W♥M

Marco Benevento at Turf Club, St Paul (17 Mar 2023)

Mike Dillon Setlist Desert Monsoon Inflorescence Slowly But Surely Stravinsky Spectacles Pandas Devil's Playground Homer & Debs Apocalypse Daydream Another Slippery Slope Never Been To Paris Drivin' Down the Road Read More Marco Benevento Dance rock, psych experimentalist Marco Benevento will stop by the Turf Club in St Paul on March 17th. The Woodstock, NY-based artist will be joined by his band, featuring bassist Karina Rykman and drummer Chris Corsico. … Mike Dillon Mike Dillon & Punkadelick’ album Inflorescence is out now on Royal Potato Family. Tour dates: 3/10 - Jersey City, NJ - White Eagle Hall …

New York’s Marco Benevento just headlined the Turf Club, in St Paul, their penultimate show before they end their long tour. The trio (keyboardist Benevento with bassist Karina Rykman and drummer Chris Corsico) is touring in support of their new album Benevento.

It’s a brutally cold, cold night in St Paul, and it’s up to Mike Dillon & Punkadelick to try and warm us up. The trio features xylophonist Dillon with pianist Brian Haas and drummer Nikki Glaspie. At first, you get the impression that they’re somewhat of a chaotic jazz ensemble, and as they played, you it starts to all make sense.

Dillon announced that they are playing their new record, Inflorescence, from start to finish… basically giving the audience a listening party, only with extra grunts and “yeah!”

The audience was somewhat older, perhaps some of them remembered Dillon when he opened for L7 at the sold-out 7th Street Entry show in 1993? He was there, of course, with a different band (Billy Goat), but he still yelled out, “Welcome to 7th Street Entry, Let’s GO!!!!!!!”

As announced earlier, the group played the last song, “Never Been To Paris”, complete with some weird mermaid siren vocal styling from Glaspie. With some time left on the clock, the band played “Drivin' Down the Road” to end their set.

Marco Benevento’s set is full of dance, psych rock… except “Dropkick”, the second song on their set, sounds a little too pop and a little too 60s. That’s not bad, the audience didn’t seem to mind, as they danced the night away.

This 2023 tour sees the band playing a variety of songs from their new album Benevento (Royal Potato Family). The studio album was written and recorded over the pandemic (2020-2021). Locked up at his home studio in Hudson Valley, Benevento experimented with different instruments (some old broken gears) and long solo jam sessions. The whole album was put together entirely by Benevento (who mixed and played every instrumental with vocals), with the exception of adding his wife and daughter’s vocals on some songs.

Anyway, drummer Chris Corsico looks like he’s ready to rock out, while bassist Karina Rykman (who replaced original bassist Dave Dreiwitz when he joined Ween) is all smiles, doing her head-banging on the bass. The group looks like they are having a good time on this tour, even if it’s about the end. Their last show is tonight, at the High Noon Saloon in Madison, Wisconsin.

Trivia: Marco Benevento and Mike Dillon are members of Garage A Trois, with Stanton Moore.

Mike Dillon & Punkadelick ft. Brian Haas & Nikki Glaspie

Mike Dillon

Karina Rykman

Marco Benevento

Marco Benevento at Turf Club, St Paul (17 Mar 2023)

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

Circles Around The Sun at Turf Club, St Paul (15 Mar 2023)

Setlist Scarlotta's Magnolias Landline Memories Away Team Detroit Dos Third Sunrise Over Gliese 667 Money's No Option Leaving (Rogue Lemon) Language One for Chuck Tour Dates Mar 16 Madison, WI, US High Noon Saloon Mar 17 Evanston, IL, US SPACE Mar 18 Milwaukee, WI, US Turner Hall Ballroom Apr 19 Ventura, CA, US Skull and Roses May 11 Eureka Springs, AR, US Spaceberry Music Festival May 26 Outdoor Chillicothe, IL, US Summer Camp May 26 Outdoor Thornville, OH, US Dark Star Jubilee Jun 29 Quincy, CA, US High Sierra Music Festival Jun 29 Outdoor Scranton, PA, US The Peach Music Festival Jul 26 Floyd, VA, US Floydfest Aug 12 Richmond, VA, US Jam Packed Craft Beer Aug 18 Wellston, MI, US Hoxeyville Festival Read More Circles Around the Sun New guitarist Scott Metzger will be joining Circles Around the Sun on their upcoming September tour across the West Coast, Pacific Northwest and Colorado. Metzger replaces founding member Neal Casal, who passed away in August 2019. … Jenny O Los Angeles’ Jenny O. is touring in support of her sophomore album Peace & Information. We caught Jenny O in October 2016 and said, “Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Jenny O opened the evening with a demure set of songs from .....

Psychedelic-jam-rock-experimental group Circles Around The Sun (Adam MacDougall on keyboards, Dan Horne on bass, Mark Levy on drums, and John Lee Shannon on guitar) is currently on tour for their new album Language (Megaforce Records), stopping by the Turf Club, in St Paul, last night, March 15th.

Opening the show was singer/songwriter Jenny O, touring in support of her new album Spectra (Mama Bird Recording Co).

