Minneapolis: July 29 to July 31, 2024

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide.

07/29/2024 Monday
Exciter with Midnight
with Wraith and Hellwitch
at Turf Club
first-avenue.com

Cleveland’s Midnight (not to be confused with The Midnight) is co-headlining with Exciter at the Turf Club, in St Paul, on July 29, 2024.

Wraith and Hellwitch to open.

Tour Dates:

 

 

07/29/2024 Monday
Greg Freeman
with Walker Rider
at 7th St Entry
first-avenue.com

Vermont’s finest, Greg Freeman is headlining the 7th Street Entry, in Minneapolis, this July 29, 2024. Freeman’s debut LP, I Looked Out is out now.

Walker Rider to open.

Tour dates:

 

 

07/30/2024 Tuesday
Heavy Temple
with Valley of the Sun
at Turf Club
first-avenue.com

Philadelphia’s Heavy Temple is back on tour, and they’ll be stopping by the Turf Club, in St Paul, on July 30, 2024.

The band’s new album Garden of Heathens is out now.

Valley of the Sun to open.

Tour Dates:

 

 

 

07/30/2024 Tuesday
The Strike
with Alt Bloom
at First Avenue 
first-avenue.com

Los Angeles alt-pop band The Strike had to upgrade their 7th Street Entry show because of high interests. Now they’re playing the much larger First Avenue.

Alt Bloom to open.

Tour Dates:

 

 

07/30/2024 Tuesday
Vampire Weekend
with Ra Ra Riot
at Armory
armorymn.com

07/31/2024 Wednesday
Vampire Weekend
with Ra Ra Riot
at Armory
armorymn.com

I had no idea that New York’s Vampire Weekend have gotten so big. They are playing the Armory in Minneapolis at the end of July, and this venue is massive (8,400 capacity!) In fact, demand was so high, the band even added a second night for the Armory, you can see them on July 30th or 31st (or both if you’re feeling dangerous).

 

We saw the band in April 2008 at the Triple Rock Social Club and wrote, “You know me, the more hyped a band is, the more they have to prove to me that they are worth all the buzz. Fortunately, I was impressed with them. They clearly know how to manipulate their audience (“this is a tall order, but could you guys ….”) and the band played really well. The one downfall is that they are still very, very young (and I don’t mean the way Ezra Koenig looks like he’s barely 18 with his dashing good looks and polo shirt). They barely had enough material to make the show last for an hour. In fact, they played their entire debut album, plus two other songs. Of the two songs, one of them is untitled as of this writing – and it requires the keyboardist, Rostam Batmanglij, to pick up an extra guitar. This new song is actually pretty good, possibly the best song on the whole set… plus I was quite surprised with the way Batmanglij handled the guitar with ease.”

Ra Ra Riot will be support for this tour. The band released their first music in five years, a single called “The Wish”. The single was co-written and produced by their friend and longtime collaborator Rostam Batmanglij (Remi Wolf, Carly Rae Jepsen, HAIM), mixed by Andrew Maury (Madi Diaz, Tegan and Sara, Shawn Mendes), and mastered by Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer Emily Lazar (Coldplay, Jacob Collier, Beck).

Ra Ra Riot’s Wes Miles adds, “Rostam and I have been longtime collaborators and have gotten to work on all kinds of different projects together over the years. It’s always something fun and exciting and new. When we got into his studio recently, we found we’d both been getting into fingerpicking – some folk stuff, like Fairport Convention, Joni Mitchell, Anne Briggs, Judy Sill, that kind of stuff. And so we just went from there. It started with a riff I had, super rough, with a sort of nebulous story, and he helped simplify the fingerpicking pattern and start molding it into more of a specific story and vibe. Rostam added some organ – Hammond B3 – and some mandolin, and Joey, his assistant, who’s studied Latin percussion, really added a lot of movement to it. Over the course of two trips to LA, we wrote, re-wrote and recorded the song almost in real time, and I think it’s something really new for us. To me, the song’s about the power of imagining a different world – not necessarily in a fantastic or escapist way, but in an empowering way. About manifesting these deeply held wants and desires. Having these powerful dream visions and trying to capture that moment before you fall deeply into dreaming. Rostam and I love working on songs that can read as both happy and sad at the same time and using that tension to amplify and understand the depth of these feelings and visions.”

 

We saw the band in Sep 2016, and said, “The group started with one of their earliest songs, 2008’s ‘Too Too Too Fast’ co-written by the band’s original late drummer, John Pike (but excluded early hit, ‘Dying is Fine’, which was about his passing). The taste of the new began with 2013’s ‘Binary Mind’ with vocalist Miles easily sliding between mid-range vocals to more falsetto as violinist Zeller at his left, led the added elegance with added strings. Closing tracks ‘Water’, which throbbed with electro-bass and ‘I Need Your Light’ which was also beat propelled, were both from the new album, produced on record by ex-Vampire Weekend keyboardist and longtime friend of the band, Rostam Batmanglij.”

Tour dates:

 

If your band is coming to the Minneapolis/St Paul area, please email details to vu@weheartmusic.com with a good lead time. Thank you.