Soul Asylum @ First Avenue, Minneapolis December 28, 2018
I had an awesome evening hanging out in downtown Minneapolis at the historic First Avenue. Although I have been to this venue a few times before, all the shows I have seen were in the 7th Street Entry. This was my first time in the main room. It is not actually anything special inside, but it is a nice small theater for Rock shows and it has a great history. (If you are ever in the neighborhood, just walk around the outside of the building and you will see the names of many of the musical artists that have played at First Avenue on the outside walls.)
This was the second time I’ve seen Soul Asylum. The first time I saw them was in Chicago at The Vic Theater in October 2013. They opened for Fountains of Wayne. I went to that show because I liked both bands, but I was more excited about seeing Fountains of Wayne. However, I came away from that show liking Soul Asylum as my favorite band that night. They played a good set at this show that included the fan favorites Runaway Train, Misery and Black Gold. Front man Dave Pirner is the only original member of this band has been around since 1981 (although they did not really make an impact on the national scene until the early 90’s). At age 54, he still does a pretty good job of pulling off a youthful grunge look on stage. The four piece band rocks hard, driven by the excellent drumming of former Prince drummer Michael Bland.
This is a Minneapolis band, and it was evident that they are well liked and very much appreciated in their home town. Minneapolis music fans are very supportive of their local artists and the history of First Avenue. When I was in O’Donovan’s Irish Pub before the show (across the street from First Avenue), I walked past a group of people and noticed that one guy was wearing a Replacements t-shirt. As I passed by him, I said, “Nice shirt!” A moment later, I hear somebody yell, “Heeyyyy.” I turn around and another guy from the group pulls open his flannel shirt to show me his Replacements t-shirt that he was wearing. I also saw one other Replacements shirt while in First Avenue. (Former Replacements and Gun’s n’ Roses bassist Tommy Stinson was also the bass player for Soul Asylum from 2005-2012.) This was a night of all local artists. The opening band (which I did not get to see) was Loki’s Folly, two young sisters playing Punk/Riot Grrrl music. Based on a video I watched, they reminded me of Skating Polly. I did get to see 4OnTheFloor, a Blues based Rock band. Their songs did not strike me as anything extraordinary, but they played a good rocking set. The DJ spinning the discs between sets was none other than 7 Inches Of Lori B, better known as Lori Barbero from the Minneapolis Punk band Babes In Toyland (a band I saw at Riot Fest in 2015). All-in-all, it was a fun way to close out a good year of live music on a beautiful Minneapolis winter night.
