The Sounds at Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis (18 Nov 2016)

The Sounds Setlist

Song With a Mission Queen of Apology Tony the Beat 24 Hours Painted by Numbers Night After Night Ego Hurt You Much Too Long Running Out of Turbo No One Sleeps When I’m Awake 4 Songs & A Fight Thrill Mine For Life The Best of Me Shake Shake Shake Living in America Dorchester Hotel — Encore — Rock & Roll Hope You’re Happy Now

My Jerusalem Setlist

Young Leather It’s Torture! Born In The Belly Done And Dusted Rabbit Rabbit No One Gonna Give You Love Dominoes

Swedish indie rock band The Sounds is currently on their Anniversary tour for Dying To Say This To You, undoubtedly their breakthrough smash hit record. The band stopped by the Fine Line Music Café on Friday, November 18th.

 

Despite the first snowstorm of the year, it did not discourage fans from showing up early and enjoying Austin’s My Jerusalem (featuring vocalist Jeff Klein, guitarist Jon Merz, drummer Grant Van Amburgh, and bassist Kyle Robarge). Although the band started in 2009, a rough “opening night” at SXSW, and becoming “buzzworthy” from AOL/Spinner and Apple… the band chose not to play any old songs on their limited set. Instead, they decided to play everything from their new album A Little Death, save for only ‘Born In The Belly’ taken from their previous record Preachers.

For their song finale, singer Jeff Klein spent the entirely of that song walking and singing in the audience, making for a satisfying ending. After their set, drummer Grant Van Amburgh held up a giant photo of Prince, to pay tribute to the late singer who put Minneapolis on the music map of the world.

 

Next up was Los Angeles’ Zipper Club… at their very first Minneapolis show. That is not hard to believe as this is a very, very new band, featuring Mason James (from Cerebral Ballzy), Lissy Trullie (solo artist), and drummer
Damar Davis.

Although they only have two singles (their debut ‘Going the Distance’ and ‘Small Town’), the band had already impressed fans as opener on a number of dates for Tears For Fears and their single ‘Going the Distance’ was the #1 Most Added title this summer.

Their 9-song, 40-min set, featured mostly unreleased songs from their future James Iha-produced debut record, so we couldn’t actually tell you what their official titles were… but songs were pretty upbeat, but had dark themes of running, breathing, talking, and “no regrets”.

To keep it fresh and interesting, their entire set was filled with a custom light show, often showcasing the band’s logo in the background.

 

We’ve seen The Sounds (Maja Ivarsson, Félix Rodríguez, Johan Bengtsson, Jesper Anderberg, Fredrik Blond) a few times, but last week’s Anniversary show was absolutely their best show yet. Somehow, the band faithfully reproduced their entire Dying to Say This to You live, and it sounded exactly like it does on the recording.

Perhaps this was because the year prior, when they were promoting Living in America, the band racked up nearly 500 live shows leading up to their debut. With all the touring, the band learned a few tricks about writing songs that sounded great live, and as a result, Dying to Say This to You sounded as if it was written with that intent. The band spent than half of their 200 shows in America, and so the striking cover photo by singer Maja Ivarsson, was just a glimpse of how the Sounds spent their year in 2006.

Even though the record is now 10 years old, hearing the songs again still sounded as exciting and fresh as we heard the record many years ago. Even Ivarsson admitted that they miss playing some of these songs and show loved it when fans sing back these beloved songs.

After the ten songs, clocking in at nearly 40 minutes, the band resumed with various songs from their other albums, including the title track to Living in America.

Absolutely this is The Sounds’ at their finest and you must not miss this Anniversary show, if they come by your area.

Remaining tour dates:

11.27 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall 11.28 Washington, DC The 9:30 Club 11.29 Toronto, ON Mod Club 12.1 Asbury Park, NJ The Stone Pony 12.3 Atlanta, GA Masquerade 12.4 New Orleans, LA House of Blues 12.6 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey 12.7 Austin, TX Emo’s 12.9 El Paso, TX Tricky Falls

12.10 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theater 12.11 San Diego, CA House of Blues 12.13 Los Angeles, CA Belasco Theatre 12.14 Los Angeles, CA Belasco Theatre 12.15 Santa Ana, CA Observatory OC 12.16 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues 12.18 San Francisco, CA Fillmore 12.19 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre 12.20 Seattle, WA Showbox