Surfer Blood Setlist

Neighbor Riffs
Grand Inquisitor
Floating Vibes
Weird Shapes
Miranda
Voyager Reprise
Island
Covered Wagons
Take It Easy
Feast – Famine
Gravity
Dorian
Swim
Demon Dance
I Can’t Explain
— Encore —
Say Yes to Me
Anchorage

Tour Dates

05/27: Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room
05/28: St. Louis, MO @ Firebird
05/29: Cincinnati, OH @ Fountain Square
05/30: Nashville, TN @ Exit In
06/08: San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
06/10: Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
06/11: Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Cafe
06/12: Vancouver, BC @ Venue Nightclub
06/13: Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett
06/15: Provo, UT @ Velour Live Music Gallery
06/16: Denver, CO @ Lost Lake Lounge
06/19: Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
06/20: San Diego, CA @ The Irenic
06/25: Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
06/26: Charlotte, NC @ Fountain Plaza
06/27: Athens, GA @ Georgia Theater
07/11: Columbus, OH @ Seventh Son Brewing Co.
07/17: Rehoboth Beach, DE @ Dogfish Head
07/18: Frederick, MD @ Flying Dog Brewery

In their sixth year of touring, Florida’s Surfer Blood stopped by Minneapolis/St Paul eight times (their third time at the 7th Street Entry) according to Songkick*.

They’ve been here so many times, that according to singer John Pitts, their guitarist Kevin Williams celebrated his birthday in Minneapolis twice!

Montreal’s Alex Calder opened up the show, slightly later than advertised set time. Joining Calder on stage was big Minnesota Twins fan bassist Thomas Holmes and drummer Collin.

The trio played tracks that sounded weirdly unconventional, reminded me of the way Pavement would change rhythm and off-beat lyrics. The best track they played was the penultimate song, which had a few minutes of instrumental intro before the lyrics kicked in.

A lot of the fans at the 7th Street Entry show had seen Surfer Blood plenty of time… Many of them were holding the band’s latest 1000 Palms on 12″ vinyl. This was my fifth time seeing the band, so I already knew what to expect from the band: lots of fun, great vocals, and plenty of singing in the audience.

About half the set were devoted to 1000 Palms (“Grand Inquisitor”, “Island”, “Covered Wagons”, “Feast – Famine”, “Dorian”, and “I Can’t Explain”), with the remaining from their two previous albums Astro Coast (2010) and Pythons (2013).

As usual, Pitts’ vocals were in top form, and his audience-invading act started late into their set, starting with “Feast – Famine” and would continue with “Gravity” and “I Can’t Explain”. Prior “Gravity”, with the announcement of Kevin Williams’ birthday, the audience started singing “Happy Birthday To You”.

After the set finale “I Can’t Explain”, the venue music started playing, indicating that it was the end of the show… however enough shouts for “Encore!” were heard that the band came back to play their most popular song, “Say Yes to Me”, followed by a song about a town in Alaska, “Anchorage”. Near the end of the latter song, the band left John Pitts by himself on stage, doing special feedback and noise effects to close out the song.

Surfer Blood’s latest 1000 Palms is out now on Joyful Noise Recordings.

* NOTE: According to Songkick, these are the MN dates that Surfer Blood stopped by Minneapolis or St Paul. I have also linked to the shows we covered:

May 26, 2015 7th Street Entry
Oct 09, 2014 Turf Club (with We Are Scientists)
Oct 13, 2013 Triple Rock Social Club
May 20, 2013 First Avenue (with Foals)
Oct 13, 2010 Varsity Theater
Apr 08, 2010 7th Street Entry
Nov 09, 2009 Triple Rock (with Art Brut)
Sep 16, 2009 7th Street Entry (with Wavves)