Minneapolis: May 17, 2025

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide.

 

17 May 2025 Saturday
Flipp
with Cretin Avenue Hop (Ramones Tribute)
at Turf Club
first-avenue.com

I wanted to spotlight this Turf Club show, because the first (and only time) I saw Minneapolis-based band Flipp, I’ll never forget their entrance at Edgefest VI (29-30 May 1999): “Anyway, across the other stage, I remember hearing the announcement that Backstreet Boys made a surprise appearance! I couldn’t believe it, and I turned to look at the other stage. Hundreds of young girls ran toward the stage as five young men came on doing synchronized dancing… Then it all went terribly wrong: Flipp, in clown makeup, came on stage with fake baseball bats and pretend to beat the young men to a pulp. A little deceiving, but what an entrance.”

 

John saw Flipp in Sep 2017 and wrote, “Locally resurrected band Flipp was next, revving up the audience and the volume, with a short set of two-decade old favorites that made the band a name on as a homegrown favorite in 1995-2003. “It’s a beautiful day, people, let’s do this thing!” singer Brynn Arens yelled, hair slightly more white and without face makeup, but dressed in a Joker-esque black and white striped suit he was known for. With new member Less Able Paul, the band crunched through its twenty-minute set with charting single ‘Freak’ retaining the energy of the original and Arens recruited an audience member (named Beth, cue the Kiss references) on stage to try and play guitar to close out with ‘Half a Brain’.”

I can’t believe the band is still around in 2025! Go see them, if you never got the chance. Flipp’s last album was named Too Dumb To Quit.

Cretin Avenue Hop (a Ramones Tribute band) to open. Hey, ho, let’s go!

 

17 May 2025 Saturday
The Devil Makes Three
with Bridge City Sinners
at First Avenue
first-avenue.com

The Devil Makes Three is back on tour in support of their latest Spirits (available now on New West Records).

 

We saw the band in Nov 2013 and said, “Soon after, The Devil Makes Three strode out on stage, silently picked up their instruments and basked in the glow of applause. They kicked into their excellent new stomper “Stranger” off I’m a Stranger Here released last month on New West Records and kept the tempo feverish all night. Older songs like “The Bullet” from the band’s self-titled debut and “All Hail” from 2009’s Do Right Wrong encouraged a singalong from the crowd, but I was really impressed with songs off the new record. Tunes like “Forty Days” and “Dead Body Moving” were striking, with singer/guitarist Peter Bernhard singing effectively haunting lyrics like: “I won’t be here for long so you got to understand/You can dance with the demon/look him dead into the eyes/I’ve already been where we go when we die.””

Tour dates:

 

 

17 May 2025 Saturday
Mallrat
with Anna Shoemaker
at 7th St Entry
first-avenue.com

Fresh off a 10-date Australian tour with Kylie Minogue, Mallrat is set to embark on her headlining world tour, starting April 29 , in Dallas, and stopping by the 7th Street Entry, in Minneapolis, on May 17, 2025.

Mallrat’s latest, Light hit my face like a straight right is out now on Nettwerk Records.

 

We saw Mallrat in August 2019 and said, “Singer/rapper Mallrat (aka Grace Shaw) came on stage to unveil her brand new crazy pink folded top (which resembles a flower of some sort). Shaw would later confess that the shirt is too big and she can’t properly move her arms… describing that she felt like a Tyrannosaurs Rex. Starting out her set with “Tokyo Drift”, she would move back and forth and smiling brightly as she sings, “and we’re never on time, laughing at the wrong time”.”

Anna Shoemaker to open.

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.