Jenny O (18 Jun 2019)

We’re so excited to have the singer/songwriter back in the city. The last time we saw her, in June 2019, we said, “It’s the first night of the tour, and Jenny O came on stage on time and started her set, playing solo. The last time she was at the 7th Street (with Tristen in October 2017), she had a full band and fondly remembered that the whole band accidentally got stoned and lost track of time. Needless to say, they came on stage super late and apologized to anyone who was at the show.”

Jenny O., perhaps did lost track of time at the Turf, showing up on stage about 20 minutes than advertised. She would play using two different guitars, switching between them and keeping guitar-tuning to a minimum.

While tuning, she did mention that something happened to her car and she would love if we could help out with the “deductibles”. As anyone who tours, transportation is the biggest hurdle, especially with rising gasoline prices and auto insurance.

She played “People” from Peace & Information early in the set, followed by “Lazy Jane” from Automechanic.

Jenny O ended her set with “You Are Loved Eternally”, one of the new songs from Spectra. The song is easy to follow, and it sounded like a great song to end her set.

Circles Around The Sun, they have a very good fanbase. Their music is instrumental, of the funk/psychedelic flavor. Even though they only played about 9 songs, each song averages about 10 minutes, due to the way they jam and extend their songs. As guitarist John Lee Shannon explains how one of their songs, “Outer Boroughs” was created through jamming: “[the song] initially composed when the track emerged from an impromptu jam in the studio around a four-chord sequence Adam was playing around with. Dan’s bassline is one of my favorites, and is unusual in that he initially heard the '1' in a different place than intended, giving extra emphasis to the downbeat of the second measure. It’s a breezy groove that paints several landscapes in vivid color before departing into deep space for an extended middle jam.”

Whatever they are doing, it’s working, because their fans packed the dancefloor and dancing to all the songs.

Circles Around The Sun’s new album, Language is out now on Megaforce Records.

Jenny O.

Jenny O.

Circles Around the Sun

Circles Around the Sun

Circles Around the Sun at Turf Club, St Paul (15 Mar 2023)

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Titus Andronicus at Turf Club (03/04/23)

Titus Andronicus Setlist My Mother Is Going to Kill Me (I'm) Screwed Above the Bodega (Local Business) Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ Give Me Grief Baby Crazy Fatal Flaw Fired Up Dimed Out Tumult Around the World Four Score and Seven A More Perfect Union Titus Andronicus Forever -- Encore -- Glory Days (Bruce Springsteen cover) Tour Dates Mar 5 Fargo, ND – Aquarium Mar 7 Great Falls, MT – Newberry Mar 8 Spokane, WA – Lucky You Lounge Mar 9 Vancouver, BC – Fox Theatre Mar 10 Seattle, WA – Sunset Tavern Mar 11 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios Mar 14 Sacramento, CA – Harlow’s Mar 15 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel Mar 16 Santa Cruz, CA – Catalyst Mar 17 Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom Mar 18 San Diego, CA – The Casbah Mar 21 Phoenix, AZ – Rebel Lounge Mar 22 Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad Mar 23 Denver, CO – Globe Hall Mar 28 Omaha, NE – Slowdown Mar 29 Iowa City, IA – Gabe’s Mar 31 Bloomington, IN – Bishop Apr 1 Columbus, OH – Big Room Bar Apr 2 Richmond, VA - Richmond Music Hall Apr 4 Washington, DC – Black Cat Apr 5 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar Apr 7 Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Lanes Apr 8 Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere (Hall) Jun 1 McGill, NV – Schellraiser Festival Read More Titus Andronicus New Jersey indie/punk Titus Andronicus (named after William Shakespeare’s play of the same name) will be at the Turf Club on Saturday, March 17th. The band announced an “Acoustic” tour in support of their new album A Productive Cough. …

There was a slight problem getting into the venue for the band had yet to provide the guest list. The reason: Titus Andronicus had yet to arrive. No problem. The staff at the Turf Club rolled with the moment and let me in as the gathering crowd of people ordered another round and the opening act stood at the front of the bar sipping Campari.

What’s nice about the Turf Club is its neighborhood feel, a place to hang out with friends while the band you came to see is still making its way across town.

Titus Andronicus did arrive with winter coats and musical equipment and soon Country Westerns took the stage.

Based out of Nashville with Joseph Plunket on vocals and lead guitar and Brian Kotzur leading the way on drums, they can best be described as combination of country, blues, western and soul fueled by the speed and intensity of punk rock.

Country Westerns played from their 2020 self-titled debut album with hard charging songs like “Anytime” and “TV Light.” The album was highlighted by Pitchfork as one of the 35 Best Rock Albums of that year. A sophomore album entitled Forgive the City on Fat Possum Records is also slated to be released later this year.

After Country Westerns finished their set, Titus Andronicus started the process of setting up their equipment, tuning their instruments and working with the sound engineer to get the right levels. Normally, the pre-concert routine is done before the crowd arrives but the audience was already there to see Chris Wilson tighten his drums, Liam Betson tune his lead guitars, R.J. Betson work the mic levels and front man Patrick Sticklers hustle between the dressing room and the stage.

From New Jersey Titus Andronicus lifted their name from the Shakespearian play about a Roman General who has a whole lot of revenge killing in mind, and so the band kicked off their set with “My Mother Is Going to Kill Me” which Pitchfork described as “… a nourishing slab of hard-rock beef.” The song is the lead song on their latest album The Will to Live, which was inspired/shaped by the unexpected death of former keyboardist and cousin to Stickles, Matt Miller.

They also played “(I’m) Screwed” and “Give Me Grief” from their new album before Stickles addressed the elephant in the room. The reason for their tardiness was due to issues with their touring van, issues that involved a three-hour delay in the suburb of Maplewood in which a new battery was replaced by Tim from AAA. Tim happened to be in the crowd and got a special shout-out from Stickles and a roar from the crowd for helping deliver the band.

Then Stickles said it was Saturday night and he knew they crowd came to hear the classics from their previous albums. In fact, Titus Andronicus’ setlist is a setlist, meaning that the songs heard at St. Paul are the same ones played in Madison, WI the night before. Or as Stickles told the Spokesman Review: “… I never want to just play the weirdest deep cuts in a place like Great Falls, MT…”

So Titus Andronicus cranked out the hits like “Four Score and Seven”, “A More Perfect Union” and “Titus Andronicus Forever” and the crowd soon turned the small neighborhood venue into a mosh pit for the closing songs.

Country Westerns

Country Westerns

Country Westerns

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus at Turf Club, St Paul (04 Mar 2023)

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Run Westy Run at Turf Club, St Paul (03 Mar 2023)

Mood Swings Setlist Photo of Setlist Hooked Stir It Up Finest Line Crush Rocket (new song) Simple Things Knocked Down Nothing New Honey Generation Y Read More Run Westy Run I am grouping these three shows together because Run Westy Run and Iffy are related. RWR (featuring Daniel, Kirk, Kraig, and Kyle) were never quite as popular as their local peers … Mood Swings So tonight, The Mood Swings will be at the Sauce, at their CD-releasing party. As with previous Susstones showmania, they are cheap ($5, man!) and features a ton of bands (Two Harbors, First Communion Afterparty, …

Twin City music scene veterans Run Westy Run just had their sold-out album release concert for Beyond Reason (Cardinal Drive Records), on Friday night, at the Turf Club in St Paul.

This is their first studio album since 1990’s Green Cat Island, so it’s a big deal to finally get some new RWR songs. The band has a big local fanbase, a few of them were outside the venue begging attendees if they had extra tickets.

To be perfectly honest, I was rather excited to see The Mood Swings. The band, featuring Ashley Ackerson and Sallie Watson, had not released anything new since 2009’s Recessionista. While the band would play on and off gigs, it seemed like they are fairly inactive since 2009.

During the Mood Swings’ hiatus, Ashley would spend more time in her side project BNLX, with her husband, Ed Ackerson (of Polara) - that’s why you saw BNLX albums (the album with their dog on the cover) at the Mood Swing’s merchandise table.

BNLX (20 Mar 2010)

We caught BNLX’s very first concert at Sauce in Oct 2010, which we described, “Despite being just two persons (Ed and Ashley), BNLX had a lot of gear to setup. We're talking a few giant VOX amps and "crazy disco" lights, a Dyno-Fog 2 smoke machine, and a computer that served as backing music and drums. Surprisingly for their "first ever" gig, they seem to have it altogether. They played all their songs from their EP #1, plus a few new one. I don't remember most of them, but one of those songs was "Just Got Paid", which sounds promising.”

Sadly, when Ed passed away in Oct 2019, and I felt that pretty much ended BNLX as a band.

In July 2021, the Mood Swings announced that they are back, their first gig, post-hiatus was for a birthday concert in celebration of the late Ed Ackerson. We haven’t seen the Mood Sings since May 2008, so it’s really cool to see them playing new songs on Friday’s show. One of the new Mood Swings’ song was called “Rocket”, which was played in the middle of their set. Ashley said that the new song will be available in July 2023, as part of a series of 7 inch singles. I’m sure we’ll hear more about it closer to the date.

Before their set finale, “Generation Y”, Ashley introduced the band, with Mark Wade (from The Melismatics) on bass and Mike Reiter on drums.

By the time Run Westy Run took the stage, the Turf Club’s dancefloor was packed.

For those who didn’t know, RWR formed in mid-80s, and pretty soon joined the massive growing Minneapolis music explosion of the 80s and 90s: The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks, and many others. RWR never quite hit the mainstream, but for those into the local Minnesota music scene, they had their fans and supporters.

The three brothers, Kirk, Kyle, and Kraig Johnson - along with Terry Fisher and Bob Joslyn, signed to SST Records and released their self-titled debut album and the follow-up Hardly Not Even, both in 1988. At the height of their popularity, with the release of Green Cat Island, the band joined Soul Asylum on their 1990 national tour.

Run Westy Run quietly called it quits around 1995, although they never officially announced that they broke up. Then, after about twenty years, the band announced they were back with a holiday show at First Avenue in 2013. Kyle Johnson died in 2014, so perhaps the band-get-together was in honor Kyle. Anyway, since then, the holiday shows have become an annual event for the Westies.

Seeing the band on stage, for their Beyond Reason album show, especially the swagger and smile on singer Kirk Johnson, you can tell that the band loves playing live. They look like they are having a fantastic time. They act like they were rock gods, and the screaming fans treated them like they were rock gods…

As expected, the band played mostly new songs from Beyond Reason, including their lead singles, “Milkyway’s Mainframe” and “Christy Casino”. Many of these songs were written decades ago, but now collected and re-worked for the new album. Based on hearing them talk about these RWR songs, they have much more… so perhaps we’ll see another album in the not so far distant future.

Their three-song encore included some of fan favorite’s songs, including the final song, “Cockroach Park”.

While the band never became as famous as Soul Asylum or The Replacements… The band never gave up. In a recent interview with the Star Tribune, guitarist Kraig Johnson, explained, “Even though we never really had our big break back then or whatever, I still had a hell of a time. And that’s why I'm doing this now: It’s so fun.”

Mood Swings

Mood Swings

Mood Swings

Mood Swings

Run Westy Run

Run Westy Run

Run Westy Run

Run Westy Run at Turf Club, St Paul (03 Mar 2023)

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The Jungle Giants at Turf Club, St Paul (04 Nov 2022)

Jungle Giants Setlist On Your Way Down She's a Riot Treat You Right Bad Dream Quiet Ferocity Something Got Between Us Feel the Way I Do Heartless In Her Eyes Sending Me Ur Loving Love Signs -- Encore -- Used to Be in Love Heavy Hearted Read More The Jungle Giants We last saw Australian four-piece The Jungle Giants open up for San Cisco on their National tour in 2012. The Brisbane-based band was at SXSW to promote their debut album Learn To Exist, which came out last August 2013. .... Tim Atlas Tim Atlas will open. Tour dates: 01/31 - Chicago, IL - Metro 02/1 - St. Paul, MN - Amsterdam Bar & Hall 02/6 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre 02/7 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre ....

Australian four-piece The Jungle Giants (singer/guitarist Sam Hales, lead guitarist Cesira Aitken, bassist Andrew Dooris, and drummer Keelan Bijker) headlined the Turf Club in St Paul, in support of their fourth album Love Signs (Amplifire).

Opening up the show was Los Angeles’ Tim Atlas, along with Dena on bass, and Zack on drums. You may have seen Atlas on NBC’s The Voice in 2015, as he cover Ed Sheeran, The Neighborhood and Ednaswap. Since then he opened up for Magic City Hippies, even stopping by St Paul in Feb 2020.

Best song on Atlas’ brief 35-min set was “Honeycomb”, a really catchy, ‘sweet’ dancey song.

We’ve been interested in Brisbane’s The Jungle Giants since their team-up with our favorite Australian band San Cisco in Feb 2012.

W♥M saw them on the “Politely Awkward” tour, at the Spectrum, in Sydney, Australia, and wrote, “While both bands were certainly polite, there was no awkwardness to be found when The Jungle Giants and San Cisco joined forces again at Spectrum last Saturday as they continue their tour of Australia. Although the bands are youngsters, both in terms of age of their members and the age of the band themselves, the quality of performances was such that it was unclear who was the supporting band (assuming you could have a support act that comes after the main act). The Jungle Giants performed known and new material, with frontman Sam Hales and bassist Andrew Dooris making the most of the tiny space that is Spectrum. Dooris managed to be everywhere at once and still play his instrument, while Hales delivered lyrics with precision and feeling.”

We’ve seen San Cisco nine times and the Jungle Giants zero times… so we’re almost sure they’ve never played in the Minneapolis/St Paul area.

Since 2019, the Jungle Giants had quiet a few highly rated songs on Triple J’s Hottest 100, including “Heavy Hearted” and “Sending Me Ur Loving”, both on their set near the end and the best known song as the encore finale.

The Jungle Giants’ Love Signs is out now on Amplifire Records. The album was #1 on the Australia charts, and came out during the pandemic.

Remaining tour dates:

Nov 5 Chicago, IL, US Bottom Lounge
Nov 7 Toronto, ON, Canada Axis Club
Nov 9 Cambridge, MA, US The Sinclair
Nov 10 Philadelphia, PA, US Warehouse on Watts
Nov 12 Brooklyn, NY, US Warsaw
Nov 13 Washington, DC, US Black Cat
Nov 15 Atlanta, GA, US Aisle 5
Nov 17 Austin, TX, US The Parish Room
Nov 18 Fort Worth, TX, US Tulips FTW
Nov 18 Mexico City, Mexico Festival Corona Capital
Mar 3 2023 Phoenix, AZ, US M3F Music Festival

Tim Atlas Tim Atlas Tim Atlas Tim Atlas Jungle Giants Setlist

The Jungle Giants

The Jungle Giants

The Jungle Giants

The Jungle Giants at Turf Club, St Paul (04 Nov 2022)

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Preoccupations at Turf Club, St Paul (23 Oct 2022)

10/23 Preoccupations with Cindy Lee at Turf Club Preoccupations Setlist Fix Bayonets! Ricochet Death of Melody Slowly Advisor Recalibrate Tearing up the Grass Continental Shelf Silhouettes Disarray Memory March of Progress Death Cindy Lee Setlist Marjorie Cameron Gayble Modex Kingdom Come Love Remains Golden Mic Darling of the Discotheque Ponder & Possession Whispex Burning Candle (Chad VanGaalen cover) Roxy Stems Love Stepp I Don't Want to Fall in Love Again Read More Preoccupations Preoccupations is back in town with their latest New Material (Jagjaguwar Records). The band may be more famous for their former, unintentionally …

Canadian post-punk band Preoccupations headlined the Turf Club in St Paul, in support of their new album Arrangements (Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar).

