Yard Act at Fine Line (02 Oct 2024)

British band Yard Act landed in Minneapolis just two hours before they had to play the Fine Line, on October 2, 2024. They came on stage, no soundcheck, but running at 100 miles an hour and never slowed down throughout their set.

 

Opening the show was Omni. We previously saw the band in Apr 2019 and said, “The evening’s triple-bill lineup began with a buzzing trio from Atlanta, Omni (Philip Frobos, ex-Deerhunter guitarist Frankie Broyles, with live drummer Chris Yonker- perhaps named after the now-demolished Georgia arena?), who just signed to Sub Pop’s new Singles Club, playing both new songs, ‘Delicacy’ and ‘I Don’t Dance’, and more during their brief opening set. The trio plays an antsy and addictive blend of post-punk rock, sharpened by staccato riffs and cerebral arrangements and is working on their third full-length, visibly happy about their recent signing and the chance to be on this bill. From the enthusiastic reception gauged, expect the band back, when the new record completes.”

Stemming all the way from Leeds, England, the wild bunch Yard Act have had quite the success in recent years… touring all over Europe with Jack White, playing one of their biggest singles with Sir Elton John from their 2022 debut album The Overload, and playing all the biggest music festivals all over the world.

I saw these guys two years ago at SXSW and really enjoyed their sets from the 2022 release. A little rawer Blur/Pulp/The Streets mix. They were one of the biggest buzz bands that year, thanks to their hit album. They were arena ready for all the big football diehards. The music video for that hit is quite epic.

Getting in just a couple hours before the show started, they cut right to the chase from their long US tour. They had two female dancer/singers and have added a saxophonist to their new core and touring act. Throughout the first half of the set, they played mostly tracks from the new 2024 release Where’s my Utopia?. The lead singer is always entertaining with the crowd, and was all over the stage as always.

The new sound they’ve added to their set is was just pure noise, normally when you add jazz and female vocals to the stage it improves the set but not this evening. The lead singer has an exceptional lyricist vocal, and all the members are talented but it just seems like they’ve burned out a bit after this second release.

This band still has plenty of potential let’s just hope they get back on track for the next release.

Remaining tour dates: