W♥M

The Black Angels at The Bottleneck, Lawrence KS (2022-10-01) review

Read More Black Angels Forget the Polar Vortex, the Winter Psych Storm is coming. A taste of Texas psychedelia hits the road as Austin’s The Black Angels… THE BLACK ANGELS SETLIST Without a Trace Manipulation El Jardin History of the Future The River Icon Entrance Song Don't Play with Guns Grab as Much (as You Can) Choose to Choose Vermillion Eyes Here & Now Firefly Broken Soldier The First Vietnamese War The Prodigal Son Young Men Dead THE VACANT LOTS SETLIST  Departure Never Satisfied Consolation Prize Thank You Fracture 6 AM Mad Mary Jones THE VACANT LOTS EU/UK TOUR Nov 09 Milan (IT) - Arci Bellezza Nov 11 Dijon (FR) - Consortium Museum Nov 12 - Paris (FR) - L’International Nov 14 - Nantes (FR) - Lune Froide Nov 16 - Maastricht (NL) - Muziekgieterij Nov 17 - Liège (BE) - L'Escalier Nov 18 - Dordrecht (NL) - Popcentrale x Bibelot Nov 19 - Berlin (DE) - Synästhesie Festival Nov 20 - Dresden (DE) - Bärenzwinger Nov 22 - Halle (DE) - Hühnermanhattan Nov 24 - Copenhagen (DK) - Loppen Nov 26 - Stockholm (SE) - Debaser Bar Brooklyn Nov 27 - Gothenburg (SE) - Fyrens Nov 30 - Haarlem (NL) - Patronaat Dec 1 - Hastings (UK) - The Piper Dec 2 - London (UK) - Strongroom Dec 3 - Manchester (UK) – SOUP Dec 4 - Glasgow (UK) - The Flying Duck

The Bottleneck in Lawrence probably saved on their electric bill as Psych Rock leaders The Black Angels and Vermont via NY duo The Vacant Lots both played immersive and atmospheric sets in almost total darkness.

Opening the evening was a brief but impactful half-hour set from Brooklyn duo, The Vacant Lots, in support of just-released full-length,Closure (via Fuzz Club Records). The post-punk electro pair (Jared Artaud- vocals, guitars, poet / Brian MacFadyen — programming, percussion, vocals) create a fair volume of sound for just two people, buoyed by MacFayden’s sharp electro beats and Artaud’s echoing, fuzzy riffs. (and a dash of psych). The sound is minimal on its surface, but with a closer listen, is actually complex, with every note and sound mattering.

The duo are also big William Burroughs fans, taking the name of their previous full-length, Interzone, from his (and Joy Division’s) inspiration and any fans of Television, Suicide, BRMC, and Gun Club, should tune in. The set itself was an atmospheric (and even danceable) mini-voyage, beginning appropriately with 2014’s “Departure”, the new “Thank You” had lyrics dripping in sarcasm but presented in the most deadpan cool manner, and the electro throb and crashing cymbals of 2014’s “Mad Mary Jones”, a textured, swirling song that mentor Alan Vega covered on a previous split-single 10”.

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After six studio albums and two decades, Austin TX band The Black Angels can truly be called godfathers of the modern Texas Psych Rock movement, also helping spawn the multi-city Levitation Festival. Their newest full-length, Wilderness of Mirrors (on Partisan Records) only emphasizes that point and this show, like many others, was delayed by a year or more, so anticipation was high.

Like the openers, overall lighting was minimal at best (not making photos easy) with four narrow vertical light strips added to compliment the venue’s existing lighting. We’d seen the band previous, notably back in 2014 with their guest, the late Roky Erickson of the pioneering 13^th Floor Elevators.

The band remains as trippy as ever, and likes to shake up their setlist, starting this 85-min. night with “Without a Trace” from the new record, and singer Alex Maas promising in echo-y, reverbed verse, “we’ll be alarming, we’ll be an army” and on the new “El Jardin” evoking a confrontation with “you can build me up or you can rip me apart”.