Opening the show was Cindy Lee, a one person performance, from the ashes of Women. Women, of course, was the band that members of Preoccupations (then Viet Cong) came from. Currently, with this tour, it appears that it is all Patrick Flegel (brother of Matt Flegel from Preoccupations) is the only person in the band.

Cindy Lee sings over prerecorded soundtrack from What’s Tonight to Eternity?, with occasionally picking up the guitar to add some additional notes. The songs sounds like something of an electroclash version of 60’s girlpop or girl gang songs.

There was a cover of Chad VanGaalen’s “Burning Candle” on the set. It made sense, as Cindy Lee and VanGaalen, as well as Preoccupations, are on the same record label, Flemish Eye… so it’s all related somehow.

The thing with Preoccupations (singer/bassist Matt Flegel, guitarist Scott Munro, guitarist Daniel Christiansen, and drummer Mike Wallace), is that as great as they sound, they can’t get out of the shadow of their original controversial name of Viet Cong. The name was offensive to South Vietnamese and Americans who fought in the Vietnam war. With protests at some venues, including their first appearance in Minneapolis, at 7th Street Entry, in Sep 2015, the band did the right thing and changed their name to Preoccupations, stating “We are a band who wants to make music and play our music for our fans. We are not here to cause pain or remind people of atrocities of the past.”

With that behind them, the band has released three albums under the Preoccupation name, the self-titled album, New Material and their 2022 album Arrangements. The new album is actually their best album to date, leaning more in rhymic chords, that they’ve described as “labyrinthine post-punk”.

The band must really love the new album, as the first part of their set was devoted solely on Arrangements. The remainder of their set seemed to draw mostly from their debut record, Viet Cong (“March of Progress”, “Silhouettes”, “Continental Shelf”, and “Death”)

Preoccupations’ new studio album Arrangements is out now.

Remaining Tour Dates

Oct 26th - Commonwealth - Calgary, AB
Oct 28th - Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
Oct 29th - Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, BC
Oct 30th - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR
Nov 2nd - Rickshaw Stop - San Francisco, CA
Nov 4th - Echoplex - Los Angeles, CA
Nov 5th - Valley - Phoenix, AZ
Nov 8th - Paper Tiger - San Antonio, TX
Nov 9th - Parish - Austin, TX
Nov 10th - Three Links - Dallas, TX
Nov 12th - Aisle 5 - Atlanta, GA
Nov 16th - DC9 - Washington, DC
Nov 17th - Johnny Brendas - Philadelphia, PA
Nov 18th Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
Nov 19th - Space Ballroom - Hamden, CT
Nov 21st - The Sinclair - Boston, MA
Nov 22nd - Bar Le Ritz - Montreal, QC
Nov 24th - Lee’s - Toronto, ON
Feb 3rd - Fribourg, CH @ Fri-Son
Feb 4th - Baden, CH @ One Of A Million Festival
Feb 7th - Margate, UK @ Elsewhere
Feb 8th - Bristol, UK @ The Fleece
Feb 9th - Hull, UK @ The New Adelphi Club
Feb 10th - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Feb 11th - Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
February 12th - District - Liverpool, UK
February 13th - YES | Pink room - Manchester, UK
February 15th - Hare & Hounds - Birmingham, UK
February 16th - Scala - London, UK
February 18th - Petit Bain - Paris, FR
February 19th - AB Club - Brussels, BE
February 20th - L'Entrepôt - Arlon, BE
February 22rd - L'Aéronef - Lille, FR
February 23rd - EKKO - Utrecht, NL
February 24th - Badehaus - Berlin, DE
February 25th - UT Connewitz - Leipzig, DE
February 26th - Milla - Munich, DE

Cindy Lee Cindy Lee Cindy Lee Preoccupations Preoccupations

Preoccupations at Turf Club, St Paul (23 Oct 2022)

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The Ballroom Thieves at Turf Club, St Paul (13 Oct 2022)

Setlist Canary Worldender In the Morning Don't Wanna Dance Anybody Else Shadow Wild Woman Almost Love Pendulum Bees Blues Run the Game (Jackson C. Frank cover) I Lose Fistfight Wolf -- Encore -- I Love You Always Forever (Donna Lewis cover) Read More The Ballroom Thieves A Wolf in the Doorway is the new album from Boston's The Ballroom Thieves. The band is stopping by Minneapolis' Bryant-Lake Bowl tomorrow, Wednesday, May 13th. The venue is very, very small. ...

Boston’s The Ballroom Thieves headlined the Turf Club, in St Paul, in support of their new album Clouds (Nettwerk Records).

Opening the show was Bad Posture Club. The Minneapolis-based folk duo made up by Maren Day and Morgan Kavanagh, and they have a very NPR-sound to them. It was very quiet, given their banjo and acoustic guitar arrangement.

They have songs about “Riding in Cars” and writing songs about their Grandmother, after house-sitting for them while they were in the hospital.

Their second album A Place Between came out in 2021.

Georgia Harmer was next. The Canadian is touring in support of her debut album Stay In Touch (Arts & Crafts). Although it’s her first album, she’s been creating music and songs since birth. She’s from a musical family, including her aunt and labelmate Sarah Harmer (Georgia’s parents, both professional musicians, met while playing in Sarah’s band).

She wrote songs when she was 10 years old, and, while still a teenager, went on tour as backing vocalist for Alessia Cara.

Currently on this tour, her guitarist is Dylan Burchell, drummer is Julian Psihogios, and bassist is David Maclean.

While most of the songs were taken from Stay In Touch, she did preview a new song about both her aunt’s cats had died. It would seem like most of her songs are slow, depressing songs… and she’ll be first to admit it so, when she joked at the end of her set, “We’re playing another sad song… then then the moshing song!” With that, she ended her set with “All in My Mind.”

Ballroom Thieves (13 May 2015)

We saw The Ballroom Thieves in May 2015, and mentioned, “The Ballroom Thieves, on their second appearance in Minneapolis (previously also billed at Byrant-Lake Bowl), was pleased to see that the room was full this time around. Drummer Devin Mauch, who is celebrating his birthday today (May 14th), said that they originally didn't have Minneapolis on their tour itinerary, but they made the extra effort to put the city back on their schedule. Thanks to word of mouth, there was a really good turn out for the show... especially on a Wednesday.”

Tour dates:

10/13 @ Turf Club | St. Paul, MN
10/14 @ High Noon Saloon | Madison, WI
10/15 @ Lincoln Hall | Chicago, IL
10/16 @ Ludlow Garage | Cincinnati, OH
10/20 @ Johnny Brenda’s | Philadelphia, PA
10/21 @ Union Stage | Washington, DC
10/22 @ Concerts in the Studio | Freehold, NJ
12/1 @ Baby’s All Right | Brooklyn, NY
12/3 @ Space Ballroom | Hamden, CT
12/8 @ Higher Ground | South Burlington, VT
12/9 @ State Theatre | Portland, ME

* Road to Newport Folk
^ supporting Shakey Graves

Bad Posture Club

Bad Posture Club

Georgia Harmer

Georgia Harmer

Georgia Harmer

The Ballroom Thieves

The Ballroom Thieves

The Ballroom Thieves

The Ballroom Thieves at Turf Club, St Paul (13 Oct 2022)

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

The Joy Formidable at recordBar and Turf Club (Sep 2022)

The Joy Formidable Into the Blue Tour 2022 The Joy Formidable Setlist The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade Cradle Y Bluen Eira Ostrich Come See the Show Into the Blue Austere Sevier Silent Treatment Gotta Feed My Dog -- Encore -- Endtapes Whirring Tres Leches Setlist Bad Kid Strangest of Friends What Are You Doing Fireworks Two Fifty Nieve Leaving My Light On Nueva York Read More The Joy Formidable It’s been a while… but I’m happy to say that the group is back with a new album Into the Blue, out August 20th, via Enci Records (US) / Full Time Hobby (Europe) / Soundly Distro in the rest of the world. We’re hoping there’ll be a promo tour for the new album … Tres Leches The Joy Formidable with Tres Leches at Turf Club You all know our love for The Joy Formidable since we wrote about them in July 2008: “Here's a band that I see a lot of potential in, The Joy …

Welsh alternative rock band The Joy Formidable is currently on their Into the Blue tour. We caught the trio (Rhiannon "Ritzy" Bryan, Rhydian Dafydd and Matthew James Thomas) at their appearance at the recordBar in Kansas City, on September 6, and at the Turf Club in St Paul, on September 7th.

Tres Leches 2022 Tour Tres Leches Setlist

Open the show was Seattle’s Tres Leches (which translate to “Three Milk”), in their third and fourth show with Joy Formidable. They seem full of energy and excitement that only a band in their youth can bring to the stage. According to their biography, it started with Alaia D’Alessandro and Ulises Mariscal bonding over music at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival. By 2016, they recorded and released their debut EP, and hanging out with The Coathangers and Tacocat, etc.

It’s interesting to note that after “Two Fifty”, Alaia switched to guitars, as lead vocals were handled by the drummer.

We’ve been writing about The Joy Formidable since July 2008 (nearly 15 years ago) since the release of their debut single, “Austere”. In that article we wrote that so many bands are here today, gone tomorrow, but we didn’t think that was the case with Joy Formidable. In fact, we ended the article with, “They look and sound fantastic, so hopefully that is the case live in concert.”

Fast-forward to Oct 2015 and we finally got a chance to see the band at the Turf Club: “Speaking of coming out of the studio, The Joy Formidable has just put the finishing touches on their new self-produced album, Hitch, due out early next year, and previewed some of the new music to the sold-out crowd during their 84 min. headlining set.”

Joy Formidable at Turf Club poster (07 Sep 2022) Joy Formidable Setlist (06 Sep 2022)

With the delayed 2022 tour (no thanks to the COVID pandemic), the band is finally back on tour for their fifth album Into the Blue, with the Kansas City and St Paul, being their fifth and sixth show in three years.

