KMFDM at First Avenue, Minneapolis (17 Mar 2024)

Iconic music mavericks KMFDM just headlined First Avenue, in Minneaplis, on Sunday night. They’re currently on tour in support of their new album Let Go (Metropolis Records).

When you hear KMFDM’s latest “Let Go”, it is pretty good. Typical industrial rock that KMFDM is known for. However, when you see them live, it’s a whole different experience. The songs sound so much better with the energy that the band brings on stage, the perfectly timed light sequences, the pulsating speakers blasting full volume… this is the best way to enjoy their music. I love that they’ve now got this custom light rig (which looks expensive), which is controlled through software.



They still have the two custom stands that singers Sascha “Käpt’n K” Konietzko and Lucia Cifarelli would trade vocals and play keys from their respective stands.



The rest of the band features Andy Selway on drums, and their newish guitarist Andee Blacksugar (he joined in 2017). The band is solid, from what I’ve seen, and it felt like they’ve been performing for a long time.



Part of the fun about a KMFDM show is being part of their audience. They have a tight-knit community of fans, and it seems like everyone knew each other, or at least through reputation. Everyone seems like they’re part of a techno community, and it’s fun to ease drop when they get together and meeting for the first time or catching up.

KMFDM (15 Aug 2015)

I’ve seen this first hand, in 15 Aug 2015, when I noticed that everyone at the show wore a KMFDM shirt or bought their latest shirt: “selling a billion shirts.”

Chicago’s Cyanotic opened the show. They have a good “Tech Noir” sound that fits really well with KMFDM’s music… so I’m not surprised the band asked them to support them in Minneapolis, as well as their hometown in Chicago.



My favorite song on their set was something called “Are We Still Alive”, which is from the latest album The After Effect (released in September 2023).

Remaining tour dates: