Algiers at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (29 Mar 2023)

Atlanta (by the way of London) Algiers returned to the 7th Street Entry, in Minneapolis, last night, March 29th.



Opening the show was Sydney’s Party Dozen, a sax & drums duo (saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and percussionist Jonathan Boulet). You don’t get too many sax-led bands… in fact, the last double sax & drum band we saw was Moon Hooch in 2016, and they were a blast.



Party Dozen was a lot of fun, it was their first time in Minneapolis. It was unbearably cold for them, yet, they were still extremely grateful for Algiers to “take a chance on this ol’ sax & drum band.”



They played their hearts out in a darkened room with occasional bulb flashes… even if Kirsty’s sax mic wasn’t working (they admitted they didn’t do soundcheck earlier). Still, everyone loved their energy… and I know for a fact that they made some newfound fans in Minneapolis when they lined up to buy their CDs.



Songs on their set included “Fruits of Labor” and their ‘theme’ song “Party Dozen”. “A little too much party dozen in your party dozen,” someone joked.



The highlight of their set was “Macca the Mutt”, a song featuring Nick Cave on sample. Kirsty adds, “I’m sorry Nick Cave can’t be here tonight.”



You can hardly hear Cave, as the vocal mix didn’t seem too loud…. But it meant a lot to the band when they got the chance to work with him. Even though Party Dozen worshiped Nick Cave, it is Cave who is a fan of Party Dozen.



In an interview with the NME, Cave told the origin of how he came about on “Macca the Mutt” song, “Party Dozen sent me a song. They wanted me to sing on it. I listened to it. I had an idea. I sang on it. I tried not to f*** it up. Party Dozen are a force of nature.”



Algiers let the restless audience enjoy some introductory music before they came on stage. When they slowly came on stage, starting with drummer Matt Tong, followed by singer Franklin James Fisher, bassist Ryan Mahan, and guitarist Lee Tesche, the energy in the room changed to excitement. The band played in front of a projection, so it was completely dark, forcing us to view the projected images.

Algiers (20 Sep 2021)

We’ve seen the post-punk band before, and this is one of the few bands that is better experience in a live setting. They have a lot of anger and energy in them, and you experience that by seeing them play. We’ve previously noted that they produced some dub-style sound, industrial, and Afrobeat sound with explosive political messages… and it shows how passionate they are about their music. It’s hard to capture that feeling on a studio recording… you just have to see them play to understand why they have such a following.



As you can see from their setlist, most of their set featured songs from their latest, Shook, available now on Matador Records. Speaking of which, one of their new song from Shook, was apply named “Something Wrong”, as something was wrong and due to technical difficulties, the band ended up not playing that song and proceeded to “The Underside of Power”.

Algiers’ fourth album Shook is out now.