Trampled By Turtles at First Ave, Minneapolis (4/10/10)

Trampled By Turtles – Wait So Long

Trampled By Turtles (aka TBT) had a very special two-day CD release shows for Friday and Saturday at First Ave, in Minneapolis.

For the first night, they were supported by The Devil Makes Three and Molly Maher. For the second night, which I attended, Maher was displaced by A Night in a Box. I suspect all the bands have some sort of bluegrassy and/or mountain folk music. From my understanding, I think you save a little bit if you bought tickets for both night, so a lot of people at Saturday’s show was also at Friday’s.

So, I will tell you one thing: bluegrass is huge here. One look at the very packed First Ave’s main dance floor and there’s no doubt. There was quite a mix of people too, from young to old folks and everything inbetween. The girls were hippies, the boys were bearded. All good.

I have never seen TBT before, but have heard from people that they are amazing live. I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest, but when the curtains were lifted to reveal five men sitting down with a variety of folk instruments (banjo, mandolin, fiddle, acoustic guitar, etc).

TBT basically did two sets during their show. The first part are basically their entire Palomino album played live. Since their album isn’t even officially released until April 13^th via Thirty Tigers/RED, I did notice that fans who haven’t heard the new material complaining that they didn’t know these songs.

Things pick up though, when the band started playing songs from their previous albums. I’ve never seen banjos and fiddles play so fast and hard for such an extended amount of time. And the crowd could not get enough of it. The slower songs did not inspire clapping and foot-tapping, but there are at least three dudes holding up their lighters…. which, incidentally, I’m assuming was what they used when the inevitable “herbs” were used.

While this sort of Bonaroo-type of music isn’t really my scene, I will confess that I had a pretty good time. I was only going to stick around in the front to take some close photos, but I ended up staying the whole set because the people around me were super nice.

Trampled By Turtles – First Ave, Minneapolis (4/10/10)

There’s a few funny moments, TBT said how on Friday’s show, some woman got so hot, she threw up her bra. This inspired another bra to be toss on stage. Then the girl in front me said, “I’m not wearing a bra, maybe I should take off my underwear“. That was not a Dear Penthouse letter, she said that. And if you’re wondering, she didn’t do the deed… and now you know the real reason why I didn’t leave the front.

TBT First Ave Star

The other thing TBT seemed really happy about was that First Ave gave them their own star! If you’ve ever been to First Ave, their walls are decorated with band names that played at the venue. Since there is a limited space, I think it’s semi-rare to get a new band on the wall-of-fame.

Anyway, TBT will be doing a national tour for Palomino. You can check out one of the new songs, “Wait So Long” as a free download by signing up on their mailing list via the official website.