Oh hey there,
It’s a rockin’ Fall around here. Do tours make their Midwest stops in the Fall to avoid the Winter snow? Or maybe to avoid the holiday. Or maybe to avoid Summer festivals. No matter the reason, shows get piled on top of each other. Good thing I live only 10 minutes from Downtown Minneapolis.
On another note, is it just me, or does buying a resale ticket feel shameful? Like, I guess I’m not as enthusiastic of a fan because I didn’t snatch a ticket the minute they went on sale, and because I didn’t, do I even like them enough to justify buying a ticket? That was me with Magdalena Bay last week, but I’m glad I went. Read more about that below. Did you know they tax resale tickets? I didn’t.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard @ The Armory
Ah, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, a band that once interested me so much that I paid at least $10 to watch a recording of their live performance. Well good news, the band’s current tour is live streaming every show on YouTube for free.
For those who wanted to see the Australia-based band in person, the Minneapolis tour stop was at the Armory. Huge confession: I hate kinda hate the Armory, especially when majority of the majority of the crowd is masc, and it’s near impossible for a lil 5’5” me to see anything on stage. By that’s a me issue and has nothing to do with the Aussie rockers’ performance. I submitted and headed toward the back side-ledge to peak around people. And thank god because how else would I have seen Stu Mackenzie flail is tongue while kneeling and strumming blaring riffs with his guitar behind his head in his pink jumpsuit.
King Gizzard shows are for the superfans. Someone not extensively familiar with their 26 albums spanning across the genre spectrum may tire from the 40-minute collaborative DJ set in which the band members circled around a synth table. But for the people who could recognize the intricate details — like how the bands blends motifs of songs into others (e.g. reusing the “Hypertension” refrain during the “Am I In Heaven?” later) — the unpredictable nature of the show must have been fascinating.
The experimental kinda post-punk, kinda alt-country opener Geese was pretty cool, too. I say a little more about them in my review.
Mon Rovîa @ Fine Line
It’s not often I see an artist who I’m not familiar with, but I gotta try something new now and again, so I headed down to Fine Line with a friend to see what the folk singer-songwriter who rose from TikTok, Mon Rovîa (aka Janjay Lowe), is all about. Lowe’s stage name comes from his birthplace, Monrovia, Liberia, which he talked about in monologues between soulful, folky songs.
The “HEAL WITH OTHERS” tour is Lowe’s first headlining tour, and he seems to just be getting his footing and introducing himself to fans. He told stories of moving around the U.S. after leaving Liberia during the country’s civil war and now residing in Tennessee — the reason why he uses the term “Afro-Appalachian folk” for his music.
Lowe strapped a ukulele to his chest for the entirety of the show and stood steadily in the center of the stage with no props the entire night. A guitarist and keyboard player accompanied to add more depth to his string picking. The artist has noted Bon Iver (aka Justin Vernon) as an influence, and the inspiration is clear. Just think the delicate opening chords of “Skinny Love” — but without the soft nuance of Vernon’s lyricism and rich woodsy sounds.
Lowe projected an optimistic “we’re all in this together” energy throughout the evening and referenced philosophers: He recited a James Baldwin quote about remembering our lives are interconnected and talked about “The Myth of Sisyphus“ by Albert Camus. It was a bit (pretty) cheesy. But he did share very personal origins of songs, like “Cleopatra” about searching for light amidst depression and “Damn These Forces” about a friend who died of cancer.
My favorite moment of the night was Lowe’s reminder: “Time is the most generous gift you can give someone.”
Magdalena Bay @ First Avenue
Some shows’ energy is a bit thanks to the visuals in the background. (See the following show recap.) However, despite have carefully designed lighting and props, Magdalena Bay’s performance style carried the entertainment value. It was difficult to take eyes off of lead vocalist Mica Tenenbaum as she played a keytar, moved gracefully up and down a platform at the front of the stage, and changed outfits about five times. The group’s co-producer, Matthew Lewin, once took to the platform to display his spacey guitar lines like those on the 2024 album, Imaginal Disk. Dreamy synths drifted in the background along with a cyclical drum pattern to create a whimsical atmosphere and embrace pop formalistic hooks.
But should we call it “pop”? Because of the band’s distance from the pop charts, Lewin told The Line of Best Fit, “I think what would be a positive thing is if we start to be seen less as a pop group and more like an ‘alternative’ group.” We could say “left-field” pop, but the First Avenue performance often came off equally as a campy electronic-groove-rock show — “campy” as in theatrical, but not cheesy. After all, a character with a star mask covering their face appeared to pretend to cut (and kill?) Tenenbaum while she sat in a chair.
The group ended with “The Beginning,” and not just because of the title made it an ironic track placement: The chorus gave the crowd a chance jump around playfully. Tenenbaum sang, “So if you feel low, sit back, enjoy the show / Like a kaleidoscope in technicolor tonight / So if you feel low, sit back, enjoy the show / Like a kaleidoscope in technicolor tonight,” to offer an optimistic goodbye.
P.S. Rest in peace to the opportunity to hear “Top Dog” live.
Royel Otis w/Friko - First Avenue
I can’t lie: I gasped when Otis Pavlovic, lead vocalist for Royel Otis said, “This is our second time in St. Paul.” I’ll give him a pass because I can’t name more than three cities in the band’s home country of Australia. Another thing I can’t lie deny; his energy, along with that of the other half of the duo, guitarist Otis Maddell, didn’t quite match the bouncy, upbeat tempos of the songs. If you ate up Passion Pit’s “Take a Walk” in 2012, or now (no judgement, it’s a lowkey banger!), you would probably enjoy Royel Otis’ catalog. Dan Carey — who has produced for some of the my favorite UK up and comers (Squid, black midi, etc.) — produced their debut album, PRATTS & PAIN, and edged the band away from possible pastiche. Hell yeah, Dan.
The indie-pop rockers’ most streamed songs are “Linger” by the Cranberries and “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, so of course that’s when the phones soared overhead and people sang along. The keyboardist and synth player Tim Ayre cheerily waved a tambourine over his head and lit a cigarette for “Linger.” It’s kind of a weird vibe when an audience is the most enthusiastic about songs the artists didn’t even write, and I wonder if that makes Pavlovic and Maddell feel limited. I elaborated a bit more in the review.
Then there was the Chicago-based opener Friko. I don’t have much more to say then what I wrote for The Current, but the main takeaway was the group — especially the lead localist Niko Kapetan — had an infectious energy that backed up their already explosive music. Hopefully we’ll get a sophomore album sooner than later!
I’m listening to:
Some more (hopefully) crazyyyy shows coming soon. Peace out!