Of Monsters and Men at Palace Theatre
Of Monsters and Men played to a sold out Palace Theatre in the first of a two show visit in Saint Paul. Mixing old and new music, they charmed the crowd with their great dual vocals.
- Television Love
- Dream Team
- King and Lionheart
- Tuna in a Can
- Alligator
- Human
- The Towering Skyscraper at the End of the Road
- The Block
- Mouse Parade
- Dirty Paws
- Empire
- Crystals
- Styrofoam Cathedral
- Ordinary Creature
- Little Talks
- Visitor— Encore —
- Love Love Love
- Fruit Bat
- 7th Nov – St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
- 8th Nov – St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
- 10th Nov – Nashville, TN – The Pinnacle
- 11th Nov – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
- 13th Nov – Austin, TX – ACL Live at The Moody Theater
- 19th Nov – Dallas, TX – Bomb Factory
- 22nd Nov – Salt Lake City, UT – Rockwell at The Complex
- 23rd Nov – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
- 25th Nov – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
- 26th Nov – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
With the weather continuing its cooling trend and all of the leaves changing to their best colors, it somehow seemed appropriate that there was an Icelandic indie rock evening in downtown Saint Paul. Of Monsters and Men was on the first of two nights to wow the faithful at the Palace Theatre on their North American tour.
The opener was fellow Icelandic performer Arny Margret. It’s hard to believe this is her third time in concert in the Twin Cities in 2025, especially considering her appearance at The Dakota in March (opening for John Grant) was her first ever appearance in Minnesota. Obviously, Margret has been on the road constantly this year, and is getting a ton of experience under her belt. This is already her second time at Palace Theatre, as she opened for The Crane Wives in July. With her 2025 album, I Miss You, I Do, Margret, as per her way, came out solo on guitar. She played that title track second and my goodness, it’s a pretty brilliant song. Margret pours her whole self into it and I loved the slight reverb guitar contrasted wirh her clear singing style. As per her way, Margret played a number in Icelandic, “you won’t understand this one”. And yet, I would argue you could, and it was powerful stuff. Margret is simply an outstanding performer and has a way of drawing audiences in to her quieter, contemplative songs.
I have heard Arny Margret say “thank you so much” many times now, and there is something in that quiet grace that displays the power she has as a performer. With just two songs left, she went into Greyhound Station, which she admitted she had never been to one. But she knew the somewhat negative connotations and Margret had a sad love song that fit the title perfectly. With some harmonica on the closing song, Arny Margret continued to show her strength as an artist. I don’t know when her next tour in North America will be, but I highly suggest you seek her out.
Of Monsters and Men have been a staple on the indie scene ever since the release of their debut and wildly successful single, Little Talks, back in 2011. With four full length albums, they are on their North American tour supporting the newest album, 2025’s All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade. Their stop in Saint Paul got extended as the first show sold out almost instantly and so they added a second show. Here on night one, they came out as a seven piece, with what looked like some additional keyboards. This was pure indie rock and that dual vocals from Nanna Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson was a tremendous plus for the band. They would alternate taking lead, but were phenomenal when singing together. In an early break, an audience member shouted something in Icelandic, and Þórhallsson was obviously impressed.
The band was all go, with a number having an instrumental build up to Hilmarsdóttir’s vocals on Alligator, which was a great indie rock song. That trade off of lead singer was impressive on the switch to Human, and Of Monsters and Men had the crowd clapping along without having to lead them to it. A “how we doin” got huge applause, and the band tuned before moving onto the next song. They has such a presence and when both vocalists were working a song together, it was pretty magical. Song sequencing was excellent with a slow tempo song a good change of pace. There was a slow instrumental before the start of Dirty Paws, which was an excellent example of their sound, with a long vocal outro. Empire was an upbeat number that had Þórhallsson laying into his lyrics and Hilmarsdóttir’s backing harmonies taking it up in volume and interest.
When Ordinary Creatures got played, we had an audience in full throated support of a great rock song. Little Talks began with that great intro and had the dual vocals at their best, with lights blazing in different colors. It was hard to tell who was having more fun between the band and audience, and that’s always the sign of a great moment in a concert. Visitor closed out the main set and was a bass heavy number. Walking off stage while leaving instruments playing let the audience know an encore was upcoming. And indeed, they came back to play two more, with Love Love Love leading things off to a crowd that really was hoping for it. Closing on the newer song Fruit Bat, Of Monsters and Men had delivered a wonderful performance that left the crowd happily chatting on their way out into the St. Paul evening.
