Dua Saleh at Fine Line (February 16, 2025)

It was a homecoming of sorts for Dua Saleh playing at Fine Line for a crowd braving the cold temperatures on a Sunday night.

Minneapolis band SoulFlower were first on stage. The quartet came out rocking, with strong guitars and excellent vocals. This is solid alt rock, with a bit of classic rock influences. The bass driven second song was well balanced by the lead singer (“you cry every night”) and included a fine drum solo. If it sounds like danceable, high energy music, you would be exactly right.

SoulFlower at Icehouse (26 Feb 2025)

Their EP, Set List, was recently released and they noted they will be headlining at Icehouse later this month (Wednesday, February 26th). A slower vibe on the fourth song showed off some good musical chops in an extended instrumental intro and a solid guitar solo to close it out. The next song, Sh*t, “doesn’t get played on the radio, even though it’s a favorite”. A final song, Ocean, saw the band slow down into a slightly bluesy rock song to end their performance.

XINA was next up (pronounced z-aye-na, not z-ee-na). A solo performer who self-describes as “art-pop”, and this is pretty apt. With a complicated set of backing music that she made herself (e.g. not spliced samples), XINA had a dance music feel. With strong lyrics (“it would be best not to disrespect your queen tonight”), she called herself a “bad b*tch”. An EP, Iron Eggs, which was completely self-produced, has just been completed and that was the set list for the evening. The third song showed off a bit of XINA’s training as a dancer, as she used the entirety of the stage, including a raised platform at several instances, and what can only be described as a dance solo to finish the song. Cadaver had local artist Mike Kota in recorded backing vocals. We ended the night with XINA singing over a new music video for Pure Potentiality.

Dua Saleh is currently a LA-based artist, but cut their teeth musically here in Minnesota. Thirty one days into the tour and on the last stop, we got told by Jesse (the other musician, on guitar and computer programmed music) up front that Dua had a sore throat, but would power through.

Though Saleh has released multiple EPs, 2024’s I Should Call Them is their debut full length album. The set started with one from the album, buzzin. The flowers set up front prior to the start were immediately put to use, being handed out at the end of that song. The next song, chi girl, started with some heavy autotune, but had Saleh soon singing in their natural voice. And what a voice, sliding between R&B and nearly into rap in the song that even got audience participation. Continuing the songs from the new album, bo peep, had the crowd dancing to its deep rumbling backing music.

Jumping into an older hip hop song, cat scratch, was a song produced in Minneapolis. While Slaleh may have not been feeling great (drinking tea at various points), you would not have really noticed, as they were absolutely bouncing across the stage. The audience was asked to join in the next song, playing games, and the crowd happily complied. Some line dancing was part of fitt, to what I would have to say was mixed success. The song moth was the first time that Saleh’s voice was noticeably losing its power, but that didn’t stop them (“you deserve to be serenaded”). A member of the audience was brought up for a love song, chosen. A bit of guitar work (“I learned three notes…”), led into the rest of the next song as they said afterwards, “thanks for being my guinea pigs”. As they neared the end of the evening, Saleh said, “I live in LA now, but I hope to come back time and time again”, leading into that song. Closing with Sugar Mama, Dua Saleh finished strong in the warmth of the hometown crowd.