Cut Worms Setlist

Worlds Unknown
Evil Twin
Long Weekend
Don’t Look Down
Alien Sunset
It Won’t Be Too Long
Always on My Mind
Out of Touch
Ballad of the Texas King
Castle in the Clouds
Dream
Solo on keyboards
Last Words to a Refugee
Solo on guitar
Walk in an Absent Mind
Windows on the World
Barfly
Shut In
Living Inside
Song of the Highest Tower
Don’t Want to Say Good-Bye
— Encore —
Walk Away
Veteran’s Day
Can’t Hardly Wait (The Replacements cover)

Tchotchke Setlist

Did You Hear?
Ronnie
Dizzy
Poor Girl
Kisses
Oh Sweetheart, Come
Skipping Around
Love Is Strange (Mickey & Sylvia cover)
Playin’ Dumb
Goodbye
C’mon Marianne (The Four Seasons cover)

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■ Cut Worms
Cut Worms is the music project of American singer, songwriter, and musician Max Clarke. Clarke, known by his stage name Cut Worms, is a singer, songwriter, and musician hailing from Strongsville, Ohio who is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.He has opened for bands such as Jenny Lewis, Kevin Morby, The Lemon Twigs and Michael Rault.

If you go to a lot of shows, some of them will be unexpected surprises. On the other hand, some of them will be everything you are hoping for. On a superb spring day in Saint Paul, I knew it was going to be the latter, with a pair of pop rock groups out of New York over at the Turf Club, headlined by Cut Worms.

Tchotchke was the opener and is one of my personal favorites. We last saw them here at Turf Club in April 2023, opening for King Tuff. The trio, with Anastasia Sanchez (vocals/drums), Eva Chambers (bass), and Emily Tooraen (guitars) have a pair of albums, including the A+ work on 2025’s Playin’ Dumb. It’s a great pop rock sound that plays up the musical bubble gum sound that is often at odds with the deeply cutting lyrics, commonly aimed at rampant and casual sexism, but has a broad swath of targets. Coming to the stage, they jumped right into the new album with Did You Hear?, with Sanchez crushing drums but still clear on her slightly reverbed vocals. Ronnie was a killer track off the first album, and Tchotchke had actually gotten a group of fans right up to the stage (not an easy task with a Minnesota crowd). Sanchez noted this was their first night with the headliner but they certainly didn’t have any first show jitters.

It was just a run of hits and Dizzy was a great example of the excellent harmonies and even different lyrics that Chambers and Tooraen provided. Tchotchke were rolling at a breakneck pace and it really worked. More great guitar work from Tooraen on Kisses was par for the course for the set. A mention that they had been to Paisley Park earlier in the day (“the facilities were amazing”) was silly fun and they jumped right back into the music. Backing harmonies on Oh Sweetheart, Come were fantastic and the band was on fire. Tooraen had lead vocals for Skipping Around which was an effective change of pace, especially with Chambers’ great bass work. Just to finish lead vocals off right, Chambers got front for the first half of their cover of Love Is Strange. The title track of the new album was the band at their most satirical and simply rocked. Closing on a cover of C’Mon Marianne, Tchotchke had demolished expectations of an opener, and we’ll be looking forward to their own headlining tour in the future.

Up next was headliner Cut Worms, the stage/band name for singer, songwriter, and musician Max Clarke. With four albums under his belt, including 2026’s Transmitter, Cut Worms has cut (sorry, not sorry) a relaxed retro pop sound that lets Clarke’s smooth vocals ring. But like our opener, those lyrics often belie a much more malcontented view of the world, making this all the more interesting on a deeper listen. We last saw the band in October 2023, also here at Turf Club. The quintet (vocals/guitar/keys, guitar/steel guitar, guitar, bass, and drums) arrived and the opener Worlds Unknown was perfectly breezy with some lyrics that might make you stop and think. The band was on top of things, and Long Weekend had the bass player on very good back up vocals, supplementing Clarke well. The flanking guitarists each got their moment on lead, with slightly different styles. Alien Sunset continued the nearly 60’s retro pop rock, and Cut Worms was delivering those hooks.

It Won’t Be Too Long got us the first of the steel pedal and it was perfect for the song. Cut Worms were not super chatty, but gave a nice welcome to the opener and some appreciative thanks in the early going. Out of Touch got Clarke to the keyboards for a stretch and created a good switch of sonic tone. Castle in the Clouds was the first really Americana number, but seemed a natural progression for the set. The stage cleared for a solo number on keyboards and Dream was sequenced for maximal effect and the audience was absorbed. A switch to guitar for another solo number, then the band was back for Walk in an Absent Mind and that build back of the full band sound was expertly timed. Shut In was quietly sardonic, and was another great example of bright music with the underlying dark lyrics. The set finished on a tailor made closer in Don’t Want to Say Good-Bye, and I do sometimes wonder if bands write this kind of song purposefully or if it just works out that way. Back for the encore, Cut Worms started with an unreleased number in Walk Away, and it was a great continuation off of the Transmitter album. Finishing on a The Replacements Can’t Hardly Wait (“we’re going to butcher this as we learned it earlier today”), but dear reader, they did not, and it was such a wonderful end to the evening. Cut Worms were happily swarmed at the merch table, showing how much the crowd thought of the evening, and it was nice to walk outside in that palpable joy.