Kublai Khan at First Ave (04-09-2024)

Mosh pit: an area in front of a stage where very physical and rough dancing takes place.

His flashing eyes, his floating hair

Weave a circle round him thrice

Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Kubla Khan

The streets of downtown Minneapolis were jammed on Tuesday night to a point where I felt like a NYC cabbie in SoHo looking for a parking spot. With the Twins and Timberwolves hosting games at their respective venues, it took a little longer to get to Kublai Khan’s sold-out show.

By the time I arrived the crowd was already there with an impressive line for the merch table stretching into the lobby. Momentum started the early evening with a hardcore set built to churn the mosh pit. They are from Los Angeles, supporting their self-titled debut album from 2021. They are fronted by Josh Orellana on drums, Gage Goss aka Jordan Jenkins on vocals and Carlos Seijas on guitar.

Judiciary next took the stage. They are from Lubbock, or as lead singer, Jake Collinson, said, “The middle of f-ing nowhere Texas.”

Collinson was joined on stage by Kyle Calfin and Israel Garza on guitar, Jimmy LaDue on bass and Austin Looney on drums. They have been playing together since 2013 and released their second album Flesh + Blood in 2023.

Sunami kicked up the thrashing with their own version of beatdown hardcore. They are from San Jose, CA or as lead singer, Josef Alfonso, stated, “The f-ing Bay!”

Alfonso was joined by Mike Durrett on guitar, Theo Dominguez on bass and Benny Eissmann on drums. They recently formed in 2019 from a collection of other bands, getting together almost as a joke to see how far they could push their over-the-top delivery. Their first show ironically took place at the San Jose Peace & Justice Center, a seven-minute set leading to a melee of people in Halloween costumes thrashing and swinging and hugging it out and between songs. The show caused quite a stir it gave the band an opportunity to tour across the country and even released a self-titled debut album in 2023.

After two hours the temperature and humidity levels had risen to the point where a person in front of me filming a video on his phone had a fogged over screen. Everyone was dripping, but Kublai Khan TX was not going to take the foot off the gas pedal.

As noted in their name, they are from Sherman, Texas, but the reason for the addition has more to do with a dispute with another thrash/metal band from Minneapolis with the same name. So Kublai Khan added the TX and has continued their assault with four studio albums and gathering a legion of fans that found more in the tank to continue moshing at the urging of lead singer, Matt Honeycutt, who barked out pearls of inspiration like:

“Wake up! No siestas!”

“Let your f-ing nuts hang.”

“It’s time to get out the fine china.”

Honeycutt was joined on stage by Nolan Ashley on guitar, Eric English on bass and Isaac Lamb on drums. And they wrung every bit of perspiration out of those still willing to dive, fling and push themselves across the dance floor.

“It’s been a beautiful night,” said Honeycutt after their last song. “Son of a b*tch!”

Remaining tour dates: