Flashback: Annuals at Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (13 June 2008)

Setlist

Intro Complete, or Completing Confessor Around Your Nevk Sway Sore Springtime Down the Mountain Carry Around Ease My Mind Brother Hot Night Hounds

Tour Dates

We saw Adam Baker’s band Annuals when they stopped by the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis on June 13, 2008. The band was based out of North Carolina… but as of September 2013, they relocated to Los Angeles. Since the move, Baker was forced to replace the entire band with new band members.

Trivia: Annuals’ song “Fair” appeared on the January 24, 2007 episode of Veronica Mars (“Show Me the Monkey”).

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It’s been a very long time since I attended an all ages show, which started quite early. The opening band was South Dakota’s We All Have Hooks For Hands, with a very large cast of members including: 2 drummers, 2 guitarist, 2 trumpets/ keys, 1 acoustic/ singer, 1 violin, and 1 bass (he was pretty awesome to watch).

The large assembly reminded me of Broken Social Scene, but the singing made me think of very early Flaming Lips. They seem to have a great time on stage, especially when they jammed together three songs.

 

It wasn’t long before Annuals took the stage, and I ran into Greg (you’ll have to forgive me as I have poor memory and didn’t recognize him). He told me that Annuals was originally a side project of Sunfold, but it seems somehow that they’ve overtaken the original band as far as being successful. Said he interviewed Kenny a few years back.

They seem pretty comfortable on stage, despite having a few issues with the mics not working (this is the soundboard’s fault). As usual, the lights (I think these are handled by Varsity staffer, Erik) is wonderful and the venue’s atmosphere is pretty laid back (especially because there are chairs and couches all around).

As you can see from the set list, it was a short set, and there was no encore. This is normal when you consider that there is another band/event starting right afterward… besides, for their last song, “Hot Dog”, they seem to have exhausted themselves in an explosive finale.

Catch the Annuals on what’s left of their tour, their Wet Zoo EP is out right now. You can try to win a copy from their contest.

Update: Below are four selected photographs from Drew and Sarah.