Category: Concert Reviews

Joywave, iDKHOW Take on Minneapolis for “Helvetica” Tour

Joywave, iDKHOW Take on Minneapolis for “Helvetica” Tour

Posted on by Owen Larson
The Fillmore
Joseph Morinelli, Joywave
Savannah Conley
Joywave

The New-York based band Joywave came to Minneapolis as part of the “Welcome to Helvetica” tour, alongside the musical duo I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (iDKHOW), at the Fillmore on August 26.

The concert—which was the second stop on the “Welcome to Helvetica” tour—featured stunning visuals, an incredible atmosphere, and great acoustics that kept the music powerful yet still clear.

Savannah Conley opened the night with a half-hour set that felt like it could have been the main act. Her acoustic, raw performance contrasted with Joywave’s high production sound but offered an incredible primer for the rest of the night.

Joywave performed first, with a grungy set featuring songs off the new album “Cleanse”, and old favorites. Joywave broke into the Alt-rock scene in 2013, after being featured in “Dangerous”, a song by fellow New York state based Big Data. The band opened with “Tongues”, which introduced the jam-packed set.

The Fillmore provided ample space for the crowd to dance along to the music in general admission, or sit back and enjoy the show in the upper levels.

After Joywave finished with a gritty, punchy encore featuring the song “Destruction”, iDKHOW took the stage and closed out the night with an electric performance that kept the crowd energized and ready for more.

All-in-all, the performance was certainly one for ages.

Joywave, iDKHOW, and Savannah Conley will preform next on Saturday, August 27 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Owen Larson can be reached at lars6521@stthomas.edu.

Martin Garrix Bring an Energetic EDM Set to Minneapolis

Martin Garrix Bring an Energetic EDM Set to Minneapolis

Posted on by Abby Schermerhorn

Martin Garrix recently graced Minneapolis with his presence at his September 28th show at the Armory. As one of the younger artists within the EDM scene, he still manages to hold great maturity in his performances. With an almost two hour set, he played current hits like Summer Days and Scared To Be Lonely, but also rounded it out with the tried and trues such as In The Name Of Love and Forbidden Voices. Those who’ve been to the Armory know that it’s no wonder that people resorted to moshing and pushing to get the full rave effect. Despite the unfriendly crowds, Garrix kept the experience fun. His energy never regressed and you could tell that he takes great pride in his music. To top it all off, the lighting effects made the whole show feel transformative and powerful. In the end, Martin Garrix put on a thrilling show. While you might get thrown around during the set, it doesn’t really matter because it’s to some amazing beats.

Glass Animals – Palace Theater 9/27

Posted on by kustradio

By: Ted Tiedemann 

Glass Animals performed to a sold out crowd at the Palace Theater for the first time this past September. As always, they had an elaborate set design adorned with palm trees, pineapples, colored lights, a pineapple disco ball, and the letters GA in large 8-bit font hung above them. The band presented an upbeat, energetic set that got everyone dancing, which is typical at a Glass Animals show. David Bayley, the front man, engaged in his usual bouncy antics, dancing from one side of the stage to the other, singing while standing amongst the crowd, and letting his inner child out on stage. Their performance was no short of incredible; all of the members bring a high tier of musicianship and talent to the table. Joe Seaward is an underrated drummer in the indie rock/pop world and his live performance shows his precise skill and passion he contributes to the show. On the song “Cane Shuga,” he plays a syncopated beat seamlessly with super clean trap hi-hat rhythms, and in a live scenario it’s mesmerizing. Both Drew MacFarlane and Edmund Irwin-Singer handle all of the synths, guitars and samples to create a kind of symphony that’s rooted heavily in hip hop, indie, and culture. 


Unfortunately the show suffered some mixing issues; the midi instruments were too quiet, low and high frequencies were too hot which cut out essential mids. Despite some sound issues, the band persevered and played a high energy show. David Bayley evoked images of Thom Yorke’s wild dancing, and felt loose enough to improvise some falsetto runs on various tracks. Both Drew and Edmund improvised melodic motifs in their most popular songs to add intrigue to the live show. Above all that, what made the show feel so much more intimate was the fact that they had Joe playing drums to the side rather than behind the band. This setup felt more like I got a better sense of each individual member and what they contributed, rather than having the focus always be the singer. Much of their live show consists of a subtle tweak to the formula of having a good live show, and subtle breaking of the rules that make them stand out as an indie band. There is no doubt that Glass Animals are a tight outfit that will definitely last due to their solid live shows.

Fleet Foxes – Palace Theater 9/30

Posted on by kustradio

By: Mitchell Roers

Few artists succeed in sounding as good live as they do on their studio produced albums. Being used to listening to an album that has been tweaked and perfected in a studio environment, as well as the challenges that go with perfecting a band’s on-stage sound commonly leads to fans experiencing an artist they viewed as “not as good live.” There was no such feeling, however, when Fleet Foxes took the stage at Palace Theater this past Saturday, where the Seattle based Indie Folk band took the audience on stroll through the serene Autumn landscape they crafted throughout the night, which also included some of the best live production I’ve ever experienced.

Although the band is coming off a four year hiatus, which is the result of the departure of drummer/percussionist Josh Tillman (who has since found much success as a solo artist under the alias Father John Misty), as well as frontman and group leader Robin Pecknold quietly enrolling as an undergrad at Columbia University, the band hasn’t missed a beat. In this massive eighteen song set (followed by a three song encore), the group wowed the audience both with their awe-inspiring full band sound, as well as with intimate solo acoustic performances by Pecknold. Musically, the band did everything they needed to to create fantastic sound quality. The mix/levels of the instrumental and vocal sounds was perfect, which was ever present on songs such as Helplessness Blues and Third of May. The blend between Robin’s voice and the backup vocals was smooth and complimentary, creating some beautiful natural vocal harmonies. Furthermore, the sheer musicianship and professionalism of each member of the band was indistinguishable, reminding us that this was a band worthy of all the critical acclaim they’ve received throughout the last decade.

The visual production of the show was minimal, but effective. The few abstract set pieces on stage (which to me looked like they were supposed to resemble mountains), the subtle light show, and the unique and interesting on-screen avant-garde visuals combined to create an atmosphere that appeased concert goers, while making sure to not take away from the music. All in all, Fleet Foxes shined in providing the perfect show to kick off October and connect with both the diehards and casual listeners in the crowd, making sure fans left Palace Theatre feeling euphoric and with a smile on their face.

Highlights: Helplessness Blues, Blue Spotted Tail, Ragged Wood, Battery Kinzie, The Shrine/An Argument, Third of May/Ōdaigahara

TL/DR: Fleet Foxes triumph at sold out Palace Theatre performance, combining excellent sound production with unparalleled musicianship to create the perfect autumn concert experience.

Hippo Campus – University of St. Thomas 10/01

Posted on by kustradio

Hippo Campus at UST: A Modern-day Miracle
By: Elli Dubanoski

On October 1st, Hippo Campus graced UST with their presence. It would be beyond fair to say that my expectations were high, yet somehow Hippo Campus met them all. Their palpable high energy and catchy songs made the floor shake enough to cause concern. The whole crowd was immediately and continuously engaged, hanging on to every upbeat note that was played.

The entire concert, put together by STAR, was a perfect exemplification of UST values. Halfway through, a female student threw her bra onto the stage where Hippo Campus’ Nathan then put it on, before later draping it over his microphone for the remainder of the concert. The crowd of students responded with loud cheers when lead singer, Jake, introduced one of their new songs by saying, “It’s about alcohol.” Also, shout-out to the kid who crowd-surfed.

The band performed all their older hits and played plenty of new material before ultimately closing the night with their song “Violet”. Even when the band left the stage, students refused to disburse and continued yelling for an encore until the lights went out. Hippo Campus’ performance is easily one of the best things to happen to UST and will be difficult to top at next year’s Homecoming concert.

Photo credit: Grace Lomauro

Eaux Claires – 08/12-08/13

Posted on by kustradio

The Eaux Claires Experience
By: Cari Monroe

My first thought while sitting down to write this series was “Eaux Claires. Ahhhhh”. So much happened in such a short amount of time it was difficult for me to process, let alone write about. Eaux Claires is a 2-day music festival located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and it attracts 20,000 people nation-wide. Curated by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, it is no surprise to learn most acts are good friends of his. Nearly all the artists gave a warm shout out to Justin, expressing their love for him and for the festival. While most acts could be considered Indie/Alternative, other genres were not left untouched. Rapper Vince Staples drew a large crowd, and the Japanese metal duo Senyawy could be found through the woods making a rare US appearance. On one corner you could find a slew of people rocking out to their favorite band, on another you could take a quiet hike through the woods to see countless nature-inspired art instillations. This festival truly had it all, and a friend of mine had described herself as a “different person” on our drive home. Where else would you have to essentially perform a scavenger hunt to see S. Carey perform a very intimate secret show on a small handmade wooden stage in the middle of the woods? “That is quite possibly the strangest things I’ve ever heard”, said a friend when I explained to her what the band was doing, but as I was sitting in the woodchips 5 feet away from S. Carey, I understood the thought behind the mystery and why this will always be the festival I’ll be attending every year. Nowhere else could you find that excitement mixed with pure serenity and joy, and the only thing that made me leave the grounds on Sunday morning was knowing that it would be there next year, bigger and better than ever before.

