Heartless Bastards w/ Craig Finn at First Ave, Minneapolis (29 Jun 15)
It’s been three years since Heartless Bastards was in town, and as bassist Jesse Ebaugh noted, “Too dang long!”
The Cincinnati alternative rock band headlined First Avenue’s main stage in Minneapolis last night, in support of their latest album Restless Ones (Partisan).
Heartless Bastards Setlist
|
Craig Finn Setlist
|
Tour Dates
07/02 – Dallas, TX – Trees
07/24 – Newport, RI – Newport Folk Festival
09/09 – New Orleans – One Eyed Jacks
09/10 – Atlanta – Terminal West
09/11 – Asheville – The Orange Peel
09/12 – Washington DC – 930 Club
09/13 – Bearsville – Bearsville Theater
09/16 – Northampton – Pearl Street Downstairs
09/17 – Portland, ME- Port City Music Hall
09/18 – Boston – Paradise Rock Club
09/23 – Chicago – Metro
09/24 – Indianapolis – Deluxe
09/26 – Madison – Majestic
09/27 – Milwaukee – Turner Hall
09/29 – St Louis – Off Broadway
09/30 – Little Rock – Revolution Music Room*
10/16 – Marfa – El Cosmico
10/17 – Albuquerque – Launchpad
10/18 – Phoenix – Crescent Ballroom
10/19 – Solana Beach – Belly Up
10/20 – Pomona – Glass House
10/22 – Los Angeles – Fonda
10/23 – Calpine – Sierra Valley Lodge
10/24 – Napa – City Winery
10/25 – San Francisco – The Fillmore
10/27 – Vancouver – Venue
10/28 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
10/29 – Seattle – Neumos
10/30 – Missoula – Top Hat Lounge
10/31 – Boise – Neurolux
11/02 – Salt Lake City – Urban Lounge
11/03 – Denver – Bluebird Theater
11/04 – Boulder – eTown Hall
11/07 – San Antonio – Sam’s Burger Joint
11/21 – Austin – Mohawk
The Cincinnati alternative rock band headlined First Avenue’s main stage in Minneapolis last night, in support of their latest album Restless Ones (Partisan).
Helping Finn on this low-key acoustic tour was Arun Bali (Saves the Day), however throughout his set, he borrowed Heartless Bastards’ drummer Dave Colvin and bassist Jesse Ebaugh … and for this Minneapolis show, Lifter Puller’s Steve Barone joined Finn on stage to play “Mission Viejo”.
Finn talked about all his songs on his 40-min set, explaining that he’s never been to Modesto, California (“Modesto Is Not That Sweet”) or that “Extras” was a “touring song” (even though he specifically hated tour songs) or that “Western Pier” was his answer to “Knights In Satan Service” (KISS).
The rest of his set featured Hold Steady songs, and some tracks from his forthcoming sophomore album Faith In The Future (set for release September 11th, 2015), including “Maggie I’ve Been Searching For Our Son” and “Newmyer’s Roof”.
Finn ended his set with a very quiet song about “Dennis and Billy”, from New York.
With that record, we wrote that they drew heavy comparison to “the Black Keys and favorable mentions from alt-country heavyweights like Lucinda Williams.”
The contemporary blues rock band centers around singer/guitarist Erika Wennerstrom, who sounded a lot more epic rock as we just witness from her hour and fifty minute set last night.
My favorite moment during the show was Wennerstrom’s “Wind Up Bird” performance, where she outstretched her arms as if they were wings. The new song was followed by a pair of classic songs, “Only for You” and “Parted Ways”, both from 2012’s Arrow, which closed out their set.
As you can see from their setlist, with the exception of “Eastern Wind”, every song from their latest Restless Ones were played (“Gates of Dawn”, “Black Cloud”, “Journey”, “Hi-Line”, “Pocket Full of Thirst”, “The Fool”, “Into the Light”, “Wind Up Bird”, and “Tristessa”).
For the encore, they started with “Early In The Morning”, followed by “Nothing Seems the Same”. The latter had a long extended jam, and slowly, one by one, the band left Wennerstrom on stage… who remain to recite lyrics from “Tristessa” to a drowning drone noise and feedback from the remaining guitars.
Heartless Bastards’ fifth studio album Restless Ones is out now on Partisan.
The band is touring with Craig Finn until July 2nd at Trees in Dallas, Texas.
