Mark Mallman at Parkway Theater, Minneapolis (August 8, 2025)

Local Twin Cities legend Mark Mallman was celebrating the release of his newest album (his eleventh), Magic Time, at the Parkway Theater in South Minneapolis. Mallman is widely known in indie circles for his long body of work, but also the craziness of his live shows, which sometimes lean into full performance art. His Marathon shows, well over 24 hours each, are great examples of the lengths he is willing to go. The newest album, self-described as a “paranormal concept record” was the main topic du jour.

Starting with a video of Mallman dressed as Nosferatu and then giving a quick history of the obscure 1970’s movie The Velvet Vampire with a full pre-recorded mix. This was classic Mallman, going down the rabbit hole of film history around the art house trash genre film before pulling it back to music and his very old demo Blood. With drum tracks recorded by Peter Anderson (he’s been on the site here a lot lately) around twenty years ago and how Mallman rediscovered it recently. Finishing the video brought the backing band on stage, and eventually Mallman in a semi-zombified outfit. Starting with his own song version of Velvet Vampire, the quartet (vocals/keyboards, guitar/vocals, bass, and drums) had Mallman in a full (but controlled) scream before heading to the Moog side keyboard. Mallman’s antics (jumping & dancing behind the keys) were great as he leaned into a full Bela Lugosi impression before a pretty fantastic keyboard solo. And hey, that was all in song number one.

As the Lugosi impression slowly faded out, Mallman showed he was going to mix new music with old, going into Knockout on 22nd St. Great bass work on that number showed how the backing band was in full support but also ready to go wherever needed. Serving as bandleader, Mallman had this show’s plan down tight, and quickly moved along. Mallman was very active, getting all over the front of the stage when not playing keyboards, but always being tethered to the instrument. A click to a pre-recorded Executioner had Mallman singing with that backing electronic music while the band took a quick rest before coming back on for the middle section. Mallman had a brief bit of banter for which side of the crowd he preferred the clapping, but otherwise jumped back to the music. Song to the Siren (This Mortal Coil cover) had minimal backing and highlighted Mallman’s singing. There’s definitely some dark material in his work, and although he wraps it up in some comic tones, Mallman touched on some themes of loss and death that weren’t humorous at their core.

The piano player shone through on the intro to Baby Takes It Slow, with an almost lounge singer feel and the transition to the full band sound was pretty tremendous. A short political rant perfectly led to the song Freaks Me Out, with a great sequence of lighting effects in the long outro. Mallman sent the band off “for a little break”, heading into a middle section with a new player on standup bass and starting with Clowns, another very dark satire.

Jillian Rae at Turf Club, St Paul (July 31, 2025)

Adding another musician was Jillian Rae (who we saw at Turf Club at the end of July) on violin for The Cancer. As the three left, the band was suddenly back with a new addition (another guitarist) as well as six-foot inflated ghosts in both back corners of the stage. Mallman came back after a costume change (including what looked like a wildly uncomfortable mask) for Bela Lugosi Is Dead (Bauhaus cover). There were several moments in the evening where Mallman climbed on things in ways that made you worry a dude in his 50’s shouldn’t, but he found a way to be alright.

After ditching the robe and mask, Mallman and band were off to the final stretch. A most bizarre cover of Nature Boy (based on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack by David Bowie and Massive Attack of a Nat King Cole song) let Mallman really belt out lyrics. I also started appreciating Mallman’s lyrical depth as he made a variety of literary references without making a big deal of it. True Love, “the song that should have made me famous” was the perfect finale for the main set, with a great set of guitar riffs underneath. A quick break and a final set of pre-recorded transition rolled into a rambling monologue before getting Parasite Eyes. This one was silly and rocking and that may be a pretty good summary of the evening with Mark Mallman.