The Ike Reilly Assassination at First Avenue (November 26, 2025)

The Ike Reilly Assassination Setlist

1. The Boat Song (We’re Getting Loaded)
2. Living in the Wrong Time¹
3. Trick of the Light¹
4. Put a Little Love in It (According to John)¹
5. New Assassination Blues¹
6. Tombstone Blues (Bob Dylan cover)
7. Cash Is King¹
8. Took It Lying Down¹
9. God and Money
10. Duty Free
11. Born on Fire¹
    — Encore —
12. The Sun
13. My Wasted Friends¹
14. F*** the Good Old Days¹
    ¹ Ike Reilly song

The weather in the Twin Cities finally flipped from a reasonable autumn to straight up winter, with temperatures plummeting and the first snowfall of the season hitting. On the eve of Thanksgiving, there were still some stalwarts to start the long weekend celebration at First Avenue, with rockers The Ike Reilly Assassination in town for what has become their long-standing annual tradition.

The evening started with locals The Belfast Cowboys. This is our third time seeing the band here in 2025, the first being their St. Patrick’s Day show at Turf Club. The nine piece centers themselves as a Van Morrison cover band, but have a more expansive sound, including originals. You can check out their 2021 album This Magic Night as a good intro to their sound. They started with Hard Working and Poor, and mentioned it would be a set heavier on their original music. Lead singer Terry Walsh captained things as usual, and the band was arranged in their standard formation, with the four brass members at the far left, drummer dead center behind Walsh, and guitarist, bassist and keyboards on the right. Look at the Moon, Betty had a bit of an early era Springsteen feel to it, including the saxophone solo.

I’m a sucker for a good brass section in a rock & roll band, and The Belfast Cowboys always deliver on that front. A song “about Tuesday nights” had a great classic rock entrance for Southside and was a good precursor to their first Van Morrison cover You Make Me Feel So Free, a joyous and ebullient song that had the audience bopping along. Cramming as many songs in as they could in their forty five minute set, The Belfast Cowboys kept banter to an absolute minimum. The brass section exited stage for Bike Ride on 35W, which allowed those hyperkinetic keys to really shine. The full band was reunited with a softer opening on Looking for the Northern Lights, and included a deft trumpet solo and finally opened up for a slightly bigger rock close.

The Melismatics were next to the stage. Co-led by Ryan Smith (lead guitarist for Soul Asylum) and Pony, the band has been at it since the late 1990’s. They have eight albums and I suggest 2013’s Rising Tide as an excellent entry to their work. The quartet (vocals/guitar, guitar/vocals/keyboards, bass, and drums) came out strong, with Smith and Pony’s harmonies instantly compelling. Puzzle Missing Pieces was a great alt rock sound, with Ron Caron’s drums truly dominant. Smith and Pony were both quite the performers, with Smith’s antics nearly knocking over one of Caron’s mikes (First Avenue crew were on. the. scene.). This was a driving rock & roll, and Mark Wade’s bass was a critical glue holding things together. 

Pony’s switching between guitar and keys, often within a song, lent a nice musical dynamic. But the charisma on the performers was dripping. A clever end to a number had all three guitarists in the same pose with guitar held high and straight before letting them slide down in unison. Bassist Wade took lead vocals on a song, adding a different sound and letting Smith lay into his guitar work. Going for the Kill had Smith and Pony trading lead vocals in the early going, before combining in a great harmony towards the end. Digging Deep had a bright opening guitar from Smith and it was alt rock perfection, with a mid song solo just starting to show off his outstanding skills. Pony took over on the next song and was electric, drawing the audience’s attention fully to her. The Melismatics showed a great ability to pass the baton and let each member be the key figure and that’s an impressive feat. Soulsucker had Pony back on lead vocals, with Smith and Wade providing key back up harmonies on a super fast tempo number. Finishing up on a harder edged number, The Melismatics closed on a frenzied pace and a cacophonous ending of guitar wails and distortion.

The headliner, The Ike Reilly Assassination, finally made their way to the main stage. Reilly plays all around the blues rock / folk /punk genres with his gravelly vocals. With eight albums, including the 2021 release Because the Angels, Reilly has carved out an interesting space in American rock. He is the subject of a highly regarded documentary called Don’t Turn Your Back on Friday Night. Appearing as a quintet (vocals/guitar, keys/guitar, guitar, bass, and drums), The Ike Reilly Assassination came out with a bluesy rock sound. The Boat Song (We’re Getting Loaded) was high flying and the crowd was into it. Living in the Wrong Time had three additional vocalists (they looked related, and it turned out to be three of Reilly’s sons) appear on stage, adding a depth and complexity that was fun.

Reilly was locked in and his energy was palpable, leaning into the microphone. Trick of the Light had the lyrics spread around with the younger vocalists (with one of the kids now on guitar) and was a pretty outstanding number in the early part of the set. Opening keyboards on the next song got large cheers out of the gate, and you could tell how many super fans were in the audience. A special shout out to Conrad Sverkson and Front Row Paul (both having passed away in the last year) led to a moment of remembrance for all the people that had been lost. The following number, Put a Little Love in It (According to John) was supercharged with the crowd signing along in full. Tombstone Blues was a Bob Dylan cover and a good re-imagining with a bit more rocking bluster. Back to the original band, Reilly was without guitar for the first time on Cash Is King, which also had him on a separate microphone at times with some distorted effects and then closing on harmonica.

Took It Lying Down was both topical about a certain cheapskate and also came with a hilarious ending. We had a couple of songs with just a few people on stage, trading different sons on sequential numbers, before bringing the full band back. God and Money was a quieter number, but started to build up towards a higher pace and energy. An excellent cover of Cracker’s Duty Free had Reilly and the band flying again. Born on Fire was written as an apology song and had a bit of a western feel and was near the close of the main set. A brief wait and the encore was on, and Reilly and the band turned on the heat with shorter, more punctuated rock numbers. Ending on F*ck the Good Old Days, The Ike Reilly Assassination ended Thanksgiving Eve with a fine performance and a crowd that was grateful for the musical tradition.