W♥M (Archive)

Minneapolis: August 13 to August 16, 2018

Here are some shows taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area from August 13 to August 16, 2018.

Read more: Minneapolis Music Guide.

Sam Smith at Xcel Read More Sam Smith Sam Smith has sold out Madison Square Garden in NYC and The Forum in Los Angeles in minutes, with a second show in Los Angeles being added on January 29, 2015. The month-long .... Gossip I got a hold of their debut album, That's Not What I Heard, from one of my favorite label, Kill Rock Stars, a few years later... by that time they had dropped the "the" ...

SAM SMITH
+ Beth Ditto
Xcel Energy Center
Tue 08/14/2018 (7pm/$39.75)
xcelenergycenter.com

Sam Smith is returning to the Minnesota area with a headlining appearance at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul on August 14th. We caught Smith in Jan 2015 and wrote, “A week after headlining NYC’s Madison Square Garden, Sam Smith made his long overdue local debut (a March 2014 showcase set at the Dakota last year for a few radio and retail tastemakers notwithstanding) with a grandiose entrance that set the stage for a polished and entertaining 77 min. set from the Londoner and band. Lights dimmed and the crowd screamed as a heavy gray curtain dropped to reveal yet another, more translucent curtain with caricatures of Smith’s right and left profiles and behind it, and Smith himself appearing then descending slowly from a center platform.”

Not to downplay Smith’s singing ability, but let me tell you that you should absolutely show up early to see Beth Ditto as the opener. Ditto has a great voice, as we can confirm when we saw her as singer of Gossip in October 2012: “The first thing you should know about Ditto, is that she has an amazing voice. Even though she was feeling a little under the weather, she was still belting out these electrifying notes.”

Beth Ditto – Tour Dates with Sam Smith

8/14 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
8/15 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
8/17 – St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena
8/18 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
8/21 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
8/22 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home
8/24 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
8/25 – Anaheim, CA @Honda Center
8/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
8/31 – Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
9/1 – San Diego, CA @ Valley View Casino
9/4 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
9/5 – San Jose, CA @ SAP Center
9/7 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center
9/8 – Seattle, WA @ KeyArena
9/10 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
9/12 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
9/13 – Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome

The Blueberry Tour Rod Stewart with Cyndi Lauper Sleigh Bells at Fine Line Poster Read More Cyndi Lauper Cyndi Lauper is currently on tour for her 30th Anniversary of She's So Unusual (originally released October 14, 1983, on Portrait Records), stopping by Mill City Nights in Minneapolis last night. … Sleigh Bells Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller are Sleigh Bells, and they are finally back after taking a small break. Last night was only their fourth show in the past two years but it felt as if they had never stopped. .…

Other shows in the area:

THE BLUEBERRY TOUR
Turf Club
Mon 08/13/2018 (7pm/$15/Sold Out)
turfclub.net

The all-star sold-out comedy tour dubbed The Blueberry Tour will be stopping by the Turf Club on Monday. Each show will feature standup from Joe Pera (Adult Swim), Jo Firestone (The Tonight Show), Conner O’Malley (Seth Meyers), and Dan Licata (The Chris Gethard Show) – all writers and actors from Adult Swim’s Joe Pera Talks With You.

Note: This is a seated show.

Tour dates:

Aug 8 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill
Aug 10 Chicago, IL The Hideout
Aug 10 Chicago, IL The Hideout
Aug 11 Milwaukee, Wi Underground Collaborative
Aug 12 Detroit, MI Small’s
Aug 13 Minneapolis, MN Turf Club
Aug 14 Madison, Wi Comedy Club on State
Aug 16 Denver, CO The Oriental Theater

ROD STEWART
+ Cyndi Lauper
Xcel Energy Center
Wed 08/15/2018 (6:30pm/$35)
xcelenergycenter.com

What a voice! No one sings like Rod Stewart. The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-music icon is currently touring with Cyndi Lauper at Xcel Energy on August 15th.

Tour dates:

08/07 New York, NY -- Madison Square Garden
08/10 Toronto, ON -- Budweiser Stage
08/11 Pittsburgh, PA -- PPG Paints Arena
08/14 Kansas City, MO -- Sprint Center
08/15 St. Paul, MN -- Xcel Energy Center
08/18 Indianapolis, IN -- Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
08/19 St. Louis, MO -- Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
08/22 Denver, CO -- Pepsi Center Arena
08/24 Phoenix, AZ -- Talking Stick Resort Arena
08/26 San Diego, CA -- Mattress Firm Amphitheatre
08/28 Reno, NV -- Event Center **
08/29 San Francisco, CA -- Shoreline Amphitheatre
08/31 Portland, OR -- Sunlight Supply Amphitheatre
09/01 Seattle, WA -- White River Amphitheater

SLEIGH BELLS
+ Torres
Fine Line Music Cafe
Thu 08/16/2018 (8pm/$25)
finelinemusic.com

Brooklyn’s Sleigh Bells have booked a gig at the Fine Line Music Café on Thursday, August 16th, fresh off their recent tour with Weezer and The Pixies.

Opening will be Torres, aka Brooklyn-via-Nashville musician Mackenzie Scott. We saw her in May 2015, but the last thing I read about Scott was that life on tour/on the road in 2015-2016 had led her to a breaking point, as she mentioned on Flood Magazine. It was a learning experience, and Scott is back, stronger and healthier than ever and more experienced with a touring lifestyle.

Tour dates:

08/7/18 Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
08/11/18 Chula Vista, CA @ Mattress Firm Amphitheatre
08/12/18 Phoenix, AZ @ AK-Chin Pavilion
08/16/2018 Fine Line Music Cafe Minneapolis, MN
08/17/2018 Metro Chicago, IL
08/18/2018 Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH
08/19/2018 Basement East Nashville, TN

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Sleater-Kinney at First Avenue, Minneapolis (10/08/2002)

Sleater-Kinney at First Avenue (ticket stub) Minneapolis (10/08/2002) Setlist Oh! One Beat Turn It On All Hands on the Bad One The Remainder Get Up! Far Away Light-Rail Coyote You're No Rock N' Roll Fun Combat Rock Start Together Funeral Song/Words and Guitar Hollywood Ending Sympathy Step Aside -- Encore -- One More Hour I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone Dig Me Out Setlist courtesy growboredbigscott62 Read More Sleater-Kinney A band out of the ashes of Riot Grrrl band Excuse 17 (Carrie Brownstein) and Heavens to Betsy (Corin Tucker). Currently Brownstein is in Portlandia television show, Janet Weis … Corin Tucker A month into their West Coast tour, The Corin Tucker Band and Mecca Normal’s show at the Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco made me realize I'm not the only one who has succumbed to 90s nostalgia, and this is a great thing … Portlandia Closing out the night was Ian Karmel from Portland (and yes, he has been on Portlandia). In a slightly rushed set to get the 10PM show ready, he did remind me of a mistake I have made so many … Quasi The Portland duo (Sam Coomes and Janet Weis) are currently touring in support of their ninth album called Mole City. If their names sounded familiar, that's because they've both played …

With the recent announcement that Vivian Girls have officially split, I thought it might be fitting to talk about another all-girl band, Sleater-Kinney. Sleater-Kinney was on my radar fairly early because of their association with Riot Grrrls.

First Avenue, Minneapolis (10/15/1998) photo: Alison

I've seen the Portland-based band three times at First Avenue. There only other show they did at First Avenue was on October 15, 1998, with The Hangovers and Flin Flon, which I'm pretty sure I did not attend (on account that I was not living in Minneapolis at that time).

Sleater-Kinney was listed to appear on March 28, 1999, but according to legal documents, they canceled that show.

That leaves May 9, 2000, which MTV.com said that Sleater-Kinney was booked at First Avenue. I believe this was the show with the Gossip was the opener.

First Avenue, Minneapolis (06/15/2005)

Searching online for the two shows I do have ticket stubs for, between SK's last Minneapolis appearance on June 15, 2005, and their One Beat tour in 2002, there were hardly any reviews for their 2005 show.

Oddly enough, there is a DVD entitled Burn To Shine: Portland, OR. 06.15.05, which is said to have recorded Sleater-Kinney in Portland on June 15th, but that does not make any sense since the band was in Minneapolis on that date, touring in support of their final album The Woods. Perhaps the DVD was filmed in 2006 or at a different month? I suspect they filmed it June 1st or June 2nd, as both those dates, SK was at their hometown (Portland) at McMenamin's Crystal Ballroom and Crystal Ballroom, respectively.

I do have trouble remembering the differences between the two shows, but what I can tell you is that their last appearance was sold out. It must have been over sold, because there was hardly a spot to stand and possibly one of the worst time I've ever spent at a show. Their 2002 show was similar, I'm not sure if that sold out as well, but I was stuck in the middle of a moshy/slam-dancing army of women. It was hot and smelly and also not a good time for me.

Still, despite my complaints, I do love showing my support for the band, and was sadden that they split up in 2006. However, last year (November 23rd, 2013), the trio appeared with Pearl Jam and Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck for a cover of Neil Young's "Rocking in the Free World" in Portland... so there are rumors going around that the band may come back this year.

It should be interesting to see if SK will reform, although everyone is busy with their own side projects, Corin Tucker with the Corin Tucker Band, Carrie Brownstein with the Portlandia television show, Janet Weis with Quasi and Wild Flag.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Gossip at Fine Line Café, Minneapolis (10/06/12)

Tour Dates 10/09/12 Seattle, WA Showbox at the Market 10/10/12 Portland, OR McMenamins 10/12/12 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda 10/13/12 San Francisco, CA Treasure Is 10/14/12 San Francisco, CA Treasure Is 10/18/12 Buenos Aires - Pepsi Music Fest 10/20/12 Sao Paulo - Planeta Terra Fest 10/21/12 Rio de Janeiro - Circo Voador 11/04/12 Bordeaux, France - Patinoire 11/06/12 Paris, France Zenith Paris 11/07/12 Paris, France Zenith Paris 11/08/12 Lille, France - Zenith 11/10/12 Rennes, France - Le Liberte 11/12/12 Frankfurt - Jahrhunderthalle 11/13/12 Dusseldorf - Mitsubishi Electric 11/15/12 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega 11/16/12 Hamburg, Germany - Sporthalle 11/18/12 Berlin, Germany - Velodrom 11/19/12 Munich, Germany - Zenith 11/20/12 Leipzig, Germany - Arena 11/22/12 Warsaw, Poland - Torwar Arena 11/23/12 Vienna, Austria - Gasometer 11/25/12 Basel - St. Jakobshalle 11/26/12 Montpellier, France - Zenith 11/27/12 Milan, Italy - Alcatraz 11/28/12 Stuttgart, Germany - Porshe Arena 11/30/12 Antwerp, Belgium - Lotto Arena Read More Gossip I got a hold of their debut album, That's Not What I Heard, from one of my favorite label, Kill Rock Stars, a few years later... by that time they had dropped the "the" ...

Gossip just ended their first leg of their fall US tour date, in support of their recent album A Joyful Noise, at their last night's appearance at the Fine Line Café in Minneapolis.

BONNIE MONTGOMERY

Opening up was Bonnie Montgomery, a country singer from Arkansas. She started her brief set with "Zydeco," a b-side from her forthcoming Cruel EP.

Highlight of her set was a cover of Kitty Wells' "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," which Beth Ditto from Gossip made a special appearance.

Montgomery ended her set with a cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," which Gossip's bassist Chris Dutton joined on tambourine.

MAGIC MOUTH

While country music seems like an odd choice, I felt Portland's Magic Mouth's bassy funk (or as they like to call it, "phunk") was a good fit for Gossip's music.

I didn't know their songs, most of them felt like they were cover songs (* see comment below), like their slowjam cover of Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls." I know for sure they did "Speak Softly," but that song isn't on their Believer EP. I guess it didn't really matter, because with the heavy bass and funk beats it got everyone dancing.

It's been six years since Olympia's Gossip came through town. The fans nearby either flew in or drove long distances to see Gossip at the tiny Fine Line Café in Minneapolis. I love that sort of fan dedication, and I know for sure singer Beth Ditto really appreciate that, having her thank them time and time again on stage.

The first thing you should know about Ditto, is that she has an amazing voice. Even though she was feeling a little under the weather, she was still belting out these electrifying notes.

The majority of their songs were understandably from A Joyful Noise ("Move In The Right Direction", "Melody Emergency", "Get A Job", "Casualties Of War", "Perfect World", "Get Lost", "Into The Wild"), and rounding out the rest of their set were basically from the synthy Music For Men album ("8th Wonder", "Four Letter Word", "Men In Love", and the set closer "Heavy Cross").

Still, despite the lack of old songs, there was still plenty of music to get excited about. For instance, Gossip often threw in brief cover songs medley into their original songs. How amazing was it hearing Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl" medley in "8th Wonder" or Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" with "Listen Up!"?

There were three songs for the encore. The latter two was a cover of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It" with Magic Mouth's singer Stephfon singing along on stage, and "Standing in the Way of Control", the title track from their breakthrough 2006 album.

Gossip is starting up their second leg of their tour, in support of their A Joyful Noise album, out now via Columbia Records.

Gossip at Fine Line Café, Minneapolis (10/06/12)

vu () ♥ gossipyouth.com ♥ bonniemontgomerymusic.com ♥ magicmouth.net

Wednesday, 17 October 2012 at 02:51 PM

J.D. writes:

All Magic Mouth songs are originals ( Except the obvious Pet Shop Boys). They are amazing songwriters/musicians who will be joining us on the road of our upcoming tour as well.

Gossip - Music for Men

The Gossip - Dressed In Black Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control

Gossip - Pop Goes The World Gossip Tour Dates 07/03/09 Heineken Opener Festival Gdynia 07/04/09 MainSquare Festival Arras 07/04/09 Beauregard Festival Caen 07/05/09 Furia Festival Cergy 07/08/09 Hultsfred Festival Hultsfred 07/10/09 Les Ardentes Liege 07/11/09 Musilac Festival Aix les bains 07/13/09 Razzmatazz Barcelona 07/15/09 Spaziale Festival Turin 07/17/09 Melt Festival Gräfenhainichen 07/18/09 Garden Nef Party Angouleme 07/19/09 Latitude Festival Suffolk 07/21/09 Paleo Festival Nyon 10/09/09 Terminal 5 New York, New York Discography [2001] That's Not What I Heard [ 2003] Movement [2006] Standing in the Way of Control Read More Gossip http://weheartmus... What's coming up as far as review goes, which I'm excited about is: Gossip's Music For Men. I've ...

I've been listening to The Gossip since I heard "Dressed in Black" from their self-titled original EP on a compilation my friend Celeste made for me (she felt she owed me for a Sleeper b-side compilation I made for her a while back). There was a few I liked right away, like ESG's "Dance", Anna Oxygen, and, of course, The Gossip's "Dressed in Black" and "Red Hott".

I got a hold of their debut album, That's Not What I Heard, from one of my favorite label, Kill Rock Stars, a few years later... by that time they had dropped the "the" part of their name and became simply Gossip, starting with their 2002 EP Arkansas Heat.

Ever since I discovered Britpop, I have been keeping an eye on UK pop music, and I can tell you that Gossip is huge in the UK. This was quite evident with their last album, Standing in the Way of Control, which had a huge buzz overseas, where their song, "Standing in the Way of Control", became the theme song of the British show Skins. The album instantly hit #1 on the UK Indie Charts.

With mass appeal,especially in the UK, the band recently signed with major label Sony Music (under the Music With a Twist umbrella). Their major debut is called Music for Men and it was released last Tuesday on CD and digital in the UK. As for the US, you can legally purchase the album last Tuesday - but the physical CD won't be available in the US until October 6^th on Columbia Records. I am assuming around that time, you'll get to see the band on their promotional tour dates. As of this writing, there is one sole New York date.

So what is it about this three piece from Olympia, Washington, that's so appealing? I will ask you: what's not to love?

First off, their lead singer, Beth Ditto, is unabashedly lesbian, proud of her weight, and unapologetically outspoken. To be honest, none of that really matters to me, because I just enjoy hearing her vocals.

Second, backed with bassist (but will occasionally play guitars), Brace Paine, and drummer, Hannah Blilie, their songs comes off as raw, but always with a jerky dance groove.

Compared to Gossip's earlier work (especially on their first few EPs), they have gone from a sort of rockabilly soul to simply disco soul. I also felt Music for Men to be very polished and each sound can be heard loud and clear. This is possibly due to that the majority of the album was written and recorded at the Shangri-La studio in Malibu, a first-class studio that Ditto admitted "the first time we ever had access to a studio like that".

I think it's a great direction for the band, because it gives us the opportunity to hear more of Ditto's soulful pipes and hear every bass and drum beat. Also, I felt that the disco/synth plays a more important role in Music for Men, compared to their earlier works.

Some stand-out tracks is the love song "Love and Let Love" (I just really love hearing "It's a long way until February") and "2012". I don't know if you knew about the end of the world, but according to the Mayans, they seem to think it ends on December 21^st, 2012. This will shed some light on Gossip's song "2012", which sings and dance and celebrate as if the year is 2012.

I don't know what the Gossip's next single will be, but I would guess it would be something poptastic and easy as "Pop Goes The World" since "Heavy Cross" was released as the lead-single for the album.

If you're in the UK, you're in luck as the album is available to buy right now and that, also, they're doing all the major festivals. For US fans, just wait a little bit longer - or if you're impatience, the MP3s are available on iTunes and amazon (both stores sells the full album for $8).

 06/27/2009 00:00:36 ♥ vu () ♥ thegossipmusic.com ♥ myspace.com/gossipband ♥ twitter.com

W♥M Updates (June 2009)

Gossip - Pop Goes The World

Gossip

I am working on a big article (it probably won't be done until Friday, probably). In the meantime, there's some exciting news coming up: the return of W♥M podcast! There will be at least six episodes before I get around to producing new contents.

I'm no longer endorsing Mypodcast.com, if you look at their forums, there's strong indications that the company is in a lot of trouble maintaining its servers. Garageband is surprisingly pretty good, I have moved Episode #12-32 to Garageband, so if you haven't heard them: check it out.

Also, if you visit news.weheartmusic.com, you may start seeing Google AdSense on the website. Nobody likes adverts, but that's just how things are. The good thing is that it's not terribly intrusive. I doubt I'll make any money for the W♥M fund, as we've all trained ourselves to ignore ads anyway.

Gossip - Careless Whisper

What's coming up as far as review goes, which I'm excited about is: Gossip's Music For Men. I've previously fell in love with Beth Ditto's gospel-yet-boogie-dance version of "Careless Whisper". Their new album is pretty awesome. The full review will go live next week. In the meantime, I've picked out either "Pop Goes The World", "2012" or "Love and Let Love".

The craziest thing: Music For Men will be released digitally on June 23^rd, but the physical CD won't be available until... wait for it.... OCTOBER! I have never seen such a long wait for the CD version for a major release. Usually it's only a short month before the plastic discs comes in. 

 06/18/2009 02:34:34 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com

W♥M Updates (July 2008)

 07/21/2008 00:30:54  ♥ written by vu ()

Gossip - Careless Whisper Gossip W♥M Notes

It's been a while since I did a W♥M update, I am still working on site.weheartmusic.com, so please visit and let me know what you think. That website is just as an extension of W♥M, we're not moving.

What I'm planning on: find the latest press release from various PR and Record Labels, easier/faster search, view upcoming album reviews, full album details (track listing, release dates, etc), "Best Of" W♥M articles, plus whatever ideas we come up with.

As I've previously mentioned, other W♥M members can go in and edit/add/modify/create anything, and it's quite easy to do! You need to know very little html or css, but it does help a little when you do more advance editing.

Hey, what do you think of my W♥M Notes Logo?? If you look at it closely, it's a fictional music notes that looks like an W and an M.

Anyway, I've noticed lately that a few blogs and websites have started linking to us, which I'm returning the favor here. One of the links includes the prestigious MTV, so that's an honor. If you link to W♥M, let me know and I'll add your blog and/or website to site.weheartmusic.com.

As for the music of choice today, I have picked out Gossip's cover song "Careless Whisper" (originally by George Michael from Wham!).  It's surprisingly soulful and dancey.  I can only imagine Beth Ditto going super crazy singing this song.  I believe "Careless Whisper" is a live song from the BBC Live Sessions.

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Also, I wanted to welcome Derek, Drew and Appples to the team. If you like (or dislike) what you read on here and would like to contribute articles to us, email me and I'll let you know what I'm looking for.

Links: www.weheartmusic.com site.weheartmusic.com

caprandom wrote: Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 6:49 AM

[esto es genial] Took a quick look at the website and I was floored by the sheer amount of data you can cram. It's like tapping in pure adreanaline

Damn you! In a good way.