Dream, Ivory and Rew at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (March 17th 2026)

Well, hello.  I didn’t realize anyone else was here.  Please come, pull up a chair by the fire.  It’s not much but it keeps the cold from completely running rampant through the Metro area.  Here, have a glass; I find whiskey helps, as well.  Now, fair stranger, tell me your tale. What brings you in?  You’re looking for a music review, you say?  I don’t follow.  Why would you come here for a music review?  This is just a simple pub in the Irish countryside.  What’s that you say?  A website for musical reviews?  Here?  Are you sure?  Look at the Title? Dream Ivory and Rew at 7^th Street Entry.  Yes, that does sound like a music review. My mistake.  I thought this was a one-man show.  Well, I’ll be on my way.  Enjoy your review.

Well, that was awkward but here we finally are.  Definitely a review of the Dream Ivory show and not an ill-conceived one man, three-act play about a disillusioned wall street banker who ditches the Big Apple for the quiet simplicity of the Irish countryside and perhaps finds love? But definitely finds inner peace but only after facing the Banshee of the Bog who then makes facing his newly acquired rival Seamus O’Conner a lot easier and helps him realize that all along he’s been the real Seamus O’Conner AND then he finds inner peace and perhaps love?  So, Dream Ivory, back in the Twin Cities less than a year after opening for bôa  next door at First Avenue.  I reviewed that show and was really impressed by their performance.  At that time, Christian Baello, founding member along with brother Louie, told me then that they had only recently moved from synthesizers and computers to playing guitar and bass live, so I was eager to see how their set and skill had evolved.  Drummer Daniel Vanchieri, who the brothers had added at the start of their previous tour, was still with them and is still the absolute right call for their live performance. 

However, before I get into the details of the headliner, let’s talk about the opener.  Rew, a one-man band hailing from suburban Delaware, has, according to a few articles I read online (here and here), been making music for years.  He’s seven albums in but relatively new to touring.  I did not know what to expect.  As an old man, as set in his ways as old Seamus O’Conner, who grew up on concerts where musicians just played an instrument and/or sang, I’m always a little leery of live shows that are heavy on live-looping.  Sometimes, they don’t really feel like live music to me.  Guess which way I’m going to go with the review.  Am I going to lump Rew in with that? or tell you he changed my heart and mind (just like the Irish countryside changed our protagonist’s heart?)  I think we all know where I’m going – he was rubbish.  No!  Kidding, or course.  I really liked him and his performance.  I’m a sucker for earnest and honest performers, and that definitely describes Rew.  Yes, there were pre-recorded layers to his music, but it very much felt live. I enjoyed the between-song activity to prepare the next song and his quiet appreciative interaction with the crowd.  I noticed during one song that he was tuning his guitar while continuing to play and sing.  That’s a hallmark of a skilled musician, in my mind.  Even with a misstart on his last song, which he handled with aplomb and the support of the audience, his eight-song set came in at a tight 30 minutes. 

This was the seventh show of Dream Ivory’s “At Zero” tour in support of their second album, 2025’s When You Come Back I Have So Much To Tell You.  They are halfway through their North American tour, which will be followed by a sixteen-show European tour this summer.  That’s a pretty impressive slate for their first headlining tour.  Obviously, topping the bill at a place like 7^th Street Entry is a different experience than opening a show at First Ave but the show is theirs.  The fans are there to see them play, and the trio put on a great show for their fans.  I was against the curtained wall, stage right, for the first couple of songs and could barely hear the vocals, which was a little disappointing.  However, when I moved to the other side, they became much clearer – still quiet, but audible.  I had a chance to speak with Christian again before the show and asked him how it felt headlining versus opening.  He first commented on the length of the set; they played seven songs last May compared to eighteen songs for this tour.  It allowed them to prepare some old songs for their live show, which, he said, they enjoyed doing.  They kicked things off with a fan favorite “Would It Kill You at All” off of their debut LP About a Boy.  They stayed in their older discography, hitting songs like “Wedding Crasher” and “I’m So Emo” for most of the first half.  It wasn’t until the seventh song, “I Don’t Even Know You” that they introduced their new album.  All told, they played eight songs off of WYCBIHSTTY with “Tangerine Dream” and “Solar Eclipse” being highlights.  They closed the show with two staples: their ten-year old baby “welcome and goodbye”, which had achieved streaming success in 2024, and their eponymous song, “Dream Ivory”. 

On a cold snowy night in Minneapolis, 7^th Street Entry gave us a window into a quiet Irish countryside where we watched a jaded man open his heart and learn… ok, ok, I’ll stop but only because I’m wrapping up the review.  Rew was endearing and put on a solid show that displayed his talent.  I think he felt the love.  It was a lot of fun to catch up with Christian and Dream Ivory almost a year later.  As I said in my last review, I’m rooting for them, and I’m rooting for them even harder after this show.  I hope they climb the ladder and can open Fine Line the next time they roll through the Twin Cities.