//

 

The Staves & Y-Music

This was my first time seeing the Staves live, and my mouth immediately fell open hearing their heavenly harmonies. They opened with an a capella version of “Hopeless” and the crowd, myself included, was mesmerized. The set was composed of a blend of orchestral contemporary music and the Staves three part flowing vocal harmonies.
Vernon asked them to put together all new music—some were pieces Y-Music had never released and the Staves jokingly mentioned they “wrote over” – with a laugh from the crowd—and others were Staves music that the brilliant Y-Music composed instrumental music for. Either way, this music “didn’t exist 10 days ago”. If that pure musical talent doesn’t awe you I don’t know what will.

 

//

 

James Blake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Holly Dockendorf

 

The only expectation I had going into James Blake’s set was that it was going to be great. I knew most of “The Colour in Anything”, but had no idea how Blake performed live, or even what he really looked like. Let me tell you, while there’s no running around or crazy stage shenanigans, Blake combines his pure musical talent with high-energy buildups to create an experience that is like nothing else (although it did help that it was raining the entire set; sounds like an inconvenience, but trust me, it made everything much more real and awe-inspiring).

Every song was produced live on stage with him, a guitarist, and a drummer. Their cool demeanor and black skinny boy-band jeans were expected from an indie group like this, but the minimalistic band didn’t take away from the entertainment level and energy that was created during the set. Right before the last song, Blake sent away his band and played “Measurements” on his own. If you’ve ever seen Ed Sheeran live, you understand someone using the full capabilities of a loop petal, but never have I seen someone create as many loops as Blake did during this song. I honestly lost track, but there were at least 10 layers if not more. The first five layers were solely his voice, which is even more incredible. I have no idea how he kept the same beat and rests for that many loops without some sort of instrumental background, but it was breathtaking. After he finished creating the song, he stopped, sat for a minute, stood, bowed, and walked off the stage. All while the song was still playing. There was a long pause from the crowd, partly because we were still listening to the song and staring at an empty stage, partly because we were all in awe, but also because we didn’t really know what to do. Once everyone realized he was actually done, he got the cheers and applause he deserved.

My one complaint from the entire weekend is that my good ole friend Jimmy did not play I Need a Forest Fire with Bon Iver (if you have not heard it yet, PLEASE, I beg you, give it a listen). I had been looking forward to hearing that song live essentially ever since it came out, and so for them to not play it together crushed all my hopes and dreams. If anyone knows why this magical live collaboration did not happen please enlighten me.

Overall, listening to James Blake make magic on stage as I was standing in the front row watching the rain pour down through the stage lights was easily my favorite moment of the festival. Surrounded by old friends and new friends, all collectively drenched yet still not wanting to be anywhere else, this experience will be one I won’t ever be able to recreate.

 

//

 

Vince Staples

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Holly Dockendorf

 

Vince Staples was by far my favorite surprise of the weekend. It was just by coincidence (a beer coincidence, actually) that we were by his stage as his set began.
Staples is one of those artists where you don’t need to know any of his songs or any of the words to jam out. His energy running around stage was infectious, and his banter with his DJ was highly entertaining. “Sorry for cursing and moving rapidly on this stage, I understand this is not that type of festival”, he mentioned at one point. He was not exactly wrong, but his extremely fun set was exactly the re-energizer everyone needed after several slower, more emotional performances.

 

//

 

Bon Iver

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Holly Dockendorf

 

This was the set everyone worldwide was waiting for. I was still reeling from front row rain filled James Blake set, and only had a meager ten minutes to prepare my mind, body, and soul for a life changing Bon Iver set.

As soon as he started playing, my mouth dropped open (are you sensing a trend?). I’ll have to wait until September 30th when the album comes out to give you my full musical opinion of the new music, but for now, I will say “22, A Million” still has the trademark Bon Iver sound, but with a new and interesting vibe.
Some songs are so full of instrumentals it’s difficult to distinguish everything, but together help to create a very full, well-rounded sound that build up so huge it shakes you to your core. There are also others that are so raw and emotional it’s hard not to get knocked with all the feelings.
The production of the set was incredible, with the banners and the lights and the people; there were 8 saxophone players on stage for a majority of the set, along with an appearance from the Staves and Bruce Hornsby. So much happened during his set that I barely remember the specifics; all I remember was a feeling of comfort and community and love.
One of my favorite quotes is, “people don’t remember what you said, they remember how you made them feel”, and that’s a great summarizer for this Bon Iver performance.

 

//

 

Francis and the Lights

 

Francis’ set was intensely entertaining; it seemed like he never stopped prancing around stage in a way that looked like half dancing and half being possessed by something not of this earth. Most of the songs sounded pretty much the same to me, but it’s hard to say whether that’s because it was my first time hearing everything or because he really does lack musical variety.

