Ruston Kelly at First Avenue, Minneapolis (30 April 2023)
American singer/songwriter Ruston Kelly headlined First Avenue, in Minneapolis, on Sunday night, in support of his new album, The Weakness (Rounder Records).
04/30 Ruston Kelly with Briscoe at First Avenue
Ruston Kelly Setlist
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Opening the show was Austin-based Briscoe. This was their first time in Minneapolis. The band is really Truett Heintzelman and Philip Lupton; the two often trade lead vocals for specific songs.
Highlight of their set was for the Bill Withers cover “Ain’t No Sunshine”, which Philip Lupton took out the saxophone.
Briscoe ended their set with “Hooped Earrings”, singing, “She’s a high ticket to ride, she’s as heavy as the air.”
Ruston Kelly first made waves when his song, “Nashville Without You”, appeared on Tim McGraw’s Two Lanes of Freedom. He signed with BMG Nashville, then Razor & Tie’s Washington Square, and currently he’s on Rounder Records.
As you can see from the setlist, a lot of songs from The Weakness were played, including the title track, which ended his set.
I get the feeling that the song is about Kelly’s real struggle with drugs. He famously overdosed in December 2015, and since then have gone to rehab and trying to recover.
In many ways, Kelly writes songs to heal: “With every record I make, I learn so much about myself and who I am as a human and what type of man I want to be. In a way it’s a form of self-help, or like I’m building a fort against a lesser version of myself. Then the goal from there is to just keep on growing.”
Of course, that’s what I read into the song, you can take its lyrics to be about anything, really. It’s a lovely lyric to end the song, “we don’t give in to the weakness.”
Ruston Kelly’s new album, The Weakness is out now Rounder Records.
Remaining Tour Dates:
May 3rd – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot #
May 5th – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory ^
May 6th – Seattle, WA – Showbox ^
May 7th – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall ^
May 9th – Eugene, OR – WOW Hall ^
May 11th – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore ^
May 12th – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up ^
May 13th – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theater ^
May 14th – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom ^
May 16th – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf ^
May 18th – Dallas, TX – The Echo Lounge #
May 19th – Houston, TX – House of Blues #
May 20th – Austin, TX – Stubb’s #
May 22nd – Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads #
June 2nd – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater $
Support:
# Briscoe
^ Richy Mitch and the Coal Miners
$ Jenny Lewis
