Your Smith Setlist

Change of Heart
Man of Weakness
Hey There’s My Girl
The Spot
Peaches
Little Highways
In Between Plans
Leaving You
Debbie
Telephone Line – Hanging Up All My Hopes
Stranger
Lyin’
Bad Habit
Smooth Talker
Christina
Wild Wild Woman
Mr. Revival

Beemer Setlist

Jaws/Bennie
Perfect
Meet the Band
Bachelors
Closes In
Afterparty
You & Me
Sounds Like

December often gets you local artists in the Twin Cities highlighted, as many larger tours are shutting down for the holidays, or at least skipping the dreaded cold up here. Very occasionally, those local artists will use the December show at home as a kind of cherry on top at the end of a successful tour. That was the case with Your Smith at a nearly sold out First Avenue home crowd welcoming home the triumphant artist and their new album.

Soft rock band Beemer got things going. We last saw them in May 2025 opening for Peter Bjorn and John, Beemer plays homage to the soft rock genre of the 70’s. Unlike in May when they performed as a quartet, they were back up to their full quintet (vocals/keyboards, guitar, guitar, bass, and drums). Also since we last saw them, they have released a new single, Closes In, which is supposedly the basis of an upcoming album that we will look forward to in 2026. Lead singer Hank Donato was on point from the start and when the first song morphed into a cover of Elton John’s Benny and the Jets, Beemer had sealed a connection with the audience. These guys have really nailed a set of songs that is a true love letter for the era of 70’s soft / yacht rock. A bit of banter was a set up for a song “written about the band” (appropriately titled Meet the Band) and was straight up hysterical. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen the band introductions in the form of a song. And to make it sound like it could seamlessly fit on an oldies radio station earned it a large round of applause.

Like in their May performance, Bachelors of Youth highlighted their skill all through the complexities of the synth heavy 70’s soft rock sound. Guitarist Luke Enyeart was fantastic as one of the two back up vocalists and driving his guitar work in tandem support. Like many of the 70’s bands that Beemer is riffing off of, it’s easy to fall for the simple and pleasant sounds and not pay attention to all of the musical layers happening. Guitarist Dan Stewart had the most rock & roll solo on a late number and Beemer was closing out their forty minute set with Sounds Like and having won over the very full First Avenue crowd.

Your Smith is the moniker for Caroline Smith, a singer, guitarist, and songwriter who has put out albums under multiple band names (Caroline Smith, Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps, and since 2018 as Your Smith). With 2025’s The Rub being the first new album in over five years, Your Smith is back in a big way. The album was co-written with Nathan Stocker and Jake Luppen of the band Hippo Campus, and hits squarely in the alt indie rock space, while playing at the corners of many related genres. Coming out on stage, Smith was in the very obviously pregnant phase, which is an absolutely amazing challenge for a singer (lung space gets to be a real premium, folks). Dear reader, I have never been happier that we live in a smoke-free environment. The quintet (vocals/guitar, guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums), which included two members of Beemer, came to the stage to almost thunderous applause.

Starting with Change of Heart, Your Smith hit an early favorite for the crowd before leaning into the new album. Hey There’s My Girl, a personal favorite of Smith’s, let Enyeart play some steel guitar sounding support and the whole number had an Americana undertone to it. Smith ditched the guitar and leaned into some dancing for the jazzier The Spot, a true delight of a number. An amusing set of deep breaths to accentuate the joke of singing while pregnant (again, that’s no joke!), had some more of the Americana sound with Peaches, and the vibe of sliding between the differing genres Your Smith plays in was set. Smith was so compelling as a performer, and pulled the audience into a pretty special place, and the band was completely in support of her vision.

Keyboardist Eric Mayson (who we saw headlining his own Turf Club show in January this year), got the call out at the intro to In Between Plans, and his dual keyboard set up was a great backing sound for this band. I loved how at ease the whole band was, basking in the supportive crowd, but also not taking it for granted. A “it’s so good to be home” elicited loud cheers at the front of Telephone Line, a pure rock banger and it had the audience in full clap mode. Your Smith rolled into a slightly slower section, with Lyin’ a brutally tough song from the lyrical side. If it isn’t clear, the new album is pretty much fire, and The Rub is easily in my top 10 albums of 2025. Rolling into the last set of songs, we had the brilliant Smooth Talker get DeCarlo Jackson of Hippo Campus on stage to play trumpet, and he crushed it. That song is top tier, with Smith’s “sounds like some typical bulls***” ringing so perfectly true. That back end of songs was increasingly alt rock and continued to show Your Smith’s outstanding songwriting and performing. A “I hate encores” had Smith finishing up without ever leaving stage (a sentiment I agree with!). Wild Wild Woman had Your Smith in a nearly R&B mode and that final song, Mr. Revival had Your Smith having played almost the entirety of The Rub and leaving First Avenue buzzing about such a tremendous concert.