Gear Daddies at Excelsior Commons (August 12, 2025)
You could not have asked for a better evening at a better location as the Gear Daddies played a concert at Excelsior Commons on the banks of Lake Minnetonka. It was actually a reschedule as the July 23rd concert was postponed due to inclement weather.
Located on the banks of Lake Minnetonka in Excelsior Commons Park — Concerts in the Commons combines everything we love about summer in Minnesota. Live music, great food and drinks, and sunsets over the water. These concerts bring together people of all ages in a fun way that also helps raise money to support Community for the Commons as they improve the park. The efforts are led by the Excelsior Morning Rotary Club and the City of Excelsior.
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You could not have asked for a better evening at a better location as the Gear Daddies played a concert at Excelsior Commons on the banks of Lake Minnetonka. It was actually a reschedule as the July 23rd concert was postponed due to inclement weather.
Concerts in the Commons is sponsored by the Excelsior Morning Rotary, and they must like the Gear Daddies for the band has now played at the Commons three years running.
We last saw the Gear Daddies at Taste of Minnesota, July, 2024, but I can understand why they keep coming back to Excelsior. After all, what is a better music venue: a stage on a concrete parking lot in downtown Minneapolis or a stage in a lush park overlooking a cool body of water?
The Gear Daddies surprisingly kicked off the evening with a Prince cover. (Who thought “Little Red Corvette” would sound better with a Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar?)
Martin Zellar then mentioned that 100% of all proceeds of the adult beverages went to local charities, and mentioned that Nick Ciola on bass was doing his share to singly lift up the community. Then on cue they launched into “Drank So Much” in which Randy Broughten finished with a little flourish on his pedal steel guitar.
Martin complimented Randy on the flourish as well as his T-Shirt, saying Randy wore the Lance Link T in order to make him jealous.
Thus began the evening where Martin and James “Billy” Dankert on drums praised their bandmate to almost mythical proportions .
Martin: Randy tweaks (between songs) because he cares.
James: Any Lance man would want it done right.
It’s always fun when you look forward to the banter between songs as well as the songs. After all, the Gear Daddies formed in 1986 and parted ways in 1992 with only three albums. So, you can understand the band’s interest in keeping things interesting.
For having such a small cannon, the Gear Daddies have a lot of great songs, and that is probably why they have a busy dance card during the summer season.
Along with the classics like “Stupid Boy,” “Goodbye Marie” and “Zamboni” the band gave their own rock god, Randy, the opportunity to sing covers like Chuck Berry’s “Nadine,” The Rivieras “California Sun” and the Raindrops “Hanky Panky.”
Before they went on to finish the evening with “Color of Her Eyes” and “Time Heals” Martin took the opportunity to thank: “The Rotary, Huntington Bank and Randy. We are glad he made it because he has a lot on his plate.”
Some of Randy’s activities are weekly Mahjong and catching up on old episodes of Hee Haw.
I’m glad Randy made it as well as the rest of the band. They might be getting up in years, but they put on a great show. A personal favorite was “Give Me Strength” in which Martin poured everything into the microphone with Randy laying down some solid guitar chords with reverb ringing throughout the park, the song getting the biggest applause of the evening.
