The Suffers Setlist

Dutch
Midtown
Spottie / It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp (Three 6 Mafia cover)
Who’s Gonna Love You
Good Day
Slow It Down
Make Some Room
Gwan
Giver
Stay
Peanuts
— Encore —
Heat Wave / Please Mr. Postman (Martha and the Vandellas/ The Marvelettes covers)

Tour Dates

07/08 – Alive After Five Summer Concert Series
07/09 – Kent, WA @ Kent Summer Concert Series
07/11 – Seven Sisters Festival
07/12 – Ukiah, CA @ Sundays In The Park
07/16 – Big Sky, MT @ Thursdays in the Square
07/16 – 07/19 – Pemberton Music Festival
07/21 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
07/23 – Music On Main Victor City Park!
07/25 – Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival
07/29 – Madison Square Park Oval Lawn Series
08/01 – Cisco Grove, CA @ Guitarfish Festival
08/02 – Mammoth Festival of Beers
08/04 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
08/05 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy Theatre
08/06 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
08/08 – Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort Cool
08/09 – Snowbasin Blues Brews and BBQ
08/13 – KGSR’s Unplugged at the Grove
08/14 – Chautauqua, NY @ Chautauqua Amph
08/27 – Stickyz Rock N’ Roll Chicken Shack
08/28 – Columbia, MO @ Rose Music Hall
08/28 – 08/29 Davenport, IA @ River Roots Live
09/04 – 09/06 – Utopia, TX @ Utopiafest
09/12 – Denver, CO @ Tour De Fat
09/13 – LouFest Music Festival
09/18 – Downtown After 5 Asheville
09/19-09/20 – Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion
09/26-09/27 – Landmark Music Festival
10/2-10/4 Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL)

Summer is a great time for a road trip—

And if you’re taking a convertible down to the Gulf Coast, from Galveston to Muscle Shoals, an ideal soundtrack would be the ‘70s-inspired rock and soul sound of The Suffers, who brought along that feeling with them, in a joyful sixty minute set at 7^th Street Entry in Minneapolis.

The mystery of their show was how they would fit all ten members of the band onto the tiny stage, but all managed fine and delivered a rousing performance, perfect for any neo-retro soul fans of bands like Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Leon Bridges, and others.

The evening began with a straight ahead indie rock set from fellow Texans, The Heavenly States, a California-transplanted band led by Ted Nesseth, which rose from the ashes of his earlier punk-influenced Fluke Starbucker. Nesseth shared lead vocals alongside Genevieve Gagon on keyboards, who brought a polish with her elegant piano playing and softer vocals.

Though not seen much since 2011’s Delayer, the band recently self-released a limited three-LP vinyl called HISS and is currently working on other new music. The poignant lyrics of ‘Berlin Wall’ and melodies of ‘Madame Bovary’ made a distinct impression, with the band even going briefly into Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, with Nesseth threatening to “rickroll” the audience for the rest of the set. Look for the band on sporadic dates the remainder of the year.

Make Some Room is not only the title of the recent EP from The Suffers (on Rhyme and Reason Records), but was also the edict as the band and venue’s personnel tried to clear enough stage space for all ten members. With percussionists and guitarists wedged in back, and the horn section, keys and bass up front, the band managed to make it work and make the audience work a little too, during their hour-long set.

Singer Kam Franklin is parts Tina Turner/Britney Howard/Chaka Khan/Aretha Franklin, with a gospel power to vocally reach down and deliver their meld of rock, jazz, soul, Caribbean and Latin influences.

Singer Franklin made some room to make sure that the crowd knew who the band was, and where they were from on this, their first time in the state, by having everyone say the band’s name back to them, along with their hometown of Houston. Even songs like Three 6 Mafia’s ’It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp’ sounded completely fresh with the soul and horns re-invention.

Conga player Jose “Chapy” Luna threw down a wild solo, while trumpet player Jon Durbin and Jazz saxophonist Cory Wilson got loose on a funky moving ‘Who’s Gonna Love You’. ‘Good Day’ reached back to the reggae roots of the band (named from the 1978 Jamaican film, Rockers) and most songs flowed like a river, from one to the other.

‘Slow it Down’ worked in a line or two from The Fugees’ Ready or Not’ while ‘Gwan’, the song that brought the house down on one of the last David Letterman shows, is actually about preaching safe sex. ‘Giver’ was a soulful torch ballad about giving it all to a relationship, but it still not being enough, and the band was brought back to the stage for a single-song encore of Martha and the Vandella’s ‘Heat Wave’ and a reggae-tinged Marvelettes’ ‘Mr. Postman’.

With the retro-soul revolution in full swing, it would be great for some promoter to hold a “Midwest Soul Summit” with the likes of The Suffers, Milwaukee’s Kings Go Forth, and our own local Sonny Knight and The Lakers; but in the meantime, roll down the windows, glide down the road, and turn up the Gulf Coast soul.