Brett Dennen at Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis (07 June 2016)

Firekid

Firekid (stylized as firekid), who opened up the show, is led by singer/songwriter Dillon Hodges from Alabama. Their self-titled album came out in 2015 on Atlantic Records.



When the band took the stage, Dillion jumped into ‘Movin’ On’, a wonderful little tune that got the crowd going.
Firekid is very good and the music is very upbeat, good performer. At one point during the set, Heidi, the keyboardist, plugs into what appears to be a Gameboy DS. It’s a video game song time for a few quick cover songs, and the best of that one was ‘I’m Blue’ – a crowd jumping pleasing song.



The highlight for the crowd was ‘Boomerang’ and ‘Lay by Me’, two really good songs that went over well with the crowd.
There was another point in the show where the band had a chuckle with the song ‘Americana Dream’ and the part about the tambourine. After a slight delay for their final song ‘Die For Alabama’, the band turned the song lyrics to ‘Die For Minnesota’!



The balanced mix of electronica with guitar and drums were well crafted and a show worth watching. Over all, very good music and a wonderful performance, I would recommend seeing them the next time they come to town.



We’ve been writing about Brett Dennen since 2007, when we wrote, “Dennen’s style fits comfortably in the pocket of mainstream folk nouveau, with shades of jam band gaiety (minus the ability to inspire shirtless hackysack). He’s been compared to Jack Johnson and has toured with John Mayer, two musicians that once dominated Top 40 radio but have steadily declined in cultural relevance, occasionally re-emerging as background noise on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy or as man-candy for B-list pop starlets.”



Currently, Dennen is on a national tour, promoting his sixth full-length album Por Favor (New Elektra), and drew in a very good crowd on Tuesday night’s show at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis..



Brett Dennen is a man with a lot of charisma. He came out bare feet and was just floating with energy. He had the crowd dancing and singing on cue. You can feel his emotion that he poured into these songs, and it was a lot of fun.



Talking with the crowd before show some fans who have previously seen him, they said that they liked his songs because they are meaningful and were heartfelt. A good example of can be found on ‘She’s Mine’.



For the encore, Brett came out to play two songs solo, and I think the crowd influenced him to play ‘Heaven’, it was pure magic.



Por Favor is out now, Dennen continues his tour: