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Liz Phair at First Ave
Liz Phair Setlist
Speedy Ortiz Setlist
Tour Dates
09/25/2018 Crescent Ballroom Phoenix, AZ
09/27/2018 The Mohawk Austin, TX 09/28/2018 Granada Theater Dallas, TX 09/29/2018 The Ohana Fest 10/01/2018 Exit / In Nashville, TN 10/02/2018 20th Century Theatre Cincinnati, OH 10/03/2018 9:30 Club Washington, DC 10/05/2018 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA 10/06/2018 Brooklyn Steel Brooklyn, NY 10/08/2018 Royale Nightclub Boston, MA 10/09/2018 Corona Theatre Montreal, QC 10/10/2018 Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto, ON 10/12/2018 Turner Hall Ballroom Milwaukee, WI 10/13/2018 Metro Chicago, IL 10/15/2018 Chicago Athletic Assn Hotel Chicago, IL Read More
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Make America Girly Again--
This is a movement we can all get behind and a rallying cry of sorts as singer-songwriter Liz Phair returned to the Mainroom at First Avenue in Minneapolis for a long sold-out show, as part of her Amps on the Lawn Tour.
Northampton, MA alt rock quartet Speedy Ortiz opened the evening’s proceedings with a crunchy but melodic forty-five set of songs, in support of their new record released this spring, Twerp Verse (Carpark Records). Any band taking their name from a character in the Los Hermanos Hernandez comic Love and Rockets and who had comedian Hannibal Buress as a one-time drummer, can already count us as fans before even playing a note.
But, the band, led by singer Sadie Dupuis, charmed on their own merits, with us noting after a 2015 performance next door in the 7th St Entry, “If anything, if you love alt-90s rock (Liz Phair?), I think you'll find a lot to like with Speedy Ortiz”. Their sound fit perfectly with the headliners, and Dupuis stopped to mention their first time playing the Mainroom, in support of The Breeders, also remembering her very memorable first time in the city - “I had an iPad that I dropped down a sewer grate”, saying a group of complete strangers kindly helped rescue the device.
Things turned somewhat serious for the new ‘Villian’ and 2013’s ‘No Below’, which closed the set- both songs about surviving harassment and abuse, with Dupuis also mentioning each venue on their tour is receiving a copy of Shawna Potter’s “Making Spaces Safer” a pocketguide handbook for venues to creating and maintaining a more accommodating space.
After a brief break, the crowd huddled towards the stage as lights dropped and Liz Phair and her band emerged for their seventy-five minute headlining set and a welcome return twenty-five years later, to again be “Exiled in Guyville” beginning with the opening and honest-to-a-fault lyrics of ‘Flower’.
Unlike her June appearance at The Turf Club in St. Paul, this was a full-on, complete band show with the ever-smiling Phair in great spirits throughout, wearing a t-shirt from an area record store given to her at the pre-show meet-and-greet, while her all-male band was dressed all in black. Additionally, several of the songs seemed suitably amped up and bigger sounding; even in some cases, bigger than the 1500 capacity room itself.
With a career-spanning setlist, the crowd went crazy over familiar songs like ‘Supernova’ and appreciated the deep cuts, like ‘Blood Keeper; a near-forgotten song pitched for the ‘Scream 2’ soundtrack that Speedy Ortiz singer Dupuis loved enough to resurrect and sing onstage along with Phair. “ I love you back!” Phair said to the screams following, “it’s never bad here”.
“I’d like to play a new song for you guys” Phair said introducing ‘The Game’, “What’s it about?… the end of a relationship...what’s new” she laughed. ‘Never Said’ followed, the most radio-friendly and breakout song from Exile in Guyville, taking her time with the song, with the bravado of ‘6’ 1” chugging along next.
Another rarity, 2003’s ‘Take a Look’ (from the Charmed soundtrack) is being playing for the first time live on this tour, which both the longtime and casual fans seemed to appreciate hearing and 1998’s ‘Polyester Bride’ took listeners back to re-visit a younger time both for Phair and everyone in the audience. “We played Riot Fest and we didn’t die” Phair joked, referring to her Chicago appearance the night before, before the shared perspective from 30,000ft in an airplane on ‘Stratford-on-Guy’ kicked in.
2003’s ‘Extraordinary’ was positively gleeful with Phair ending the song acapella and the main set ending ‘Why Can’t I” from the same self-titled album, with its hooky chorus and pop sheen, still sounded as endearing as it did fifteen years ago. “Yes, I ended on the pop” Phair declared confidently, keeping the audience company during the encore break, as her band briefly exited.
After getting the crowd to cheer louder, the band returned for a two-song encore and the purposeful deadpan delivery on the relatable ‘F**k and Run’ and ‘Divorce Song’, the latter erupting into a set-ending guitar duel between Phair and guitarist Connor Sullivan to finish suitably with an audio exclamation point.
Twenty five years after her seminal album, Exile in Guyville, Liz Phair has fully returned, the brashness and swagger retained, with the singer still confident but comfortable in her own skin, smiling and clearly happy to be back. In terms of any Making America Girly Again movement, put us down as Me Too.
(photography note- photographers were only allowed to capture the first introductory song, resulting in mostly dimly-lit images)
(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)
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