W♥M (Archive)

The Lumineers at Target Center, Minneapolis (05/31/13)

poster courtesy of ericawilliamsillustration Tour Dates 06/01/13 96.5 KRBZ Buzz Under the Stars 06/04/13 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center 06/06/13 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre 06/07/13 Canandaigua, NY Constellation Brands 06/08/13 Mountain Jam Festival 06/09/13 Governors Ball Music Festival 06/12/13 Portsmouth, VA Ntelos Wireless 06/13/13 Cary, NC Koka Booth Amph 06/14/13 Charleston, SC Family Circle 06/15/13 Bonnaroo Music 06/28/13 Glastonbury Festival 06/30/13 Open Air St. Gallen 07/05/13 Rock Werchter Festival 07/06/13 Festival Beauregard 07/08/13 Montreux Jazz Festival 07/13/13 T In The Park 07/25/13 Floydfest 07/26/13 Columbia, MD Merriweather 07/27/13 XPoNential Music Festival 07/28/13 Newport Folk Festival 07/31/13 Edgefest 08/03/13 Lollapalooza 08/04/13 Osheaga Festival 08/23/13 Leeds Festival 08/25/13 Reading Festival Podcast Hear Jamie and Vu on the Lumineers below: Read More The Lumineers The Lumineers only have one record, a self titled LP, released back on April 3rd 2012, so they basically played almost the entire album. The band threw in a Bob Dylan cover, a Taking Heads cover .…

Within a span of a year, The Lumineers went from playing the tiny 250-capacity 7th Street Entry to the nearly 20k-capacity at the Target Center, in Minneapolis. To best sum it up, singer Wesley Schultz said that they played the 7th Street Entry and dreaming of the day that they can play the main First Avenue room… but only to go beyond that to the basketball stadium that the Target Center is known for, "When I was young, I wanted to be a basketball player. Never would imagine I'd step on the courts like this."

Opening up the show were two of the Lumineers' favorite bands: J Roddy Walston and The Business and Cold War Kids. Apologies to both bands, photography access was limited to just the Lumineers, per the venue's request.

J. Roddy Walston played piano for his entire set, his band The Business did a great job in playing and singing backup. They sang rock and roll music like "Full Growing Man", "Don't Break The Needle", and "Sweatshop". The latter required a singalong/audience participation.

We've covered Cold War Kids a few times, the latest was just last month. I didn't attend that last show, but I am assuming setlist was similar, but probably truncated due to opening slot time limit. They seem pleased to be playing new songs like "Miracle Mile", "Loner Phase", and "Jailbirds", from Dear Miss Lonelyhearts (Downtown Records) . I think where the band did the best are with the older/popular songs, including "Hang Me Up To Dry", "Something Is Not Right With Me", "Hospital Beds", and their set closer, "Saint John".

As for the Lumineers, no surprises here: they basically played their entire debut album. Setlist was similar to their 2012 set, but obviously tracks were switch around and they added a new song called "Duet" (obviously a duet with Lumineers' cellist Neyla Pekarek).

Every song played ("Submarines", "I Ain't Nobody's Problem", "Flowers in Your Hair", "Ho Hey", "Classy Girls", "Charlie Boy", set closer "Morning Song", etc.) were all sung along by the audience, who clearly know and love the debut album.

The best song, personally for me, was the Bob Dylan cover, "Subterranean Homesick Blues". Other highlight was when the band entered in the sea of people to play a few songs. Singer Wesley Schultz was clearly upset about all the cellphones that immediately went up to record the band as soon as they entered the crowd. Shultz reminded people "no audio or video recordings are allowed" to deaf ears. In the end, Shultz just said, "fine", and started "Elouise" and "Gun Song".

Encores were: "Flapper Girl", Talking Heads' "This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)", and closing out the encore was "Big Parade".

So, it's official. The Lumineers are massive. This is pretty amazing for a band that started playing to a handful of people just last year. I'm looking forward to see how the band will grow over the next few years.

The Lumineers at Target Center, Minneapolis (05/31/13)

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ thelumineers.com

REO Speedwagon/Styx/Ted Nugent - Target Center (Minneapolis, MN) April 19, 2013 review

REO Speedwagon Setlist Don’t Let Him Go Take it on the Run Keep Pushin’ On Golden Country Can’t Fight this Feeling That Ain’t Love Like You Do Time for Me to Fly Back on the Road Again Roll With the Changes Keep on Lovin’ You Riding the Storm Out Styx Setlist Blue Collar Man Fooling Yourself Lady Light Up Man in the Wilderness Miss America Too Much Time on my Hands classic rock medley Come Sail Away Rockin’ the Paradise Renegade Reo/Ted/Styx Tour 05/05/13 Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amph 05/07/13 Grand Prairie, TX Verizon Theatre 05/08/13 Tulsa, OK BOK Center 05/10/13 Kansas City, MO Starlight Theatre 05/11/13 Lincoln, NE Pinewood Bowl 05/14/13 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena 05/15/13 Evansville, IN Ford Center 05/17/13 Green Bay, WI Resch Center 05/18/13 Maryland Heights, MO Verizon Wireless 05/19/13 Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion Read More KQ's Rock Stock 2011 KQRS' Rock Stock, lineup was the typical lineup for an event like this, local band who won a battle of the bands (Troy Castellano), a local band who had been around since the late 70's (Lamont Cranston), Badfinger, Cheap Trick and Styx...…

How much at WeHeartMusic do we actually ‘heart music’? - enough to grab a ticket on the 4-hour/3-band extravaganza that is the ‘Midwest Rock n’ Roll Express Tour’ that rolled into Target Center Friday night.

This outing, in its second year, features the (1981) dream line-up of REO Speedwagon, Styx, and Ted Nugent in a bill that would have easily filled stadiums 30+ years ago, but is now relegated to mostly casinos and outdoor amphitheatres. But, while times change, these acts endure and smartly opted to join forces for an entertaining evening of mostly hit-filled sets and pro-America rhetoric.

TED NUGENT

After a brief unannounced solo set by local Kevin Bowe (who played on the recent Replacements reunion), Uncle Ted took the stage for a roaring (and somewhat shrill) 50 min. set, that was in full throttle right out of the gate. Opening with ‘Wango Tango’ (which included a segue into ‘Cool Jerk’), the Motor City Madman plowed through hits like ‘Cat Scratch Fever’, ‘Stranglehold’ and ‘Great White Buffalo’, easing up slightly only when Derek St. Holmes sang or his foray into a Motown medley that had him crooning ‘My Girl’ and Johnny B. Goode. “We Love the cold, keeps that deer-hunting spirit alive” Ted remarked about the chilly Minnesota spring, the only things missing from his set were ‘Free For All’’ and his arrow firing routine, but somewhat expected as he had less than an hour preach the Ted gospel.

STYX

Styx took the stage next, opening with the one-two punch of “Blue Collar Man” and “Grand Illusion”, in a 72 min. set that brought the energy, original bassist Chuck Panozzo up for a few songs, and the hits people wanted to hear. ‘Light Up’ was NOT a song about the light bulb images that were on the big screen and was performed Friday for the first time in 25 yrs in MN, the tune dedicated to Colorado and Washington for obvious reasons.

Even ‘Man in the Wilderness’, a non-hit from side two of The Grand Illusion, didn’t stop the momentum as they deftly moved from that into guitarist James Young’s attack of the pageant on ‘Miss America’, from the same album, then to the rocker ‘Too Much Times on My Hands’. A somewhat odd medley by keyboardist Lawrence Gowan (who has ably replaced Dennis DeYoung since 1999) followed, intertwining the Stones/Zeppelin/Sabbath/Pink Floyd/Queen before giving way into the biggest reaction of the night, when Styx played ‘Come Sail Away’, complete with picturesque boat and beach scenes on the big screen. Ending with ‘Rockin’ the Paradise’ and ‘Renegade’, the band delivered just the right dosage in a perfect amount of time to squeeze in most of the hits.

REO Speedwagon ended up headlining this night in what is a rotating roster depending on market, and came off as slightly lethargic when compared to Styx’s energy. Their 75 min. set was hit-filled as well; the songs anyone that grew up in the Midwest in the 70s and 80s couldn’t escape on the radio and what would become the soundtrack for so many summer nights. Their classic album ‘Hi-Infidelity’ was well represented with the openers ‘Don’t Let Him Go’ and ‘Take it On the Run’, which had the crowd singing choruses in unison. Even ‘Golden Country’, a 1972 song protesting the Vietnam War, went over well 40+ years later to the crowd of mostly baby boomers.

Lead singer Kevin Cronin has wisely adapted several of the songs into a lower key, as like his curly locks now replaced with a bleach blonde moptop, his range at age 61 is admirable but not what it was when these songs were written. Ending on the high note of ‘Roll With the Changes’, ‘Keep on Lovin’ You, and Riding the Storm Out’, these bands have not only ridden out the storm of the last 40+ years, but they remain charging ahead, still bringing these timeless hits to an audience that treasures them.

REO Speedwagon at Target Center, Minneapolis (04/19/13)

john () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Three Days Grace/Shinedown at Target Center (02/05/13)

Tour Dates 02/06 Green Bay, WI Resch Center 02/08 Nashville TN Bridgestone Arena 02/09 Huntington, WV Big Sandy Superstore 02/10 Knoxville, TN Knoxville Civic Auditorium 02/12 Saginaw, MI DOW Events Center 02/13 Battle Creek, MI Kellogg Arena 02/15 Ft. Wayne, IN Allen Co War Memorial 02/16 Lexington, KY Rupp Arena 02/17 Reading, PA Sovereign Center 02/19 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena 02/20 Lowell, MA Tsongas Center 03/09 Orlando, FL Amway Center 03/11 Estero, FL Germain Arena 03/12 Savannah, GA Savannah Civic Center 03/14 Pensacola, FL Pensacola Civic Center 03/15 Jackson, MS Mississippi Coliseum 03/16 North Little Rock, AR Verizon Arena 03/18 Baton Rouge, LA Baton Rouge River Center 03/19 Belton, TX Bell County Expo Center 03/21 Oklahoma City, OK Chesapeake Energy 03/22 Lubbock, TX Lonestar Event Center 03/23 Wichita, KS INTRUST Bank Arena 03/25 Broomfield, CO 1st Bank Center 03/26 Lincoln, NE Pershing Center 03/28 Sioux City, IA Tyson Events Center 03/29 La Crosse, WI La Crosse Center 03/30 Fargo, ND Fargodome 04/26 Tampa Bay, FL WXTB Rockfest Discography [2003] Three Days Grace [2006] One-X [2009] Life Starts Now [2012] Transit of Venus Listen W♥M168 (5 mins) Read More Three Days Grace Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band, currently on a massive stadium tour with P.O.D. and Shinedown. Just recently (two weeks ago), lead singer Adam Gontier resigned from the band ...

Shinedown & Three Days Grace (with special guest P.O.D.) are currently on their co-headlining arena tour. They stopped over in Minneapolis' Target Center to rock the stadium.

It was a really good turnout for this school night, considering that there were plenty of young people in the audience. There were older fans as well, so it was a good mixture. Asking around, fans seem ecstatic that all three bands were under one roof… although they seemed confused who was actually headlining. One girl tells me that Three Days Grace was the headliner, while another person said that it was certainly Shinedown that was the heavyweight. The truth is, they're both headlining - each band having over an hour to play a full set (vs P.O.D. who had a very brief showcase of less than 30 minutes and they didn't do a lot of new songs).

SHINEDOWN

I can tell that Shinedown's frontman, Brent Smith, knew how to work the crowd, as he got the crowds pumped up when they launched into "Devour". Even the band's introduction had them playing "in the crowd" (you know, on a stage and with plenty of body guards), which was quite a nice way to introduce the band.

Unfortunately, I felt that their stage theme (a giant circular monitor and a multi-level stage with stairs) wasn't as elaborate as Three Days Grace's setup. 3DG's theme was this post-apocalyptic "Fallout"-style setup, complete with amazing fireball pyrotechnics. Every time they let loose the fire, you can feel the heat - even at the row I was sitting in.

Oddly enough, it seemed to me that Three Days Grace had two intro songs, Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" and followed by Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" as they walked on stage.

With four album's worth of material to work with, My Darkest Days' singer Matt Walst (displacing Adam Gontier), had no trouble "kicking ass" throughout their set. They played through all their hits, including the popular "I Hate Everything About You", which had the crowd singing along to the chorus.

Highlight for me was a strange drummer/keyboard and drum solo moment, sandwiched between "The Good Life" and "Misery Loves My Company" - that served as a nice midway break in their set as the rest of the band retired for five minutes while the drummer does his thing.

Three Days Grace & Shinedown, with special guest P.O.D., are all currently on their arena tour. These bands are currently on tour in support of their latest release (P.O.D. 's Murdered Love is out now on Razor & Tie); Shinedown's Amaryllis is out now via Atlantic and Three Days Grace's Transit of Venus is out on RCA Records).

PS, be sure to listen to Harrison and Ben's reaction to Three Days Grace's live performance.

Three Days Grace at Target Center, Minneapolis (02/05/13)

vu () ♥ shinedown.com ♥ threedaysgrace.com ♥ payableondeath.com