Mutemath, w/ Paper Route at First Ave, Minneapolis (03 April 2016)

Since I last saw them, I may have complained about the dueling vocals of JT Daly and guitarist Andy Smith was hard for me to focus and hear what was being sung. Since 2010, Smith left the band, leaving JT as sole singer – and Paper Route reinvented themselves with new songs, including the hit “Better Life”, which was played midway in their set.

Before playing “Zhivago” (“a song about a doctor”), JT spotted a fan singing the lyrics to “You & I”. He had to take a moment and ask his name. It was James. You can tell that personally knowing their fan’s names meant a lot to the band.

Paper Route is currently touring and recording their upcoming album. It’s not exactly out yet, but they did preview the new single “Laugh About It” for us on their 45-min set.

As for Mutemath, they put on a very entertaining show. First the stage darkened and stage is filled with “starry” lights from the many LED lights. Singer Paul Meany emerged from a tall stage singing “Stratosphere”. That’s really a great entrance, as he’s later spending his time sitting down for the keyboard or using the keytar.

Many of their songs were specially synced to the LED lights, which visually was a lot of fun to watch. Midway in their set, Meany told us that about ten years ago, when they first recorded their debut album, they were practically begging people to check them out at the Fine Line Music Café via MySpace. From the bottom of his heart, he thanked those fans (some of them were in the audience, of course), and noted that his proudest moment was when they were hit with a power outage – that fans took over singing his song!
Even looking at their setlist (see photo), it shows a cartoon drawing of a Minnesota Viking football player. They have a bond with the city, and it shows.

Near the end of their set, they played a rather long instrumental after their hit single, “Reset”, and as they proceeded to playing “Typical”, a bed was brought out! It was placed over the crowd, and Meany ran and jumped on and ‘bed surf’ during the song. It was spectacular.

Of course, fans stuck around and chant for an encore… but it was a smart move to not follow on such a high note.

Mutemath’s latest album Vitals is out now on Wojtek.

Remaining tour dates: