The Hard Rock Cafe threw quite a party October 22nd to celebrate its return to the Twin Cities at Mall of America. VIP guests and contest winners were invited into the well decorated multi-level restaurant to enjoy food, drink and a live performance by Morris Day & The Time. Other highlights included a ceremonial guitar smash matched with a $1,500 donation to MusicLink. In the Hard Rock’s spirit of giving back, the event included a $10,000 donation to Hope Chest for Breast Cancer. The restaurant located inside Nickelodeon Universe demonstrated their kitchen is capable of putting together some tasty cuisine and the staff was friendly and attentive making this a location worth checking out. Continue Reading
White stage lights streamed horizontally over a sea of heads, silhouettes stealthily moved and found their places, 18,000 voices exploded in greeting, and Eddie Vedder seemingly floated to the front and raised a bottle of wine to return that greeting. Without a word, the “Pendulum” started to swing with the tapping of a hi-hat and a soft haunting resonating from piano keys. Vedder’s voice, deep and melancholy, slowly pushed forth the words “Can’t know what’s high, ‘Til you’ve been down so low” and space was taken up by the entrancing tone produced by his vocal chords.Eight years has passed since fans have experienced the presence of the giant that is Pearl Jam, and it was certainly worth the wait (11 years if you discount them opening for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers). With a meaty 32-song set lasting just over three hours at the Xcel Energy Center, the band opened its vast catalog and played from over two decades’ worth of material.Following “Pendulum,” they kept the mood somber for two more songs with “Release” and “Nothingman.” Then, the room exploded. “Go,” with its fierce tempo, came charging out of the gate like a young racehorse, followed by an equally aggressive “Life Wasted.” Fist-pumping fans sang along and the energy from 18,000 people matched that of the energy produced by the six musicians on stage.With minimal lighting and production, Pearl Jam proved they didn’t need anything other than their talent. They not only played the songs they are so well known for like “Even Flow,” “Last Kiss,” and “Daughter,” they covered nearly every era of their illustrious career. Continue Reading
Sunday night October 19th may have been family concert night at St. Paul’s River Center where parents could have been reliving their passion for 90s grunge rock at the Xcel Energy Center with Pearl Jam, while the kids where next door at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium going crazy for the new sound of their generation courtesy of British rocker’s Bastille. The band’s solid debut album Bad Blood has lit up the charts and earned them more than 2 million likes on Facebook including Late Night with Seth Meyers and Conan O’Brien.Frontman Dan Smith led the charge with good energy often beating a drum or jumping up and down while still managing to deliver a good vocal performance. The set started out strong with “Things We Lost in the Fire” and contained other standouts including “Bad Blood,” “Flaws” and their show closing big hit “Pompeii.”Supporting act Grizfolk was a good match musically to lead off the show with a well-received effort.Coverage of issues and events that affect Central Corridor neighborhoods and communities is funded in part by a grant from Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading
It’s fun going into a show with no expectations. That’s what happened Friday, October 17 when I went to go photograph The Rural Alberta Advantage. I had only listened to a couple of their songs, as I was only recently introduced to them by a girl that I like and she was going to the show. So, my nautral reaction was to go with her and I figured at the very least I would come out of it with a few good photos, and perhaps impress her with my camera skills and awkward dancing in a very crowded room at the same time in the hopes she’d want to see me again. I was blown away. Continue Reading
Mayor Chris Coleman welcomed the crowd to Real Phonic Radio at the James J Hill Reference Library Thursday, October 16. And I have to say, our Mayor is a good sport, reading in the usual iireverant appraoch of regular spokesman, Thom MIddlebrook. He astutely observed that while we had enough entertainment for three shows in Minneapolis, it was all hitting one stage in St Paul— as it does every third Thursday.Headlining the night was Love Over Gold, which is the combined talents of Pieta Brown, from Iowa and Lucie Thorne, originally from Tasmania, Australia. Both are singers, song writers and guitar players. Upon quick brush they seem alike— both attractive women with pretty voices who sing with a folksy Americana twang. Continue Reading
When I arrived at Myth in Maplewood on October 16, I was completely worn out. I was dead tired from a long day, feeling the first symptoms of a cold coming on, and finding myself more or less in a state of mind that was probably completely the opposite of what I should have had heading into The Glitch Mob show. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, slightly grumpy, and more than a little ready to be annoyed.But oh my, did that show ever kick me right out of that stupor. The Glitch Mob, The M Machine, and Chrome Sparks absolutely crushed Myth with a dynamic and energetic show from beginning to end that was more than enough to take a sickly, exhausted 30-something and send him back into the night hyped and ready to go.It’s just too bad the night they sent me back into was a Thursday.Chrome Sparks opened the show at 8 pm and instantly I was sucked into their sweet, sweet sound. Call it the onset of a fever, but my brain instantly leapt to two completely nonsensical yet unshakeable observations: First, that their sound was something like Röyksopp’s Melody A.M met a bit of the 16-bit glory days of Nobuo Uematsu, and second, (and the one that makes the least amount of sense), that if Paul Verhoeven were to have made Starship Troopers today, these guys would have been the ones playing in the background of the prom scene.I know. Nonsensical fever thought. Continue Reading
Home grown phenom, funk rocking vocalist-songsmith par excellence Mayda (www.imaydasong.com) has star power stamped all over her in block letters. She has, in fact, ever since her debut Stereotype was released in 2008, continuing to consistently impress with The Interrogation, Tusks ‘N’ Fur and, now, Busy Signals. Her upcoming performance at the New Century Sessions series, smack dab in the middle of downtown Minneapolis, should go a respectable way toward sustaining momentum and establishing just the sort of next-step, high-profile traction she deserves around these parts.
On Wednesday, October 15 The Gaslight Anthem played at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Coverage of issues and events that affect Central Corridor neighborhoods and communities is funded in part by a grant from Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading
The Mississippi Valley Orchestra is beginning its 39th season with a wonderful concert featuring Artistic Director Henry Charles Smith and MN Orchestra associate principal oboist, John Snow, on Sun
