Sunflower Bean at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (June 17, 2025)

After a very pleasant dinner with work colleagues, I got a slightly late start to head over to the show. And while I was at no risk of being late for seeing Sunflower Bean, I found myself completely locked in on getting over to the 7th Street Entry to get prepared for the evening.

First up was GIFT, a psychedelic rock band from Brooklyn, NY. Their debut album, Momentary Presence, was released in 2022. Getting started a little late, we had a bit of introductory banter where we were told it was the band’s first time in Minneapolis. The quintet (guitar/vocals, electronic music/guitar/backup vocals, bass/backup vocals, guitar/keyboard, and drums) came out loud with that spacey sound in vocals and with the various electronic sounds. After a request from the bassist, the lights dropped very low for the second song, before edging back up to a more visible level. The tenor sound of the lead vocalist, paired with the soprano backup vocals gave a good contrast to the heavy underlying bass.

GIFT followed up with their first significantly longer song (basically a requisite of the psych rock label), with all three singers giving a repeated set of lyrics with the instruments building up. A story that a song that they weren’t playing on this tour had been requested a lot resulted in that song being played with Olive Faber of the headliner joining them on tambourine. This was another longer number, with a long solo for the keyboardist and some heavily distorted vocals. A long intro with all three guitars on one of the last songs was an excellently brooding entrance and a pretty great number for the band. GIFT got back to a louder and faster tempo song, though still with heavy distortion. They closed out with a distorted autotune, which made for an interesting effect. Jumping around the stage, GIFT finished up strong and at their very loudest.

Headline Sunflower Bean, also from New York City, was up next. The indie alt band has been at it for over a decade and their newest album, Mortal Primetime came out in April 2025. The trio (Julia Cumming on bass/vocals, Olive Faber on drums, and Nick Kivlen on guitar/backup vocals) started with the fantastic Champagne Taste. Cumming had a fan directed at her face, allowing her hair and flowing black blouse to be a central visual throughout. The next number had a bit of a Black Sabbath feel, particularly with Kivlen’s backing vocals. Teach Me to Be Bad had a lively guitar solo and was straight alt rock.

Sunflower Bean had a laid-back on-stage demeanor that belied how hard they were rocking their set. I don’t know if Cumming’s experience as a fashion model plays a role, but she exuded a calm and composed mood. Look What You’ve Done to Me was a busy lyrical song, that also included some recorded piano, giving an additional layer. Easier Said gave Faber a highlight on drums, and a chance for the crowd to sing along on the chorus, as well as a long exiting guitar and bass work to close it out. 22 was a plaintive sounding song, with Cumming giving it her all, belting out the lyrics near the end. In a bit of banter, Cumming noted that she had a lot of family in the area (which maybe explained the very small child in the audience?), and how happy the band was to be in the Midwest in the summer.

Noting they had just a few songs left, there was a joke about blaming your shoes for the shoegaze (and it was a sizable pedal board). But Kivlen then noted he actually had a pedal that really was difficult to turn on, but thankfully, it all went according to plan. Nothing Romantic had a serious throw back classic rock feel and was a great choice to end the main set on. Coming back for the encore, Sunflower Bean played Shake to close things out, with Cumming asking “Minneapolis, for the love of god, make some noise”, to which the crowd happily did as the band exited the stage.