Flashback: Cold War Kids at the Fine Line Cafe, Minneapolis (10 Oct 2008)

Once again, we find ourselves at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis to see Cold War Kids on October 10, 2008. It was sold out, and an odd pairing with AA Bondy. These acts sound nothing alike.

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I think Lara and Kate have the right idea when they expressed their hate for the Fine Line Cafe. The way it’s set up, it’s in a long rectangle with terrible viewing – that is unless you’re near the front. There’s also overhead giant pipes that makes it hard to see if you’re rich enough to afford a table upstairs (I was told it was a minimum of $25 per person per seat if you choose to get a table).

So, this Cold War Kids‘ show on October 10^th, was sold out. Lots of younger-looking, er, youths, but there is the odd retired guys (!) and the rude professional photographer. Oh, let me also mention that despite having a photo pass, it was ultimately useless as the Fine Line does not offer any sort of safe haven for photographers.

 

I was kind of surprise to see that AA Bondy was the opening act. Clearly his Americana/folksy/rootsy music sounds nothing like CWK’s sound of energetic youth indie rock! Still, playing in front of several sold-out shows, might help spread words around – even though the audience wasn’t there for him.

It was a bonus for me, as I did review American Hearts last year and seeing the songs played live. Some highlights was when he said he was going to do a whole Christian song right before “Vice Rag” (the opening line was “sweet, sweet cocaine“). The set was pretty low-key until Dylan, I mean Bondy went electric with the last two songs, “Killed Myself When I Was Young” and “American Hearts”.

Cold War Kids storm the stage with two piano-driven songs (“Every Valley is Not a Lake” and “We Used to Vacation”), before singer Nathan Willett took center stage. What’s kind of interesting to note is that most of their set, they were backlit, which makes for impossible photography without the aid of the flash.

Speaking of flash, during “Robbers”, the lights was almost turned off and the smoke machine worked overtime to show off the flashlights they had brought on tour. I’m sure this sounds stupid, but it was pretty cool to witness.

The audience loved all their hits, especially this one, “Hang Me Up to Dry”.