Soul Asylum at Down in the Valley in-store, Golden Valley, MN (21 Apr 2018)

Finishing its eleventh year, Record Store Day has become more popular than ever, and in the case of most established stores, their biggest sales-volume day of the entire year. 

Most independent stores organize day-long events for the occasion and buyers/collectors have a chance to purchase limited run, mostly vinyl editions of sought-after titles and re-issues. 

One such release was the limited-to-3000 edition of Live from Liberty Lunch, Austin TX December 3, 1992 (Legacy Recordings) – a previously unreleased recording that captured longtime alternative band Soul Asylum in concert, just after the release of their breakthrough album, Gravedigger’s Union. 

To help celebrate, singer/songwriter Dave Pirner called local record store Down in the Valley, to arrange a special acoustic set on the evening of Record Store Day.  Customers who bought the vinyl release, were allowed first in, via a priority line, while the overflow of non-buyers filled another, until the store capacity of 150 people, was filled. 

Pirner brought along current guitarist Ryan Smith and friend Liz on stand-up bass, for a forty-minute performance, punctuated by Pirner’s usual dry wit between songs.  “Half off all rolling papers” Pirner jokingly announced ahead of the set, looking around at the store’s departments, eyeing the smoking section across the room. 

The set started with ‘Get On Out’ (also on the live recording) with Pirner espousing his admiration for record retail- “I love record stores – let’s keep ‘em all in business”, he said ahead of 2006’s ‘Lately’.  After the song (and in Pirner form) he plugged not the Soul Asylum album, but that of friend Kraig (Run Westy Run, Jayhawks) Johnson, who had just released a record himself. 

The set continued, not with songs from the release or with just hits, but with clearly what Pirner wanted to play, carnival barking after a rustic ‘Farmer John’, that his next in-store sale would be “two-for-one bongwater”, again eyeing the smoking accessories. 

After reaching all the way back to 1986’s ‘Never Really Been’, Pirner wondered aloud if the store sold any Bob Marley posters (duh!) then played the familiar opening chords of biggest hit, ‘Somebody to Shove’.

The trio concluded with the store owner’s favorite Soul Asylum song, ‘Misery’ – “it tells you something about what it’s like to own a record store”, Pirner chuckled. 

Soul Asylum next gears up for a busy spring and summer, playing a few shows themselves before joining on to the Three Doors Down / Collective Soul tour that will take them into bigger venues and outdoor amphitheaters.  But, for the lucky few in Minneapolis on this collector’s holiday, it was a chance to get up close and personal, with a local band with over three decades of history. 

(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)