Lighting conditions were especially dark and with a blue and splash of purple (see photos), perhaps in theme of Into the Blue.

We’ve since seen the band multiple times, and since it’s been so long since they last tour, Ritzy seems more open and extra chatty. The band was also happy to reconnecting with many of their returning fans from previous shows. Compared to their “loose” set in Nov 2018, the band was seemed focused playing the new songs, including the title track “Into The Blue” and “Sevier”.

Remaining tour dates:

09.09 - Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club +
09.11 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom +
09.12 - Washington, DC @ Union Stage +
09.14 - Wantagh, NY @ Mulcahy's *
09.15 - Stroudsburg, PA @ Sherman Theater *
09.16 - Columbus, OH @ Kemba Live *
09.17 - Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
09.18 - Grand Rapids, RI @ GLC Live at 20 Monroe *
09.20 - Fort Wayne, IN @ Piere's *
09.21 - Chattanooga, TN @ The Signal *
09.22 - Little Rock, AR @ The Hall *
09.25 - Louisville, KY @ Louder Than Life
09.26 - Denver, CO @ Summit *
09.27 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Union Even Center *
09.28 - Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory *
09.30 - Spokane, WA @Knitting Factory *
10.01 - Tacoma, WA @ Temple Theater *
10.03 - Reno, NV @ Cargo *
10.04 - Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst *
10.05 - Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery *
10.06 - Venice, CA @ The Venice West
10.07 - Riverside, CA @ Riverside Music Hall *
10.09 - Ventura, CA @ Majestic Theater*
10.11 - Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theater *
10.12 - Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Theater *
10.17 - New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues *
10.18 - Birmingham, AL @ Iron City #
10.21 - Albany, NY @ The Hollow #
10.22 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase Lounge #
10.25 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Music Hall #
10.27 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts #
10.28 - Boston, MA @ The Sinclair #
10.29 - Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom #
10.31 - Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI #
11.01 - Univeristy City, MO @ Duck Room #
11.02 - Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room #
11.06 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile #
11.07 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studio #
11.09 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent #
11.11 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriets #
11.12 - San Diego, CA @ SODA Bar #
11.15 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy Theatre #

* with The Front Bottoms
# with Cuffed Up
+ with Tres Leches

Tres Leches at recordBar

Tres Leches at recordBar

Tres Leches at recordBar

The Joy Formidable at recordBar

The Joy Formidable at recordBar

The Joy Formidable at recordBar

The Joy Formidable at recordBar

The Joy Formidable at recordBar

The Joy Formidable at recordBar, Kansas City (06 Sep 2022)

The Joy Formidable at recordBar

The Joy Formidable at recordBar

The Joy Formidable at recordBar

The Joy Formidable at recordBar

Tres Leches at Turf Club, St Paul (07 Sep 2022)

Tres Leches at Turf Club

The Joy Formidable at Turf Club

The Joy Formidable at Turf Club

The Joy Formidable at Turf Club, St Paul (07 Sep 2022)

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

La Femme at Turf Club, St Paul (15 June 2022)

Setlist Nouvelle-Orléans Cool Colorado Le sang de mon prochain Où va le monde Mycose Nous étions deux Télégraphe Foutre le bordel Paris 2012 Antitaxi Me suive Elle ne t'aime pas Sur la planche 2013 It's Time to Wake Up (2023) -- Encore -- Packshot Tu t'en lasses Tatiana with Trance Farmers Read More La Femme I was really looking forward to La Femme, the psych-pop indie band from Paris. Their music is fun and cinematic, comparable to a Claude Chabrol Or Godard New Wave film filled with attitude and lust and all things Parisian ....

Acclaimed French psych-rock band La Femme sold out the Turf Club in St Paul on June 15. Simply amazing, as it is one of the bands that we’ve highlighted out of Desert Daze in Oct 2017. We have described them as “fun and cinematic, comparable to a Claude Chabrol Or Godard New Wave film filled with attitude and lust and all things Parisian.”

Trance Farmers (the name is something you might hear someone from the south pronounce “Transformers”) opened the show. The Los Angeles band played a 40-min set.

We knew La Femme was great, but, again was blown away that they’ve sold out the Turf Club. You have to understand that this is a work week and the show starts late. On top of that, it is listed as a 21+ show, which limits how many fans can attend… still we were impressed that they’ve managed to attract such a large audience.

Setlist

Songs on their set (see photo) included a few songs from their third album, Paradigmes (Disque Pointu/IDOL), as well older songs, such as “Sur la planche” and “It's Time To Wake Up (2023)” from their self-titled debut album.

As you can see from the photos, a few songs into their set, Marlon Magnée and Jane Peynot just took off their “tuxedos”. The rest of the band, including Clara Luciani, also discarded their uniforms, as they continue to play into the night.

The band is fun, often interacting with the fans, and would invite guests to come on stage. In fact, opening band Trance Farmers, was invited back on stage to help them close out their finale song, “Tatiana”.

The French band don’t often play in America, so if you want to see beautiful French people making beautiful French music, check out their show.

La Femme’s latest album, Paradigmes, out now via Disque Pointu/IDOL.

Remaining Tour Dates:

Jun 18 Seattle, WA, US The Crocodile
Jun 19 Vancouver, BC, Canada Rickshaw Theatre
Jun 20 Portland, OR, US Wonder Ballroom
Jun 22 San Francisco, CA, US The Regency Ballroom
Jun 24 Los Angeles (LA), CA, US The Belasco
Jun 25 Palm Springs, CA, US The Alibi
Jul 1 Saint-Denis-de-Gastines, France Au Foin De La Rue
Jul 29 FESTIVAL LES ESCALES
Aug 4 Place Des Arcades Sauveterre De Rou
Aug 25 Paris, France Rock en Seine
Sep 9 Bourgoin-Jallieu, France Parc Des Lilattes
Sep 10 Bourgoin-Jallieu, France Parc Des Lilattes
Sep 17 Fontainebleau, France FBLO FESTIVAL
Sep 19 Amsterdam, Netherlands Paradiso
Sep 30 Berlin, Germany Astra Kulturhau

La Femme at Turf Club, St Paul (15 June 2022)

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

Pink Mountaintops at Turf Club, St Paul (02 June 2022)

Setlist Comas The Second Summer of Love Leslie Sell Your Soul Tourist in Your Town Nikki Go Sudden Plastic Man, You're the Devil I (F***) Mountains While We Were Dreaming Lights of The City Sweet '69 Holiday The Walk - Song for Amy Can You Do That Dance? Read More Pink Mountaintops The “trippy country meets stoner rock” of Vancouver’s Pink Mountaintops is the birthing baby of Stephen McBean. Stephen is also the singer, songwriter and guitarist for Black Mountain, a personal fav band .... Ashley Shadow Ashley Shadow to open. Tour Dates: 5.08 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon 5.18 - Quebec City, QC @ L’Anti 5.20 - Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz PDB 5.21 - Ottawa, ON @ Rainbow Bistro ....

Vancouver’s Pink Mountaintops ended their North American tour with a stop at St Paul’s Turf Club, in support of his latest album Peacock Pools (ATO Records).

Added to the bill a couple of weeks prior to the show was local act, Transcendental Strangers?. The Minneapolis-based psychedelic band described themselves as Dr. Beard on vocals, Theremin on keys, Cody Lamb on guitars, Mark Miller on drums, and Saadman Maheer on bass.

They played tracks from their new album, From the Other Side of Time, but added a new track they were working on. It officially doesn’t have a title, but Dr Beard was calling it “Cookie Goat”.

They ended their 30-min set with a song called “Polyester”, dedicated and inspired by director John Waters (who directed the film Polyester). Thankfully, the song did not feature any Smellovision, as the original film featured a gimmick called Odorama, where audience can smell what they see on the movie screen using scratch and sniff cards.

Next up was Vancouver’s Ashley Shadow; the band is touring in support of Only The End (Felte Records). The new album featured the single “Don’t Slow Me Down”, which featured Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham). Despite a depressing title of the album, it’s actually a more upbeat record, as Ashley explained, “I wanted to make a more upbeat album, something you could play with some friends over. Some of the songs I wrote were initially bummers, but when we went to record them, we lightened them up.”

Highlight of Shadow’s set had a guest appearance by Pink Mountaintops’ Stephen McBean, who came on stage to play a hand shaker.

Ashley Shadow’s next gig will be at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds on October 13th.

Finally, Canada’s Pink Mountaintops closed out the show.

We previously saw Pink Mountaintops in Aug 2017 and wrote about how great he is: “He’s a metal head, progressive rock guru who makes you stare up at him like he’s Jim Baker waving us over to his cult to give up our lives…but in a really good way. He’s also proof that in these modern day, futuristic times we all reside in, you don’t need a bassist, drummer or backup vocalist…you can do everything yourself onstage with a little help from gnarly pedals, playback recordings and effects. It seems he’s perhaps mellowed out a bit since the sounds of his last LP Get Back, instilling more relaxed and cathartic melodies. His guitar solo in the track ‘I (f***) Mountains’, my god, he’s worth seeing just for that. It’s just beyond killer.”

For this live tour, bandleader Stephen McBean, is joined on stage by additional guitarist/vocalist Emily Rose, bassist Kliph Scurlock, and drummer Tygh Runyan (former drummer for The Flaming Lips). If Emily Rose looks and sound familiar, that’s because she previously drummed for Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin, but in 2015, she started her own band Blue Rose Rounders, but later changed it to Emily Rose and the Rounders.

They’re a good live band, after all, being the last show on the tour, they have the timing and fog machine down to a T.

Even though the tour is for their new album Peacock Pools, only a handful of songs were played from the new record, which included “ Nikki Go Sudden”, “Lights of The City”, and “The Walk - Song For Amy”. It’s understandable, as Pink Mountaintop’s last album was over eight years ago (Get Back in 2014), so the group played a selection of tracks from their discography.

Pink Mountaintops’ latest album, Peacock Pools, is available now on ATO Records.

Transcendental Strangers?

Transcendental Strangers?

Transcendental Strangers?

Ashley Shadow

Ashley Shadow

Pink Mountaintops

Pink Mountaintops

Pink Mountaintops

Pink Mountaintops at Turf Club, St Paul (02 June 2022)

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