What’s happening this weekend.

June 13, 2025 Friday
Saint Small
with Mood Swings and Little Man
at Hook and Ladder
thehookmpls.com

Minneapolis’ garage-rock band Saint Small is reuniting to play a farewell gig at the Hook and Ladder Theater in Minneapolis, one night only, Friday the 13th, celebrating the band’s debut vinyl release Thank You Friends, the Album.

The last time we mentioned Saint Small was in Dec 2018: “The upcoming “Singles Going Steady”, a singles-release party will be featuring Ryan and Pony, Benjamin Cartel (from KaiserCartel), and Saint Small. Down in the Clown Lounge (underneath the Turf Club), will feature Revenge Wedding and Kris Gruen.”

Local favorites, Little Man and The Mood Swings are sharing the triple-bill.

We previously caught The Mood Swings in March 2023 and wrote, “To be perfectly honest, I was rather excited to see The Mood Swings. The band, featuring Ashley Ackerson and Sallie Watson, had not released anything new since 2009’s Recessionista. While the band would play on and off gigs, it seemed like they are fairly inactive since 2009. During the Mood Swings’ hiatus, Ashley would spend more time in her side project BNLX, with her husband, Ed Ackerson (of Polara) – that’s why you saw BNLX albums (the album with their dog on the cover) at the Mood Swing’s merchandise table.”

We saw Little Man in April 2009 and said, “Anyway, Little Man played a pretty full set, which is a relief since I was so used to the 30 sets from SXSW. Sometime they would pause for applause and sometime each song leads directly into the next. Halfway into the set, Perricelli picks up his acoustic guitar for two songs (I think “Seal Of Secrecy” and “Love Of All Time”), before going back to electric for the rest of the set. The acoustic was a nice treat, especially with the harmonica (which sort of made me think of Bob Dylan). You can tell right away that Perricelli is an excellent guitarist with his left hand moving quickly up and down the neck of the guitar. It’s no surprise why the City Pages called Little Man the Next Big Thing on their cover story for February 27th, 2007. I did ask Perricelli the story behind this and he told me that they had sent someone over the house to interview and take some photographs. He honestly didn’t know it was going to be a cover story, so he was a little shocked when he learned about it.”

June 13, 2025 Friday
Belfast Cowboys
at Lake Harriet Bandshell
minneapolisparks.org

Come see local 9-piece band Belfast Cowboys play Lake Harriet Bandshell, in Minneapolis, as part of the Music in the Parks series.

We saw Belfast Cowboys in Mar 2025 and said, “The nine-piece band has a full brass section, multiple guitars, keys and drums. Lead singer Terry Walsh, asked, “Is it seven yet? We want to be prompt.” The first song, You Make Me Feel So Free had the full brass sound, including a great sax solo. The band was in the spirit, with some adorned in various types of St. Patrick’s Day accoutrements (sparkly green tie, green bowler hat, etc.). Walsh said, “It isn’t summer yet, but it’s coming”, as the band launched into a cover of Chuck Prophet’s Summertime Thing that included a brass riff on Summer in the City.”

Music in the Park 2025 Schedule

06/14 Twin Cities Mobile Jazz Project
06/24 Jeff Dayton
07/01 Salsa Del Soul
07/08 Westwind Big Band
07/15 Minneapolis Commodores
07/22 Tumblin Dice
07/29 Two Sundays Big Band
08/05 Rooms on Fire
08/12 Pan-handlers Steel Drum Band
08/19 Bavarian Musikmeisters
08/26 Brio Brass

Movies in the Park 2025

08/28 Inside Out 2
09/05 The Wild Robot
09/12 If

June 13, 2025 Friday
June 14, 2025 Saturday
June 15, 2025 Sunday
Mozart’s Prague Symphony
with Gábor Takács-Nagy
at Ordway Concert Hall
thespco.org

Kicking off this Friday the 13th is audience favorite and newest SPCO Artistic Partner Gábor Takács-Nagy returning for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s 66th season finale! Hopefully, if all goes well, we’ll get a review for the Sunday show.

We saw SPCO’s Steven Copes Plays Prokofiev’s First Violin Sonata in May 2025 and said, “The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra concert program on Saturday night held a sober reminder that the horrors of the past are unfortunately echoing in the headlines of today. The first work of the evening was a lament from Ukrainian composer and cellist Zoltan Havrylovych Almashi. It was a piece that Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv invited Almashi to compose by using Samuel Barber’s iconic Adagio for Strings as a reference point. This request was during the full-scale Russian invasion, and the work “Maria’s City” is dedicated to the city of Mariupol, one of the first cities destroyed by the Russian Forces.”

Schedule