Tantrums Setlist Get Right Back Spark Don't Gotta Work It Out Out of My League 123456 Break the Walls MoneyGrabber Fool OCD Fools Gold I Need Help! Roll Up Burn It Down Shine -- Encore -- HandClap All the Feels The Walker Coin Setlist Growing Pains Simple Romance Boyfriend Crash My Car Cemetery Hannah I Want It All Talk Too Much Fingers Crossed Tour Dates 20/06/2019 Maine Savings Pavilion at Rock Row, Westbrook, ME* 21/06/2019 Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion, Boston, MA* 22/06/2019 Fillmore Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA 23/06/2019 92.3 Summer Open, Queens, NY* 25/06/2019 Virginia Credit Union Live, Richmond, VA* 27/06/2019 STAGE AE, Pittsburgh, PA* 28/06/2019 EXPRESS LIVE!, Columbus, OH* 29/06/2019 Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre, Sterling Heights, MI* 30/06/2019 Jacob's Pavilion, Cleveland, OH* 02/07/2019 Brenton Skating Plaza, Des Moines, IA* 03/07/2019 Harrah's Council Bluffs Casino , Council Bluffs, IA* 05/07/2019 WhiteWater Amphitheater, New Braunfels, TX* 06/07/2019 Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, Irving, TX* 07/07/2019 White Oak Music Hall - Lawn, Houston, TX* 09/07/2019 Zoo Amphitheatre, Oklahoma City, OK* 10/07/2019 Walmart AMP (Arkansas Music Pavilion), Rogers, AR* 12/07/2019 Ascend Amphitheater, Nashville, TN* 13/07/2019 Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amph, Charlotte, NC* 14/07/2019 Cadence Bank Amphitheatre , Atlanta, GA* 16/07/2019 Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC* 18/07/2019 The Cuban Club Courtyard, Tampa, FL* 19/07/2019 St. Augustine Amphitheatre, Saint Augustine, FL* 20/07/2019 Klipsch Amphitheater at Bayfront Park, Miami, FL* 21/07/2019 Central Florida Fairgrounds, Orlando, FL* 01/08/2019 Lollapalooza Grant Park, Chicago, IL 02/08/2019 Wisconsin State Fair Park, West Allis, WI 04/08/2019 Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA* 06/08/2019 McMenamin's Edgefield Amph, Troutdale, OR* 08/08/2019 Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara, CA* 09/08/2019 Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre, San Diego, CA* 10/08/2019 The Forum, Inglewood, CA* 11/08/2019 Comerica Theatre, Phoenix, AZ* 14/08/2019 Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, Reno, NV* 15/08/2019 Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA* 16/08/2019 Downtown Las Vegas Events Center - DLVEC, Las Vegas, NV * = with Young the Giant Read More Fitz and the Tantrums There’s really no doubt left– Fitz and the Tantrums are no longer a secret locally; rather, are firmly established as a party-starting, crowd-inducing good time band that everyone now has their eye on. … COIN Next up was Nashville formed band COIN, who paid dividends in providing a good spark of youthful energy and fun, in their brief thirty-three minute set. The synth-embellished indie pop quartet …

Third time’s the charm--

For the third time is less than a year, Los Angeles band Fitz and the Tantrums returned to one of their strongest markets, Minneapolis/St. Paul, for an intimate night at the Mainroom at First Avenue.

The band is currently on a summer co-headlining amphitheater tour with labelmates Young the Giant (who we saw on their own, earlier this year) and took advantage of a tour off-day bringing along tour opener, COIN with them for an energy-filled evening. The group was here last July for a slot at the Basilica Block Party, then returned to downtown Minneapolis in still-chilly April, for an abbreviated free show on the night of the NCAA Final Four Championship game (and we strangely seemed to be the only area outlet that fully covered that show).

We’ve written about Nashville band COIN since early 2015, managing to catch their frenetic set the following year, on one of six previous times in the area. The band has a brand new single, ‘Crash My Car’ ahead of their upcoming third full-length, due later this year.

The foursome (Chase Lawrence– vocals/synths; Ryan Winnen– drums; Joe Memmel– guitar; Matt Martin– touring bass) have always brought an infectious energy to their live performance and this night was no exception. “I feel like every time we come to Minneapolis, something strange happens, but not tonight” Lawrence said, without further detail, “but not tonight, we have to come back!”.

After the new ‘I Want it All’ (not to be confused with the Queen song), the biggest crowd response was saved for their breakthrough radio single, ‘Talk Too Much’, with the crowd singing the chorus back to the band, and COIN ended their forty minute set with 2015’s ‘Fingers Crossed’. Expect them to return and headline once the new album is released.

Though technically an off-day from their summer amphitheater tour, you could tell that Fitz and the Tantrums were more interested in celebrating and playing live, than any relaxing and putting their feet up, still one of the better live bands touring today. The full First Avenue crowd seemed ready as well, responding overall with enough gusto that you’d think the band hadn’t been here in years.

The six piece group (Michael Fitzpatrick– vocals/keys; Noelle Scaggs– vocals/percussion; James King– sax/flute/keys; Joseph Karnes– bass; Jeremy Ruzumna– keys; John Wicks – drums) has had a continually growing following locally, stopping by a dozen times over the last eight years, including several Basilica Block Party appearances, which have all heightened their local profile and continued popularity.

The main difference between this seventy-five minute headlining set and the April appearance, was that the crowd was treated to several new songs, from their upcoming full-length, All the Feels, due out in September, even offering a tour-only CD EP with new songs at the merch booth, for fans that couldn’t wait to own the long-awaited new music.

Scaggs helped incite the crowd with tambourine in hand during classic ‘Don’t Got to Work it Out’, and Fitzpatrick smiled wide as he noted that most in the crowd knew all the lyrics to the older songs. Fans counted along on the new ‘123456’ and went crazy when initial hit, ‘Moneygrabber’ was played early in the set, with Fitzpatrick also recalling the band’s first local appearances and the extreme temperature swing between their initial February appearance, and then returning that July which was 120 degrees warmer.

New songs, ‘OCD’ with a dizzying rhythm and hard drumbeat and ‘I Need Help!’, perhaps the band’s most seriously themed lyrics though still played upbeat, were played with 2013’s solid ‘Fools Gold’ in between, with everyone’s hands up in the air next for 2016’s ‘Roll Up’.

2016’s emotional ‘Burn it Down’ is Fitzpatrick’s love letter to his wife and a new song that is a midtempo earworm filled with lyrics of determined positivity called ’Shine’ ended the main set.

A roar from the crowd helped bring the band back for a three-song encore beginning with their game-changing hit from 2016, ‘HandClap’ followed by new song, ‘All the Feels' which Fitzpatrick revealed was to be the title track of the upcoming record, and proved to be a slow burner, ideal for swaying from left to right, and back again.

Fitzpatrick thanked everyone on behalf of the band (as he always has graciously done at shows), for making their dreams come true, “Thank you being real people and real music lovers to spread the word about this band” with the irresistible whistled intro beginning the evening’s final song, ‘The Walker’ punctuated by an explosion from two confetti cannons just before the last chorus to shower the main floor and end things with exclaim.

Fitz and the Tantrums continues on their summer co-headlining outdoor tour, but expect a return appearance soon after the new album releases, as the Twin Cities has shown, they will come out in large numbers and happily experience all the feels live.

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

COIN

COIN

COIN

Fitz and the Tantrums

Fitz and the Tantrums

Fitz and the Tantrums

Fitz and the Tantrums

Fitz and the Tantrums

Fitz and the Tantrums

Fitz and the Tantrums

Fitz and the Tantrums at First Avenue, Minneapolis (15 June 2019)

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

The Specials at First Avenue, Minneapolis (07 June 2019)

The Specials at First Avenue The Specials Setlist Man at C&A Rat Race Do Nothing Vote for Me Friday Night, Saturday Morning Embarrassed by You Blank Expression Doesn't Make It Alright The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum (Fun Boy Three cover) Blam Blam Fever (The Valentines cover) A Message to You, Rudy (Dandy Livingstone cover) Stereotypes 10 Commandments Nite Klub Do the Dog (Rufus Thomas cover) Concrete Jungle Monkey Man (Toots & The Maytals cover) Gangsters Too Much Too Young -- Encore -- Breaking Point Ghost Town You're Wondering Now (The Skatalites cover) L.A. Salami Setlist No Hallelujahs Now Aristotle Ponders the Sound The Crucible (?) The Talisman on the Age of Glass The Specials Lineup Lynval Golding – rhythm guitar, vocals Horace Panter – bass guitar Terry Hall – vocals Tim Smart – trombone Nikolaj Torp Larsen – keyboards Steve Cradock - lead guitar Pablo Mendelssohn - trumpet Kenrick Rowe - drums Tour Dates 6/10 - Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore 6/11 - Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts 6/14 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel 6/15- Boston, MA @ House of Blues 6/17 - Montreal, QB @ Corona Theatre 6/18 - Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall 6/19 - Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall Read More The Specials UK 2 tone ska legends The Specials will be stopping by First Avenue this June 7th. The Specials, along with The Beat, Selecter, and Madness, have influenced a generation of ska bands. … L.A. Salami London-based L.A. Salami (aka Lookman Adekunle Salami) will be stopping by the 7th Street Entry on Thursday. His new single, “Jean Is Gone” is taken from his forthcoming album The City of Bootmakers …

English 2-tone ska legends The Specials headlined First Avenue’s mainroom on Friday, June 7th, in support of their new album Encore (Island Records).

Opening up the show was London’s L.A. Salami. We last saw him in March 2018 and mentioned, “Coming on stage to an extended band jam intro, L.A. Salami (short for his full name Lookman Adekunle Salami) confessed that he’s been “spying from the bar” to survey the crowd. He’s come to the conclusion that we were an “interesting group.” If you couldn’t tell, it was clear that he was pretty happy about the large audience, possibly thanks to his appearance at the popular local station The Current ahead of the show.”

Since the last appearance, Salami is travelling light (without a full band) and instead only had a bassist (not introduced) helping him on stage. With a stripped-down sound, Salami decided to make a full meal of his 45-min opening slot by stretching out his songs. In fact, he only played four songs, taking it nice and slow. Between songs, he also jabbered quite a bit.

At first, he asked if anyone in the audience was born in Minneapolis? Then if anyone lived here for more than 15 years. Then 20, 25, between the other songs.

If you’re not familiar with L.A. Salami, he’s more of a poet and sounds a little like Bob Dylan (because of the harmonica). Unfortunately, the slow winding and intelligent lyrical songs didn’t mesh well with the upbeat bouncy ska music of The Specials. It’s a bad pairing, it’s obvious.

Of the four songs, one had a lot of lyrics that aren’t on any of Salami’s previous songs, so I’m guessing it’s a work in progress or perhaps an unreleased song. Sample lyrics includes “The crucible is allowed to stand.”

He ended his set with “The Talisman on the Age of Glass”, which he explained was inspired by a person and author.

It’s good to have The Specials back in town. The band was last seen in town on September 17, 2016, but unfortunately, due to conflict with Festival Palomino, we could not cover that show.

As with many ska bands (which requires a full brass section), they have a large roster and often takes much effort to get everyone involved to do a proper tour.

The newest member of the group is PJ Harvey/Jazz Jamaica’s drummer Kenrick Rowe, who is replacing The Libertines’ drummer Gary Powell. The core songwriter, Terry Hall remains consistently in the band throughout the years.

Since the formation of the group in 1977 (originally called The Automatics and then changed to The Specials AKA), the band had always had a political message in their songs. One of the band’s first major concert was at Rock Against Racism in 1978. The band’s goal was trying to integrate black and white people. If you look at the rude boys’ dress code, you’ll notice they only represent two colors: black and white.

The combination of ska and a little punk and plenty of attitude sent the band’s music straight to #1 in the UK charts. Their first major hit, “A Message To You, Rudy”, was actually a cover of Dandy Livingstone’s song “Rudy, A Message To You” (but with a music choice that’s quite different). Like Cyndi Lauper’s cover of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (originally a sad, slow song by Robert Hazard) or Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You” (originally a country song by Dolly Parton), The Specials became more synonymous with “A Message To You, Rudy” than Livingstone.

Like many long running bands, the Specials had their ups and down. They broke up and reform and broke up again. They were on hiatus for a while, until 2010 when The Specials were announced to play a number of festivals.

What no one saw coming was that the band was working on a new album called Encore, their first in nearly 20 years. Thanks to the promotion of the new album (which debut at #1 in the UK album chart), the band expanded their tour to the USA in 2019.

The new songs, such as “Vote for Me” and “10 Commandments”, sounded like classic Specials songs and went over well with the audience. The completely packed dance floor had the crowd jamming to hits like “A Message to You, Rudy” and “Too Much Too Young”.

As we previously mentioned, if you love ska music, particularly British Ska bands like The Beat, Selecter, and Madness, you really should see one of the original bands: The Specials.

L.A. Salami

L.A. Salami

The Specials: Lynval Golding

The Specials: Terry Hall

The Specials

The Specials

The Specials at First Avenue, Minneapolis (07 June 2019)

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Double Exposure Tour, feat. Chromatics, Desire, and In Mirrors, at First Avenue, Minneapolis (30 May 2019)

Chromatics at First Avenue Chromatics Setlist     Intro: Tick of the Clock Lady Kill for Love Night Drive / Paradise Back from the Grave I Can Never Be Myself When You're Around Time Rider These Streets Will Never Look the Same Blue Girl I Want Your Love Cherry Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) (Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover) -- Encore -- I'm on Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover) Shadow Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) (Kate Bush cover) Desire Setlist Mirroir Mirroir Dans mes rêves Don't Call If I Can't Hold You Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover) Under Your Spell In Mirrors Setlist Gold Human Mirror Girl Take Your Movement Away Escape From Berlin Choose a Side Streets of Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen cover) Tour Dates 06/04/2019 – The Palace - Calgary, AB 06/06/2019 – Vogue Theater - Vancouver, BC 06/07/2019 – Showbox - Seattle, WA 06/08/2019 – Wonder Ballroom - Portland, OR 06/09/2019 – Wonder Ballroom - Portland, OR 06/11/2019 – Mezzanine - San Francisco, CA 06/12/2019 – Mezzanine - San Francisco, CA 10/04/2019 - Copenhagen- The Grey Hall 10/05/2019 - Stockholm - Berns 10/07/2019 - Oslo - Rockefeller Music Hall 10/09/2019 - Berlin - Astra Kulturhaus 10/11/2019 - Vilnius - Art Factory Loft 10/12/2019 - Warsaw - Praga Centrum 10/14/2019 - Vienna - Arena 10/16/2019 - Prague - MeetFactory & 10/17/2019 - Munich - Muffathalle 10/19/2019 - Cologne - Carlswerk Victoria 10/22/2019 - Dublin - Vicar Street 10/23/2019 - Manchester - Albert Hall 10/24/2019 - Glasgow - SWG3 10/26/2019 - Bristol - Anson Rooms 10/27/2019 - London - The Roundhouse 10/29/2019 - Antwerp - Trix 10/30/2019 - Amsterdam - Paradiso Read More Chromatics David Lynch’s favorite band Chromatics will be headlining First Avenue’s mainroom on May 30th. If you love hypnotic singing and melodies and synthpop and Twin Peaks, you really need to check out Chromatics next .... Desire As for the soundtrack, I love it too! The songs are synthy, I guess for that 80s tone that I previously mention that the film is drenched in. The soundtrack is courtesy of Lakeshore Records ....

Portland’s Chromatics is back in town on a rare tour. The last time they were at First Avenue, it was with Hot Chip in July 2012… so it’s been a good seven years since they played here.

All three bands listed on this Double Exposure tour had Johnny Jewel in them… so the man was basically playing three hours a night. He had so much dedication, and I think is really the mastermind behind this whole tour.

Starting the show was Vancouver’s In Mirrors (Jesse Taylor with Johnny Jewel). The duo played in near-darkness for their entire set, with some video images shown in the background. The darkness did help with the feeling of isolation, which was a real focus on their debut LP Escape from Berlin.

Closing out the set, Taylor asked the audience, “do you want a fast or slow one?” I’m not sure what the crowd said in response, but the answer was In Mirrors playing a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” (assuming they said “slow”).

Next up was Montreal’s Desire, featuring frontwoman Megan Louise, with Johnny Jewel on synthesizers, and Aja (from Heaven) on additional synth (she took place for Nat Walker, who is normally in the band). The group is probably the most pop of the three bands, as evident by their stand-out pop-ish song “Mirroir Mirroir”, telephone-prop for “Don’t Call”, and their Italo Disco cover of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”. That was such a great cover, that it was hard to follow that up with their closing song, “Under Your Spell.” However, it’s still a good choice, because it’s probably their best-known song. The song was featured in the underrated and amazing Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive soundtrack (we mentioned the soundtrack in 2011).

Finally, Chromatics closed out the show. Before we talk about the show, I wanted to mention that I really love the overall theme and re-invention of the band. I’m talking about the eerie-movie visuals from Johnny Jewel (mixed by video artist Danny Perez from Antibirth and Panda Bear), the neon-lights at their merchandise table, and atmospheric lighting. It’s really cool, and I’ve never seen so many fans buying merchandise at a show. That’s because the prices are so affordable, it’s like they made those neon lights with the prices ten years ago.

The other thing I wanted to address is their long hiatus from the music scene. In 2014, the band announced Dear Tommy… but the record never came out because Johnny Jewel, a perfectionist, destroyed all copies of the album after a near-death experience. According to legends, Jewel re-recorded the entire album, but as of this writing, the record has yet to see the light of day. Some singles, like “Just Like You” and “I Can Never Be Myself When You’re Around” came out before the record was scrapped… so you got a glimpse of what the record sounded like.

Anyway, currently, at least for this tour, Chromatics features Ruth Radelet, Adam Miller, Matt Miller (replacing Nat Walker), and Johnny Jewel. The show is really special to brothers Adam & Matt, who told us that they grew up in Minneapolis. So when they were young, and going to concerts, “First Avenue was this place that was a doorway to a different reality.” They were very grateful to be on stage, closing their speech with “Thank you, thanks a lot.”

Since being absent from touring in so long (Chromatics’ last live show was five years ago), they did the right thing by playing some of the fans’ favorite songs… playing everything from “Kill for Love” to “Blue Girl” (with Adam Miller on lead vocals), and their cover of Neil Young’s “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” (which closed out their set).

For the encore, Ruth came back solo to play a stripped down (and slowed) version of Springsteen’s “I'm on Fire”. The cover has been quite popular recently (with Lykke Li, Brown Shoe, Young Turks, AWOLNATION, Ten Fe, and Soccer Mommy from our previous coverages).

The rest of the band joined Ruth to close out the encore with their recent hit “Shadow” (which was used in Twin Peaks Season 3) and a cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”.

If you are on the fence about seeing Chromatics, you should do it… especially if you enjoy the work of Johnny Jewel (who had his finger in every aspect of the show). Also, who knows when the band will get together for another tour, so take this opportunity to see the band, at what I considered, is their finest hour.

Desire

In Mirrors

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Chromatics Setlist

Chromatics

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Chromatics at First Avenue, Minneapolis (30 May 2019)

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

Dandy Warhols at First Ave 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 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. …

A quarter-century of pure Dandy-ness –

The Dandy Warhols returned to the Mainroom at First Avenue in Minneapolis to celebrate their new record and Twenty-Fifth Anniversary as a band.

The festivities began with a crunchy forty-minute set by Cosmonauts, not from Russia but an Orange County, CA garage/psych rock four-piece playing self-described “drug punk”, who we caught way back in 2013 in Austin, TX at a Burger Records gathering.

The group, led by guitarists Alex Ahmadi and Derek Cowart are out in support of fifth full-length, Star 69 (on Burger Records, so yes, it’s also available on cassette) released just last month, and proved to be a no-frills, musically harmonious pairing with the headliner- full of reverb, distortion, and trippy sounds often turned up to eleven, and ending solidly with the new album’s opener, ‘Crystal’.

With a stage adorned on each corner and in back with large shiny mylar “2” and “5” balloons, The Dandy Warhols took to the stage to begin their hundred-minute set with ‘Forever’ from brand new tenth studio album, the cheekily titled Why You So Crazy (on Dine Alone Records), a song also perfectly placed into a fight scene of a recent episode of the SyFy series ‘Happy’.

Frontman/guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor mostly stayed in place throughout, slightly back and off center sometimes under minimal lighting, turning around towards his amps and speaker stacks several times, to get the kinds of effects the songs required.

The Portland foursome (Taylor-Taylor alongside Peter Holmström – guitar/keys, bass;

Zia McCabe – keyboard bass, keys, bass, percussion; and Brent DeBoer – drums) sprinkled in four new cuts among a quarter-century of other alternative radio hits and album songs from several different styles in their career, for a set that was comfortably stretched out to show their musical range and vast catalog to draw from.

“Yes, Dandys Rule OK!” Taylor-Taylor said, responding to crowd shouts of such and explaining there’s no room for punctuation in rock and roll, referencing the phrase as the title of their first album, before leading into the mid-tempo of 2016’s ‘STYGGO’.

Heads bobbed as 2003’s ‘We Used to Be Friends’ fired up, though not charting in the U.S., people recognized it from its licensing and being the theme to ‘Veronica Mars’, and longtime local fans appreciated the nod to our area in 1997’s ‘Minnesoter’.

“Minneapolis was a big place in our lives”, Taylor-Taylor reminisced briefly following, before resuming with the rumbling jangle of 2000’s ‘Get Off’, with McCabe then taking the lead for the twangy countrified ‘Highlife’.

Things slowed momentarily for 2012’s ‘Well They're Gone’ with its lonely harmonica drone and syrup slow verses, but built back up gradually with the repetition credo of 1997’s ‘I Love You’, and then just got plain frantic with single from the new record, ‘Be Alright’.

A trio of tracks from third record Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia would close the main set, from the dreamy and wandering ‘Mohammed’ to the swirling, free spirt-ness of ‘Godless’, to ending things with their most recognized song to date, ‘Bohemian Like You’.

Not wanting to waste time by leaving/returning, the encore began immediately with the middle eastern-tinged 1997’s ‘Every Day Should be a Holiday’ and a giant balloon drop with white balloons floating everywhere- one of which that we saw in reviewing our photos after the fact, that actually doubled as a hand-written backstage pass, for whatever lucky crowd member managed to keep their hands on that special one.

Guitarist Holmström was naturally featured on his namesake and psych-friendly song, ‘Pete International Airport’ as balloons continued to pop in the background, and the Dandys stayed in 1997 to close out the show with the power-pop of ‘Boys Better’, with the band leaving to cheers as Taylor-Taylor once again commented on the huge impact the city has had on their musical lives.

It may make some people feel old to realize that The Dandy Warhols have been around for twenty-five years, but the fact that they are still around at all, successfully slightly morphing their sound to both change with the times, and still grow as musicians putting out viable new work, is a complete positive and big accomplishment of their own staying power.

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

Cosmonauts	Cosmonauts	Cosmonauts	Dandy Warhols Setlist	Dandy Warhols
Dandy Warhols	Dandy Warhols	Dandy Warhols	Dandy Warhols	Dandy Warhols

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

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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

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Jim James Poster

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

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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.

Tommy Stinson

Tommy Stinson

Tommy Stinson

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Lemonheads

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

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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

Ryan McMullan

Ryan McMullan

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Snow Patrol Setlist

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

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