The Cribs at 7th Street Entry (May 2, 2026)

It was another hectic night in downtown Minneapolis as concert goers streamed towards the Target Center to see Demi Lovato and First Ave where AFI was hosting a sold-out show.  And based on the dress of both parties you knew who was going where.  (No overlap!)

Tucked in at Seventh Street Entry The Cribs were set to play in front of a full room.  But first a local band warmed up the gathering crowd. 

It was our first time catching The Dead Century, but they have been playing 7th Street Entry and the Turf Club for a few years.  Formed in 2016 they consist of Nick Check on vocals and guitar, his brother JP on bass, Austin Peterson on lead guitar and Rob Muehlbauer on drums.  

After a few songs it was easy to see they have the same loose, go-for-broke style of The Hold Steady.  A highlight was “One More Year” that moved from Nick’s urgent lyrics to Austin’s guitar solos.  

Nick said there was no place in the world he’d rather be that at 7th Street Entry on a Saturday night. He even played a new song, “Hey Chicago”, and based on the crowd’s reaction, it looked like they had more than a few fans singing along.  

Next up was The Cribs.  It had been a while since they last had been to the Twin Cities.  We were at the the Turf Club show in Sept, 2015, Vu writing:

I think it’s best summed up by The Cribs‘ guitarist/vocalist Ryan Jarman as he exclaimed, “Let’s rock like it’s 2007!” referring to their first St Paul show. 

Vu wrote at the end of the review that, “I guess we’ll just see them in another eight years or so.”  In fact, it’s been +10, but brothers Ryan, Gary and Ross showed no signs of slowing down and kicked off the evening with a blistering rush of five to six songs before they even took a break.  

As a side note, I was coming off a long day on the back of a long week, and was only really thinking of reaching my bed.  But I have to say by that fourth song, all that sinking tiredness had washed away with a pure shot of punk alt rock.  

Even though their visits are few and far between, Ryan and Gary mentioned that Minneapolis has a special place in their heart.  They even gave a special shout-out to Babes in Toyland and Sean Na Na. But it was evident by those first few songs that The Replacements are in this band’s DNA.  In fact, the roadie that checked all the monitors before the show was wearing an intricate shirt with the Replacements name on the back and pictures of its members in the front. It wasn’t a concert tee, but a fancy bowling or Hawaiian shirt.   The kind of shirt that a true fan would wear.

The Cribs definitely channeled the local legends on a rare trip back to the Twin Cities.