Musically, the band mostly remained in their set places, all seemed focused and musically locked in, with drummer Stephanie Bailey, nestled in a stage corner, being the piston that charged the rest of the engine. The band has never said much between songs, preferring instead to bowl you over with their noise wall of sound, not that you couldn't see how grateful they were to return to playing live again.

There’s often a Texas twang to several of their songs, honoring their roots and giving away their origins, such as the campfire strumming that introduces the new “The River” before reverb and fuzz take over.

2013’s “Don’t Play with Guns” is probably the closest thing to a radio hit for the band, still unfortunately as relevant today, as it ever was. The band’s sound continues to evolve, staying both modern and retro at the same time, experimenting with textures and swirling sounds to build their soundscapes.

The back end of the main set seemed to take on a war theme of sorts, with “Broken Soldier”

“The First Vietnamese War”, “The Prodigal Son”, and “Young Men Dead” and Maas singing lines like “It's hard to kill when you don't know whose side you're on”, “why me, why war?”, and “Fire at will, don’t you waste no time”; all making for an impactful psych rock multi-song epic passage.

The band returned for a three-song encore, but that even wasn’t enough for the diehard fans that had been waiting this long for the show to take place, cheering even louder as the band said their quick good-nights.

The Wilderness of Mirrors remains trippy for Austin’s The Black Angels, pioneers of modern psych rock, and though it’s a dark voyage (at least one with very minimal lighting), they seem very appreciative to have live audiences join them again on that sonic voyage.

THE BLACK ANGELS TOUR DATES

OCT 3 Delmar Hall Saint Louis, MO*
OCT 4 Slowdown Omaha, NE*
OCT 5 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN*
OCT 7 Majestic Theatre Madison, WI*
OCT 8 House of Blues Chicago, IL*
OCT 9 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH*
OCT 10 Majestic Theatre Detroit, MI*
OCT 12 Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto ON*
OCT 13 Théâtre Corona Montréal, QC*
OCT 14 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA*
OCT 15 9:30 Club Washington, DC*
OCT 17 Brooklyn Steel Brooklyn, NY*
OCT 18 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA*
OCT 19 Cat's Cradle Carrboro, NC*
OCT 21 Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA*
OCT 22 Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, TN*
OCT 23 Saturn Birmingham, AL*
OCT 24 Chelsea’s Live Baton Rouge, LA*
OCT 30 Levitation Austin, TX
NOV 5 Hipnosis- Huixquilucan De Degollado, Mexico
NOV 8 #iVoted Festival Live Stream
JAN 27, 2023 LAV - Lisbon, Portugal
JAN 28, 2023 Hard Club - Porto, Portugal
JAN 30, 2023 Teatro Eslava - Madrid, Spain
JAN 31, 2023 Apolo - Barcelona, Spain
FEB 1, 2023 Le Bikini - Toulouse, France
FEB 2, 2023 Rock School Barbey, Bordeaux,FR 
FEB 4, 2023 La Belle Electrique - Grenoble, FR 
FEB 5, 2023 Les Docks - Lausanne, Switzerland
FEB 6, 2023 Dynamo - Zurich, Switzerland
FEB 7, 2023 Arena - Vienna, Austria
FEB 9, 2023 ROXY - Prague, Czech Republic
FEB 10, 2023 NIEBO - Warsaw, Poland
FEB 12, 2023 Huxleys Neue Welt - Berlin, DE
FEB 13, 2023 Kantine - Cologne, Germany
FEB 14, 2023 Fabrik - Hamburg, Germany
FEB 15, 2023 Vega - Copenhagen, Denmark
FEB 17, 2023 Trix - Antwerp, Belgium
FEB 18, 2023 Doornroosje - Nijmegen, NL
FEB 19, 2023 Paradiso - Amsterdam, NL
FEB 21, 2023 l'Aéronef - Lille, France
FEB 22, 2023 Le Trianon - Paris, France
FEB 23, 2023 Antipode - Rennes, France
FEB 25, 2023 SWX - Bristol, UK
FEB 26, 2023 Invisible Wind Factory Liverpool
FEB 27, 2023 The Button Factory - Dublin, IE 
MAR 1, 2023 QMU - Glasgow, UK
MAR 2, 2023 New Century - Manchester, UK
MAR 3, 2023 O2 Shepherds Bush Emp London

* - with The Vacant Lots                                                 (click on any image to enlarge and see in full)

THE BLACK ANGELS

THE BLACK ANGELS

THE BLACK ANGELS

THE BLACK ANGELS

THE BLACK ANGELS

THE BLACK ANGELS

THE BLACK ANGELS

THE BLACK ANGELS

THE VACANT LOTS

THE VACANT LOTS

THE VACANT LOTS

THE VACANT LOTS

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

Rocktober: October 5

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide

10/05 The Black Angels with The Vacant Lots at First Avenue Read More Black Angels Forget the Polar Vortex, the Winter Psych Storm is coming. A taste of Texas psychedelia hits the road as Austin’s The Black Angels brings 13th Floor Elevators rock legend Roky Erickson …

10/05/2022 Wednesday

The Black Angels
with The Vacant Lots
at First Avenue
first-avenue.com

Austin’s psych-rock legends The Black Angels is back on tour in support of their forthcoming album Wilderness of Mirrors Double LP via Partisan Records.

We last mentioned the band was in postponements in Jan 2022: “The Black Angels had to announce their show cancellation/postponement. Here is the message: We're very sad to announce that we have to postpone our upcoming tour due to ongoing concerns and uncertainty about the spread of Covid-19. We will be announcing the rescheduled dates very soon, so please hold on to your tickets and they will be honored for the rescheduled shows. Can't wait to see you all when we get back out on the road soon!!!”

Now that the world is somewhat back to normal, The Black Angels will headline First Avenue this October 5th.

The Vacant Lots to open.

Tour dates:

9/10: Lexington, KY @ Expansion Music Festival
9/30: Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
10/1: Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck
10/3: St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
10/4: Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
10/5: Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10/7: Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
10/8: Chicago, IL @ House of Blues Chicago
10/9: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
10/10: Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
10/12: Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theater
10/13: Montreal, QC @ Corona Theater
10/14: Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
10/15: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/17: Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
10/18: Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
10/19: Chapel Hill, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
10/21: Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
10/22: Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
10/23: Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
10/24: Baton Rouge, LA @ Chelsea’s Live
10/30: Austin, TX @ Levitation Festival
11/5: Mexico City, MX @ Hipnosis Festival

10/05 S.G. Goodman with Le Ren at Turf Club Read More S.G. Goodman Turnout for the show was pretty terrific for a Friday, with S.G. Goodman taking the stage around 8:30pm. This was her first time here, and although she only played seven or eight songs, mostly from her debut album Old Time Feeling …

10/05/2022 Wednesday

S.G. Goodman
with Le Ren
at Turf Club
first-avenue.com

Indie rocker S.G. Goodman is touring in support of her highly anticipated sophomore album Teeth Marks via Verve Forecast.

We caught SG Goodman in October 2015 and wrote, “Turnout for the show was pretty terrific for a Friday, with S.G. Goodman taking the stage around 8:30pm. This was her first time here, and although she only played seven or eight songs, mostly from her debut album Old Time Feeling, she filled out the time nicely as she tends to ramble between songs. We learn that she’s “legally obligated” to say her name seven times, as her manager thinks it’s good for name recognition. And as promised, she would continue to say her name throughout the show, including during the band introduction: Nick Harley on bass, Matt Rowan on guitars, and Stephen Montgomery on drums.”

Le Ren to open.

Tour dates:

Sep 9-10 - Bristol, TN - Bristol Rhythm & Roots
Sep 20 - Asheville, NC - American Vinyl Co
Sep 21 - Raleigh, NC - Cats Cradle
Sep 23 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas
Sep 24 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd
Sep 25 - Freehold, NJ - Concerts in the Studio
Sep 28 - Boston, MA - 939 Cafe
Oct 2 - Dana Point, CA - Ohana Festival
Oct 4 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's
Oct 5 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
Oct 7 - St Louis, MO - Off Broadway

10/05 Annie DiRusso at 7th St Entry Read More Declan McKenna British singer-songwriter Declan McKenna will be heading to the Garage in Burnsville in support of his new album What Do You Think About The Car?. The show is sold out. …

10/05/2022 Wednesday

Annie DiRusso
at 7th St Entry
first-avenue.com

In a special side-show from her main Declan McKenna support tour, Nashville based indie-rock Annie DiRusso will be headlining the 7th Street Entry this October 5th.

DiRusso’s latest single is called “Call It All Off”, which is about “losing yourself in someone or something and trying to reenter the world once that chapter closes. This song was born from a time when I was so caught up in a relationship that I didn’t realize I had isolated myself from friends, family and a lot of good things in my life. When I realized how much I missed, I found myself wanting to just give up & ‘call it all off’ rather than reconnect with the outside world because it seemed like too big an undertaking. Releasing this song is a good reminder that there’s life on the other side.”

Annie DiRusso Tour Dates

9/23 – Vancouver, BC at Fox Cabaret
9/25 – Seattle, WA at Showbox SoDo^
9/27 – San Francisco, CA at Regency Ballroom^
9/29 – Los Angeles, CA at Fonda Theatre^
9/30 – San Diego, CA at Humphrey’s Concerts ^
10/ 1 – Phoenix, AZ at Rebel Lounge
10/3 – Denver, CO at Gothic Theatre^
10/5 – Minneapolis, MN at 7th St Entry
10/6 – Chicago, IL at Metro ^
10/7 – Columbus, OH at KEMBA Live!^
10/9 – Brooklyn, NY at Music Hall ^
10/10 – Brooklyn, NY at Music Hall ^
10/11 – Cambridge, MA at The Sinclair^
10/12 – Washington D.C. at 9:30 Club^
10/14 – Atlanta, GA at Variety Playhouse^
10/15 - Charlotte, NC at Neighborhood Theatre
10/16 – Madison, TN at Eastside Bowl^
10/18 – Austin, TX at Empire Garage & Control Room^
10/19 – Dallas, TX at The Studio at the Factory^
10/20 – Houston, TX at Warehouse Live ^
10/22 – Oxford, MS at Proud Larry’s
11/3 – Nashville, TN at Briston Maroney

^Supporting Declan McKenna Zeros Tour USA

10/05 Joji with Dhruv + SavageRealm at Armory Read More Joji Japan-born singer and producer Joji is a multi-talented visionary, with a cult following from every corner of the internet. Joji is one of the most enthralling artists of the digital age. He has a total vision …

10/05/2022 Wednesday

Joji
with Dhruv + SavageRealm
at Armory
armorymn.com

Japan-born singer and producer Joji is headlining the massive Armory in Minneapolis on October 5th, in support of his highest chart debut to date for his single “Glimpse of Us.” The song debuted at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, a career milestone for Joji.

Dhruv + SavageRealm to open.

Tour dates:

Sep 6 Seattle, WA, US WAMU Theater
Sep 7 Vancouver, BC, Canada Doug Mitchell Thunderbird
Sep 9 Orem, UT, US UCCU Center
Sep 10 Denver, CO, US Fillmore Auditorium
Sep 11 Denver, CO, US Fillmore Auditorium
Sep 13 Dallas, TX, US The Factory
Sep 14 Houston, TX, US 713 Music Hall
Sep 16 Outdoor Austin, TX, US Stubb’s Waller Creek Amph
Sep 17 Austin, TX, US Stubb's Bar-B-Q (Indoors)
Oct 5 Minneapolis, MN, US The Armory
Oct 6 Chicago, IL, US Byline Bank Aragon
Oct 7 Chicago, IL, US Byline Bank Aragon
Oct 9 Toronto, ON, Canada History
Oct 10 Toronto, ON, Canada History
Oct 11 Montreal, QC, Canada MTELUS
Oct 13 Boston, MA, US Roadrunner
Oct 14 Boston, MA, US Roadrunner
Oct 15 Washington, DC, US The Anthem
Oct 18 Charlotte, NC, US The Fillmore
Oct 19 Atlanta, GA, US Coca-Cola Roxy
Oct 20 Atlanta, GA, US Coca-Cola Roxy
Oct 21 Miami, FL, US III Points Festival

If your band is coming to the Minneapolis/St Paul area, please email details to vu@weheartmusic.com with a good lead time. Thank you.

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