Basilica Block Party Day1 at Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis (07 July 2017)

Brandi Carlile Setlist

1. The Things I Regret
2. Raise Hell
3. Again Today
4. The Eye
5. Keep Your Heart Young
6. My Song
7. Dreams
8. Amazing Grace (traditional /John Newton cover)
9. That Wasn’t Me
10. The Mother
11. Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover)
12. The Story
13. Turpentine
14. Going to California (Led Zeppelin cover)
    — Encore —
15. Wherever Is Your Heart
16. Mad World (Tears for Fears cover)

NEEDTOBREATHE Setlist

1. Great Night
2. Feet, Don’t Fail Me Now
3. No Excuses
4. Money & Fame / Whatta Man (Salt‐N‐Pepa cover) /band intros
5. Wanted Man
6. Drive All Night
7. Something Beautiful (acoustic)
8. Stand by Me (Ben E. King cover) (acoustic)
9. Lay ‘Em Down
10. Hard Love
11. The Outsiders
12. Brother

Friday, July 7

“Can I get a witness?!” How about 10,000+ of them—

On one of the best weather weekends of the year thus far, thousands descended on the grounds of The Basilica of Saint Mary in downtown Minneapolis for the annual two-day Basilica Block Party. 

The festival began in 1995 as a fundraiser to help pay for the structural restoration of The Basilica and today, proceeds from the event benefit The Basilica Landmark, which preserves, restores, and advances it for all generations. In addition, a portion of all proceeds go to The Basilica’s St. Vincent de Paul outreach program, which provides services to those in need.

Ten acts were spread across three stages for each night- the Main Stage (sponsored by Great Clips) located in a back lot behind the building along the highway, a Church Stage (sponsored by Preferred One) out front, and a smaller local stage (sponsored by Star Tribune) .

Star Tribune Stage

Nick Jordan opened the local stage, named the area Best R&B singer last year by City Pages and who has his latest EP, Dividends, due out next month, with a release show set for the 7^th St Entry on August 4. Jordan has a polished sound that melds r&b, funk, soul, and house, and is compelling live.

Jaedyn James & The Hunger followed, a South Minneapolis sprawling 10-piece funk love soul group in its third year, and who released their debut, RAW, in 2016.

Night Moves is a stalwart on the local scene, having formed in 2009 and still headed by the duo of John Pelant and Micky Alfano. The group’s latest Pennied Days has also spawned an EP, Carl Sagan-The Pennied Days Sessions (Domino Records) with UK tour dates upcoming for the slow groove, cosmically twangy group.

Preferred One Stage

Cobi, a Grand Marais, MN native who was once in the Boston indie-pop band Gentleman Hall opened the day’s entertainment on this front stage, notable for sloped grassy areas, where fans could watch casually.  The bluesy singer released a buzzworthy single, ‘Don’t You Cry for Me’ last year, along with follow up, ‘Prophet Story’, ahead of a more full-length release and his loyal local fans gave his trio a warm reception. 

Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness has seemed to fully shed his past successes as frontman for Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate, gaining even greater acclaim in this latest musical venture.  The pianist had the crowd with him from his beginning hit, ’Fire Escape’ and is in support of sophmore effort, Zombies on Broadway (Vanguard Records), released in February.

The Shins were among the most anticipated acts to see of the weekend, and the Portland band didn’t disappoint with a ninety-minute set supporting Heartworms (Columbia Records) released in March, and their first in five years.  Playing just under half the new album, the band re-acquainted themselves with their audience, playing a diverse mix from their four other full-lengths as well, and any fears there were to some rust to shake off, (in terms of live performance) were quickly dismissed.

Great Clips Stage

The Roosevelts opened the main stage on a night that featured an Americana lineup as the Nashville-band played a short harmonic rock set with 70’s vocal influences, in support of 2016’s self-released The Greatest Thing You’ll Ever Learn and who returns to the area for an Aug. 5^th fundraising appearance in nearby Hastings.  

John Paul White (better known as formerly one-half of folk duo The Civil Wars) was next, White coming out first alone, commenting “If you’re wearing a suit, then you’re warm” in the late afternoon sun.  The singer and his band are out in support of last year’s Beulah (self-released on Single Lock Records via RED Distrib), an effort he said first had no intention of doing, though the songs were forcing their way out of him.

White’s quiet and mostly sad songs seemed a little out of place on a festival’s big outdoor stage next to a highway (“that’s a first”, he quipped), but for the patient and attentive, the dividends were abundant. Highlights included ‘Simple Song’ (about his grandfather and from a Southern Family compilation) and covers of ‘Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold)’ (by Dan Seals, but which he teased was by Luke Bryan) and his set-closing slow burn of ELO’s “Can’t Get It Out of My Head’.

NEEDTOBREATHE is a South Carolina band we’ve covered several times in the last couple years, and continues to impress us live as they get bigger and more well known, in support of last year’s Hard Love (Atlantic Records), which is soon to reissue with even more content.  The Christian leaning rock band led by the Rinehart brothers (Bo and Bear) is best seen in their own full headlining set, but even in a truncated outdoor festival appearance, treats the show as if they were in a sold-out arena. 

Opening with ‘Good Night’ set the tone for a stomping good hour-long set and following with that ‘Feet, Don’t Fail Me Now’ kept momentum in high gear.  The audience was more secular this night, though several still held hands on high, during many of their more spiritual songs.  The Rinehart’s middle two-song acoustic set made for a nice change, starting with ‘Something Beautiful’, the song successful enough to “get us out of a van and into a bus”. Finishing with the anthems, ‘The Outsiders’ and ‘Brother’, this was a band with enough poise and stage presence to easily headline the night.

BRANDI CARLILE remains such a musical fixture here, she considers it a second home (“it’s good to be back in my home-away-from-home!”, she exclaimed).  She and her Seattle-based band (featuring as always, twins Tim and Phil Hanseroth) is in support of her own latest, The Firewatcher’s Daughter (ATO Records) and Cover Stories (Legacy Recordings), a compilation of other artists covering songs from 2007’s The Story.  “We’ve all been together for such a long time, us and you, haven’t we?” she gushed, ever impressed by the positive outpouring from the local crowd during her ninety-minute set. 

‘Keep Your Heart Young’ was actually written in town by Tim Hanseroth and caused a sing-a-long, ‘Dreams’ took us back to her busking days at Pike Place Market, ‘The Mother’ was written with her young daughter in mind, and a Johnny Cash cover kept the crowd clapping along with fever (“you guys are taking years off my life”, Carlile expressed).

Though deviating slightly from the setlist, a couple of covers helped close the evening, including a sparse take on Led Zeppelin’s ‘Going to California’ to end the main set, and John Paul White coming back to help sing their cover of Tears for Fears’ ‘Mad World’, a subtle statement on the current world state of affairs and a low-key version that sounded part TFF/ part Gary Jules.