Chelsea Wolfe at Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (20 Mar 2024)

Tour Dates

American goth rock, doom, folk singer and songwriter, Chelsea Wolfe, is currently on tour in support of She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She (Loma Vista). The tour stopped by the Varsity Theater, in Minneapolis, on Wednesday, March 20th.

Melbourne’s Divide and Dissolve opened the show.

 

This is the third time we’ve seen the duo, and the first time we saw them in Feb 2018, we said that singer/guitarist Takiaya Reed “went into a verbal diatribe decrying worldwide white supremacy, seeking to empower black and indigenous people, and reminding the mostly white audience, that this was not their land.”

The second time we saw them, in June 2022, Reed had similar statements, about “abusive police power, worldwide white supremacy, seeking to empower black and indigenous people. They reminded us that the land we are on belongs to the Dakota people and that we should give it back.”

So, it should be no surprise that about 18 minutes into their set, Reed took a little time to remind us that we are on indigenous land. She mentioned that she’s both black and Cherokee and that it’s very important to her. The speech was updated to include ending the Palestinian genocide (and just any genocides in general).

It appears that her original percussionist, Sylvie Nehill, has been replaced with another drummer. I am assuming the role is a temporarily one, as the new drummer is not officially announced anywhere.

Divide and Dissolve third album, and their latest, is called Systemic.

Fans lined up early under the glow of the beautiful Varsity Theater marquee, on a school night. The Varsity sits next to the University of Minnesota, so there’s always young college kids in the area.

It’s good to see such a healthy turnout to see Chelsea Wolfe, whose music bordering doom metal, folk, earth, and gothic rock, appeals to the large college fanbase that lives in the Dinkytown area.

This is the fifth time we’ve seen Wolfe: Cedar (22 Sep 2013), Roy Wilkins (06 May 2014), Fitzgerald Theater (25 May 2014), Triple Rock Social Club (31 Aug 2015), and Triple Rock Social Club (22 May 2016) … so we’re big fans.

Every time we see Wolfe, it’s been pretty memorable, with a few standing out: her appearance made national news at the Fitzgerald Theater because Eels debut the return of Journey’s vocalist Steve Perry, and I broke my camera’s lens, so I was forced to draw her: “Apparently, I’ve dropped my camera one too many times and the lens no longer extends or detracts.”

If you’ve never seen Chelsea Wolfe before, it’s a great, dark, foggy experience. She creates such a great atmosphere, and she sings mostly in the dark, so you can really hear her notes.

Recently, her music can be heard on the A24 film X (we wrote about X and A24 here). While that music was created with 70s score in mind, her new album She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She is a little more on electronica and trip hop, as well as the usual goth rock. This is possibly due to being produced by TV on the Radio guitarist Dave Sitek, whose music is more dance and commercial, in my opinion. It’s mostly received positive reviews from critics, who called the album ambitious and adventurous.

Chelsea Wolfe’s She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She is out now on Loma Vista.