Let the music play - new Concert Reviews/Experiences


Ope, here ya go. Give a listen to the Current DJ explaining an encore to the radio audience. 😂 A buddy and I disagree, I thought he was killing some dead air and trying to be funny, buddy thinks he was just being pretentious.
I’ll add the encore starts around 1:54:00

I side with you on that debate. I'm pretty sure Mac Wilson had a good read on his audience. He also nailed the If We Were Vampires call.

Also brought to mind about bringing back Cover Me Up back into regular rotation. Of the 4 shows I saw last year (Sioux City & Ryman X3), it was not played. Before 2025, I couldn't envision any Isbell performance without it, but rest it he did. Only played thrice in all of 2025 per setlist.com.
 
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Tuesday Jeff Tweedy kicked off his 2026 North American Tour in Des Moines at Hoyt Sherman Place. It's a small ornate theater south of downtown across from the Methodist Hospital. Capacity is just under 1,300. The sound was lovely.

One would think stepping out of Wilco for a side project of 5 other musicians that includes his sons (Spencer & Sammy) along with 3 other their neighborhood friends from childhood would be like seeing Joe Mauer play for the Jordan Brewers. It's anything but that.

The kids are alright. All of them are artists in their own right. Most notable is Spencer now behind the kit for Waxahatchee as well as in the studio for Mavis Staples.

Plus the songs are great. The set was dominated by Twilight Override just as it was at 1st Ave a few months ago. Such a wealth of material. The sit down crowd was into it especially at the end of the main set for Feel Free and Lou Reed Was My Babysitter.

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Personal note, 70th time I have seen Tweedy perform.

Odd weather. When I arrived Tuesday temp was pushing 70, and I was wishing I brought shorts. Walking back to the hotel after the show did not even require a hoodie. Woke up at 7:30 AM and it was snowing.
 
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Tuesday Jeff Tweedy kicked off his 2026 North American Tour in Des Moines at Hoyt Sherman Place. It's a small ornate theater south of downtown across from the Methodist Hospital. Capacity is just under 1,300. The sound was lovely.

One would think stepping out of Wilco for a side project of 5 other musicians that includes his sons (Spencer & Sammy) along with 3 other their neighborhood friends from childhood would be like seeing Joe Mauer play for the Jordan Brewers. It's anything but that.

The kids are alright. All of them are artists in their own right. Most notable is Spencer now behind the kit for Waxahatchee as well as in the studio for Mavis Staples.

Plus the songs are great. The set was dominated by Twilight Override just as it was at 1st Ave a few months ago. Such a wealth of material. The sit down crowd was into it especially at the end of the main set for Feel Free and Lou Reed Was My Babysitter.

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Personal note, 70th time I have seen Tweedy perform.

Odd weather. When I arrived Tuesday temp was pushing 70, and I was wishing I brought shorts. Walking back to the hotel after the show did not even require a hoodie. Woke up at 7:30 AM and it was snowing.

70th time you’ve seen Tweedy?! Wow, that’s a fan!!

Have you met him over the years? I admire the passion. Game respects game.

Go Live Music!!
 

70th time you’ve seen Tweedy?! Wow, that’s a fan!!

Have you met him over the years? I admire the passion. Game respects game.

Go Live Music!!

Yeah, 70 times combining all his various iterations...Uncle Tupelo, Golden Smog, Wilco, solo and Tweedy Band. It's a lot of t-shirts.

Three close calls in actually meeting:

- June 1996 / Golden Smog at the Coach House (San Capistrano, CA). This is a unique "dinner theater" set up in which on the main floor there were several long tables that ran perpendicular to the stage all the way to the back wall. As part of the set there was a Bobby Patterson cover She Don't Have to See You. Tweedy only sings on that one.

He made it into a rather glam effort and walked on the tables, side stepping everyone's drinks and plates while belting out the vocals. Pretty funny.

The next song did not require him to play at all, and instead of going back stage, he just sat in an empty chair right next to me and took in the performance of his band mates before Danny Murphy called him back on-stage.

- October 1997 / Wilco played 1st Ave in an early set but there was a double header so to speak, with Whiskeytown playing later at 7th St Entry. The Ryan Adams band was starting to break out and I was able to get a "crossover" ticket for $5 or whatever.

Place was packed. A few songs in, I looked to my right and Tweedy was standing right next to me. The rest of Wilco was also there along with Gary Louris taking it in.

Adams noticed the crew and threw out some rivalry stage banter which was uncomfortable, as there was some beef between the two. After a few songs Tweedy and crew retreated out of the venue.

- September 2002 / Wilco at the Blue Note (Columbia, MO). A few hours before the show I was walking by the venue looking for a bite to eat and passed the tour bus. Tweedy walked out by himself, but was talking to someone on his cell phone appearing frantic and quite frankly a mess. Not a good time to interact.

After the fact, pretty clearly he was struggling with an anxiety attack which was intertwined with his substance addictions. He's been rather forthright about that in books and interviews. Somehow, he still pulled of a really good show that night.

Eventually he went to rehab in 2004. I'm sure if that had not happened, my Tweedy show experiences would be quite fewer for various reasons.
 
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Saw Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy take their R.E.M. show to First Ave last night. They're playing the album Life's Rich Pageant this time. What I had no idea is that after burning through the album they would play 20 more songs. 32 songs total! Definitely get your money's worth and it was worth braving the storm too.

They sound incredible and play tracks from almost every era. I was excited to go, but had no idea how much music I was going to get. Since you'll never see R.E.M. play again, this is as close an experience as you'll get. Highly recommend.

On top of that, the opener was Bobcat Goldthwait, and he was actually hilarious too. I didn't know what to expect when I saw he was going to be there, but he killed it. Great night. Got home unscathed too.
 


On top of that, the opener was Bobcat Goldthwait, and he was actually hilarious too. I didn't know what to expect when I saw he was going to be there, but he killed it. Great night. Got home unscathed too.

Robert (AKA Bobcat) & Narducy.

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Saw Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy take their R.E.M. show to First Ave last night. They're playing the album Life's Rich Pageant this time. What I had no idea is that after burning through the album they would play 20 more songs. 32 songs total! Definitely get your money's worth and it was worth braving the storm too.

They sound incredible and play tracks from almost every era. I was excited to go, but had no idea how much music I was going to get. Since you'll never see R.E.M. play again, this is as close an experience as you'll get. Highly recommend.

Having attended the Murmur/Chronic Town (2024) and Fables of the Reconstruction (2025) presentations I knew exactly what to joyfully expect. The only slight difference after Life's Rich Pageant this go around, there was more emphasis on the post-IRS catalog.

I've eagerly awaited the Saturday show since I posted below almost exactly 1 year ago. Life's Rich Pageant is undoubtedly my favorite R.E.M. album. It's perhaps my favorite album from the 1980's by any artist. They delivered.

They just blistered through Begin the Begin culminating with the harmonious Superman which is a cover of a cover.

I would say my Top 3 after the LRP40 set were Me and Honey, The Great Beyond & Sitting Still.

32 songs clocking in at just under 2.5 hrs is an amazing frantic pace. The John Stirratt & Jon Wurster rhythm section are the engine that makes it go.

As much fun as last years run through Murmur with Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy & Friends this years show was even better. I'm highly biased, but adding Wilco bass player to the role of Mike Mills was an enhancement.

This year it was Fables of the Reconstruction, and while I rate that in the the middle of the pack of the REM catalog, I think it's probably the best one to do in this tribute format. The live versions on this are just amazing, really start to finish. Opening set was the full album followed by covering REMs cover by the Velvet Underground, Femme Fatale.

After maybe a 10 second break, they were back and diving deep into the rest of REMs catalog. I mean really deep. Best to let a pro give the full recap:


Turns out Michael Shannon can play the role of Warren Zevon just as well as Michael Stipe. They just killed it on the Prince's Raspberry Beret in the stye of REM side project the Hindu Love Gods, which was a tour debut.

Other than that, my 2 favorite deep tracks were New Test Leper & Disturbance at the Heron House. "Followers of chaos out of control", seemed to have a pointed message. Understatement.

Instead of flat out hinting they would be back in 2026 for Life's Rich Pageant, Shannon flat out stated they would. While that is my #1 REM album, it's going to be tough to beat. I think they guys can do it.

True to form, they are already planning on a Document 40 go around.

It's been an amazing word of mouth progression. Murmur it was maybe 60% full at 1st Ave. Fables it was about 90%. Last night it was an advance Sell Out and nearly at capacity despite an ongoing blizzard.

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My hopes and dreams of a scoring a GA Pit ticket or close at face value were not fulfilled. The process was not smooth. Frustrating.

Target Center/AXS I got in the virtual queue as suggested 15 minutes in advance. It took around 20 minutes before I got through to select seats.

GA Gone, but the first several rows MF behind the Pit were $427, which I think was very close to face even though they were "AXS Premium". I also checked first few rows Lower Bowl, same price. Went back to select a pair on that MF, but was somehow booted out of the queue.

Had to restart the whole process which took about 10 minutes. All those same tix were available but now showing prices of $2500 - $3000.

Futzed around for a couple of hours. Very few of those tix were selling, but the prices were steadily dropping and started to move again when they were down to the $600 - $700 range.

I wound up buying just in front of the soundboard at standard price $350.

I checked later, when the prices dropped to under $500 virtually all of the Lower Bowl/Main Floor were snapped up.

Boston/TD Garden did not go on sale until the next day. Those were through Ticketmaster. Despite being online for over an hour, never had a chance to buy anything at Standard Price. Pass.

It would be fun as the Boston show is over Memorial Weekend as the Twins are also playing the Red Sox at Fenway.

Chris Riemenschneider reems out AXS. Preaching to the choir.


I find this section a flat out joke:

Speaking specifically about Springsteen’s Minneapolis show, AXS’ representatives at its Los Angeles headquarters deemed the concert’s on-sale process a success given the high demand for it.

“Hundreds of thousands of fans looking for tickets for one arena show,” said DeWulf. “So, when milliseconds decide who secures a seat, cart collisions unfortunately can occur.

“We blocked nearly 3 million malicious requests to prioritize real fans having the best chance to buy tickets,” DeWulf added. “When demand greatly outstrips supply like this, we can’t sell everyone a seat.”


There was tons of inventory an hour into the sale. Had nothing to do with technology. They jacked up MF/Lower Bowl tickets from an already robust price of $420 to an ungodly amount of $2,500 - $3,000. When it got back to under $500, they started to move again.

This part is also particularly egregious.

AXS representatives also offered tips for Minnesota users to avoid mechanical errors, such as: avoid using VPNS, having multiple tabs open in your web browser or buying tickets in offices with multiple users on the same network.

So now it's incumbent on concert goes to take the day off from work when the Ticket window opens for something they may not even wind up with a chance to purchase?!?

Uffda.
 



Having attended the Murmur/Chronic Town (2024) and Fables of the Reconstruction (2025) presentations I knew exactly what to joyfully expect. The only slight difference after Life's Rich Pageant this go around, there was more emphasis on the post-IRS catalog.

I've eagerly awaited the Saturday show since I posted below almost exactly 1 year ago. Life's Rich Pageant is undoubtedly my favorite R.E.M. album. It's perhaps my favorite album from the 1980's by any artist. They delivered.

They just blistered through Begin the Begin culminating with the harmonious Superman which is a cover of a cover.

I would say my Top 3 after the LRP40 set were Me and Honey, The Great Beyond & Sitting Still.

32 songs clocking in at just under 2.5 hrs is an amazing frantic pace. The John Stirratt & Jon Wurster rhythm section are the engine that makes it go.

True to form, they are already planning on a Document 40 go around.

It's been an amazing word of mouth progression. Murmur it was maybe 60% full at 1st Ave. Fables it was about 90%. Last night it was an advance Sell Out and nearly at capacity despite an ongoing blizzard.

Following the Saturday 1st Ave show the Shannon-Narducy & Friends LRP40 was scheduled to end the leg of the tour in Bloomington, IN on Monday. I honestly was not sure they could make it to Bloomington, MN at least by the end of Sunday.

Turns out they got as far as Eau Claire before being stuck for 24 hours. The final gig was postponed until last night.

What makes the whole thing really cool is how much R.E.M. themselves embrace and endorse the project. Mike Mills co-signed when Shannon-Narducy kicked the whole thing off in 2023 to celebrate the Metro in Chicago's 40th Anniversary, appearing on stage with the crew.

The Band promotes it on their website and socials.

2024 all four original members joined in at the 40 Watt Club in Athens.

This year, Pete Buck and Bill Berry also hit the stage in Athens. Michael Stipe performed a few songs in Brooklyn.

Mills must have felt left out as he joined again in Bloomington.

Cuyahoga



Looks like a blast, wish I could have been there.
 
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Looks like they'll be at the Fine Line in a few weeks, March 18.

Go Gophers!!
Saw them last night. It was an awesome show! Thanks for alerting me. There's a few older songs I would have liked to hear, but it was a really good setlist and they gave 100%.
 





RagE Street Band.

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More when I can wrap my head on what I saw, but the highlight was Tom Morello elevating The Ghost of Tom Joad into Badlands.

Springsteen was on fire. My fears of crappy sound at Target Center were quelled.
 


Saw Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy take their R.E.M. show to First Ave last night. They're playing the album Life's Rich Pageant this time. What I had no idea is that after burning through the album they would play 20 more songs. 32 songs total! Definitely get your money's worth and it was worth braving the storm too.

They sound incredible and play tracks from almost every era. I was excited to go, but had no idea how much music I was going to get. Since you'll never see R.E.M. play again, this is as close an experience as you'll get. Highly recommend.

On top of that, the opener was Bobcat Goldthwait, and he was actually hilarious too. I didn't know what to expect when I saw he was going to be there, but he killed it. Great night. Got home unscathed too.
He was indeed very funny. Belly laugh funny! Greatly exceeded expectations.
 

RagE Street Band.

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More when I can wrap my head on what I saw, but the highlight was Tom Morello elevating The Ghost of Tom Joad into Badlands.

Springsteen was on fire. My fears of crappy sound at Target Center were quelled.
The sound WAS really good. I don't know what they've done to that place since we saw Billy Joel there in 1991 (when it sounded terrible and echoey), but whatever it was...

27 songs, concluding with Purple Rain (same as Culture Club at the state fair grandstand in 2018). Three-hour run time without a real break, which ain't bad for a 76-year-old. On one hand, you could say this was the most leftist-preaching concert since my wife and I saw Carsie Blanton at the Cedar Cultural Center, but is it really political to call illegality illegality and brutality brutality?

The song that had been banging around in my head all day was The Promised Land, and E Street Radio played it as we were on the way to the show. Then it turned up on Bruce's setlist. What that means, I don't know, but it was very cool.

OK, one story. It was my wife and I and a friend of ours attending last night, and we went to Murray's for happy hour before the show. Tim Murray was there (as usual), and he's a friend of our friend, so we chatted him up for a while. I recounted the time my wife and I went there for Valentine's Day a number of years ago. While we were eating our Silver Butterknife Steak, there was a commotion, and we saw people diving under their tables. We finally figured out that a bat had gotten into the dining room and was flying around, terrorizing the patrons. That week, Cheryl Johnson--the so-called gossip columnist for the StarTribune--wrote about the incident in her column. (I think we have that clipped and stored somewhere.) Tim remembered that very well...including the CJ column. Good times.
 
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The sound WAS really good. I don't know what they've done to that place since we saw Billy Joel there in 1991 (when it sounded terrible and echoey), but whatever it was...

27 songs, concluding with Purple Rain (same as Culture Club at the state fair grandstand in 2018). Three-hour run time without a real break, which ain't bad for a 76-year-old. On one hand, you could say this was the most leftist-preaching concert since my wife and I saw Carsie Blanton at the Cedar Cultural Center, but is it really political to call illegality illegality and brutality brutality?

The song that had been banging around in my head all day was The Promised Land, and E Street Radio played it as we were on the way to the show. Then it turned up on Bruce's setlist. What that means, I don't know, but it was very cool.

OK, one story. It was my wife and I and a friend of ours attending last night, and we went to Murray's for happy hour before the show. Tim Murray was there (as usual), and he's a friend of our friend, so we chatted him up for a while. I recounted the time my wife and I went there for Valentine's Day there a number of years ago. While we were eating our Silver Butterknife Steak, there was a commotion, and we saw people diving under their tables. We finally figured out that a bat gotten into the dining room and was flying around, terrorizing the patrons. That week, Cheryl Johnson--the so-called gossip columnist for the StarTribune--wrote about the incident in her column. (I think we have that clipped and stored somewhere.) Tim remembered that very well...including the CJ column. Good times.

You had a much better pre-game meal than I did. I stopped at Jimmy John's before meeting friends for a pre-game beverage closer to the venue.

I was wearing Pearl Jam garb, so I took it as a good omen that in the Jimmy John's they were playing a deep cut from Yield, In Hiding. Walking to the venue, one of those Bike-Cabs the guy hauling a couple to Target center had Alive blasting from his portable speaker.

I thought the show was great. In addition to the Morello Tom Joad > Badlands combo, my favorite moment was The Rising. Behind a full band that is just amazing. It was the one song I told my crew I hoped we would get to see played.

Right after that would be 10th Avenue Freeze-Out with the ode to Clarence. The War into Born in the USA was the salvo to the crowed for what we would be in for, behind an 18 piece army behind him that just rocks. I think it was 18.

Nils can still bring the heat.

At times there were 8 guitars, what a roar.

I'm not sure what is more impressive, Springsteen doing was he does or Max sitting behind the kit for 3 hrs with that energy at the same age.

For me it was an impressive physical feat that I did not have to leave the main floor to take a wiz, even though I kept it to just 2 beers. I am nearly 2 decades younger than most of the folks on the stage.
 
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You had a much better pre-game meal than I did. I stopped at Jimmy John's before meeting friends for a pre-game beverage closer to the venue.

I was wearing Pearl Jam garb, so I took it as a good omen that in the Jimmy John's they were playing a deep cut from Yield, In Hiding. Walking to the venue, one of those Bike-Cabs the guy hauling a couple to Target center had Alive blasting from his portable speaker.

I thought the show was great. In addition to the Morello Tom Joad > Badlands combo, I would my favorite moment was The Rising. Behind a full band that is just amazing. It was the one song I told my crew I hoped we would get to see played.

Right after that would be 10th Avenue Freeze-Out with the ode to Clarence. The War into Born in the USA was the salvo to the crowed for what we would be in for, behind an 18 piece army behind him that just rocks. I think it was 18.

Nils can still bring the heat.

At times there were 8 guitars, what a roar.

I'm not sure what is more impressive, Springsteen doing was he does or Max sitting behind the kit for 3 hrs with that energy at the same age

For me it was an impressive physical feat that I did not have to leave the main floor to take a wiz, even though I kept it to just 2 beers. I am nearly 2 decades younger than most of the folks on the stage.
You said it. I've been hearing rave reviews from all over. Everyone's delighted! I heard that this was the first full-E Street Band performance of Streets of Minneapolis. We were the first to hear that. I'm honored.
 