But we can get into what you really want to hear about. Surprise guest. Chance the Rapper. Francis and the Lights. Together. Summer Friends. It really was as magical and mind blowing as it sounds. I’m not even going to try and describe it for you; just know it was an experience beyond words.

BUT WAIT. It gets better. Once Summer Friends was over, the man, the myth, the legend Justin Vernon sauntered on stage to perform Friends with Francis, and the best part was Chance never left the stage. He had no part in the song whatsoever, but no one cared. He was just hanging out with his buds, while the entire time walking around performing the dance from the Friends music video. You could just tell everyone on stage was having a blast performing with each other, and that energy was infectious. I wouldn’t have wanted the festival to end any other way, and I don’t know if you’d find anyone who would disagree with me.

 

 

Video by: Holly Dockendorf

SonReal – Varsity Theater 07/21

Posted on by kustradio

A SonReal Experience
By: Elli Dubanoski

Only twenty-four hours earlier, SonReal had narrowly escaped serious injury or death after his tour bus blew a front tire, went airborne off-road, and landed three hundred meters into a Nebraska cornfield. But by the evening of July 21st, he had swapped out his totaled tour bus and was parked a block away from the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown.

All five of us, music writers and photographers, crammed in the back of the tour bus on a rounded couch to listen to SonReal’s soon-to-be-released EP, The Name. It was only five songs long and two of the tracks, “Can I Get A Witness” and “Soho”, had already been released and well received, especially in his home country of Canada.

Although I admit his previous music had failed to keep my attention for more than a couple plays, I was very impressed by the work on his new EP. The first track he played, “No Warm Up”, was upbeat, majorly genre crossing, and hard not to tap your foot to. According to SonReal, this song makes concert crowds get pretty out of hand.

The second song he played, “All I Got”, was impressive because it was a stripped down, acoustic song that exemplified his singing capabilities. SonReal claimed this to be his favorite but the hardest track on his EP to write because “everything about love has already been said”. Interestingly, Rahki, a producer of Kendrick Lamar who worked on “Institutionalized” and “i” for To Pimp A Butterfly, produced the track. Also, the fact that this track was partially inspired by Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” was admittedly a selling point for me.

The last track SonReal played for us was called “Hot Air Balloon”. Also produced by Rahki, it surprisingly samples part of the Full House theme song. It was during this song that SonReal stated that his “music now is semi-genreless” and I couldn’t agree more.

I can say that everyone who was in the back of that tour bus really seemed to enjoy the music that SonReal presented to us. I found myself surprised by how much SonReal has grown and become, in his words, more of a “commercialized” musician. He stated that although his music has changed quite a bit, he is confident this transition would continue to keep the interest of his fans while earning him new ones. I definitely find myself intrigued by what he will create next.

Photo cred: Gena Berendt

Tyler the Creator – First Avenue 06/07

Posted on by kustradio

I Survived a Tyler, the Creator Concert (…Almost)
By: Elli Dubanoski

On Tuesday, June 7th, I found myself waiting in the long line for the sold out Tyler, the Creator concert, ticket in hand. It was a purchase I had made due to the combination of the insistence of a friend and nostalgia for my not-so-rebellious rap filled high school years. Coming from a strict family, my high school years never got that much more defiant than when I used to hide rap CDs throughout my room from my parents.

When buying the ticket, I unfortunately failed to notice the show was “All Ages”. I think it’s fair to say that Tyler’s fans tend to be a very passionate group so I wasn’t looking forward to these traits being embodied in high schoolers and preteens.

Tyler, the Creator’s stage presence is best described as unexpectedly expected. He’s known for his crazy, larger-than-life personality that I had assumed was slightly exaggerated. But Tyler, the Creator is 100% everything you expect him to be and, seeing him in person, it isn’t hard to see why his concert was so popular. His intriguing personality and goofy demeanor make him charismatic. He performed his most popular songs from Cherry Bomb and Wolf, as well as older tracks such as “She” and “Yonkers”

After spending most of the concert being violently shoved around, coated in the stench of sweaty teenagers (surprisingly worse than it sounds), and acquiring bruises that I would find the next day, I was ready for the concert to end. By the time the last song was being performed, a combination of a lack of food and oxygen, smoke inhalation, and exhaustion had gotten the better of my friend and me who both ended up vomiting.

Although seeing Tyler, the Creator made me become physically ill after drowning in a crowd of excitable teenagers who exhibited an excessive amount of unsupervised craziness (except for the one boy who brought his dad), I’m still happy I went. Afterwards, still in a daze, I stated, “I would never be the same again.” I’m glad the post-Tyler, the Creator concert version of myself doesn’t make any major life decisions.