You said it. I've been hearing rave reviews from all over. Everyone's delighted! I heard that this was the first full-E Street Band performance of Streets of Minneapolis. We were the first to hear that. I'm honored.

Tour Openers are generally pretty cool in my limited experience. I was fortunate to see Pearl Jam kick off Dark Matter (2024 in Vancouver). Tons of 1st time performances in that one, plus a revamped stage presentation, playing the 1st song in the dark.

I'll remember Bruce with his prologue into the E Street joining in unison forever.

Another cool moment, Jake Clemons playing a stand up bass drum for Death to My Hometown.

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On top of that, the opener was Bobcat Goldthwait, and he was actually hilarious too. I didn't know what to expect when I saw he was going to be there, but he killed it. Great night. Got home unscathed too.
He was indeed very funny. Belly laugh funny! Greatly exceeded expectations.
From my family and friends that saw the LRP40 performance in Seattle, they had said Bobcat was more than worth it to show up early. Indeed to was non-stop laughter.

The story that Goldthwait told about his flight with an unexpected diverted landing in Cleveland having Special Olympic passengers on board was hilarious.

I sort of felt guilty with the recent LaGuardia/Air Canada runway crash, but when I saw the news and footage it instantly reminded me of the tale. I chuckled again.
 

The Traveling Wilburys member (aka Lucky)/Nobel Prize Winner Robert Zimmerman from Hibbing, MN will be performing at the new Mystic Lake Amphitheater on July 6. Lucinda Williams and John Doe are also part of the lineup.

 

The Traveling Wilburys member (aka Lucky)/Nobel Prize Winner Robert Zimmerman from Hibbing, MN will be performing at the new Mystic Lake Amphitheater on July 6. Lucinda Williams and John Doe are also part of the lineup.

I've seen Dylan twice. Once in 98? in Duluth and again in 01 in St. Paul. If you have any sort of expectations, don't go. I can almost guarantee if you think you're going to hear the album version or any one song that's even remotely familiar to you, that will not occur.
 

I've seen Dylan twice. Once in 98? in Duluth and again in 01 in St. Paul. If you have any sort of expectations, don't go. I can almost guarantee if you think you're going to hear the album version or any one song that's even remotely familiar to you, that will not occur.

I don't dispute that experience is a very real possibility, to the point of highly probable.

However, when I saw him in 2013 (only headlining show I have seen) there were a handful of songs that were quite recognizable even if modified.

A couple might have even been close to the original album version, including Simple Twist of Fate, A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall, She Belongs to Me, All Along the Watchtower, Tangled Up in Blue & Blowin' in the Wind.


Unfortunately, most of those classics haven't appeared this decade, except for All Along the Watchtower. That was the #1 highlight for me at the recent Farm Aid event along with Hwy 61 Revisited. Again both were recognized in the current form.

A buddy of mine went to the Rochester show a couple of weeks ago. He liked it so much he followed up with going to Lacrosse just a couple of days later.

Those were both Sold Out and tough tickets in venues about 1/4th the capacity of the Shakopee how. So far at Mystic Amphitheatre, ticket sales look really soft.
 
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I would like to see husker du cover the replacements and the replacements cover husker du. Album title ideas husker does replacements. Replacements du husker
 

I would like to see husker du cover the replacements and the replacements cover husker du. Album title ideas husker does replacements. Replacements du husker

I would just like to see Paul Westerberg come out of hibernation and perform and/or record anything.
 

Second weekend of Coachella. Everything is livestreaming through Youtube. They do a really great job with with. Watched a bunch last weekend and am checking out what I missed this weekend. Turnstile is just about to start on their "Outdoor" stage.
 



I saw him twice on his last tour and vowed to see him on any future tour, I'll be at the Phoenix concert in April and already blocked off my calendar for the ticket sale time on Friday.

Go Live Music!!

How was the Boss in PHX?
 




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