The Joy Formidable at The Parkway Theater, Minneapolis (May 21st, 2026)

A promised “Evening With The Joy Formidable” — no openers — was intriguing enough. But the poster clarified that both Ritzy Bryan and Rhydian Dafydd have their own solo projects. So, with only two chairs on the stage: still two openers, then?

Not exactly. TJF is just Bryan and Dafydd at the moment, and the opening blast of “The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie” — the searing opener from their 2011 breakthrough debut, The Big Roar — made clear that we’d start and end with The Joy Formidable, solo work sprinkled in later. That would have to wait, though, as Dafydd struggled with his equipment. “It’s the last night of the tour,” he offered, “so if it’s not getting sorted, it’s never getting sorted.” First: things that somehow escaped the “plugged in?” sound check. (With no percussion, Dafydd had wired-up feet that turned his stomps into tambourines and kick drums.) Then: a dead battery in the electro-acoustic guitar, and a troublesome assembly to even get the battery out. A heroic audience member took the guitar out to the lobby and returned with it refreshed after just one song requiring swapped guitars. “I knew the people of Minneapolis would be helpful and supportive,” Bryan remarked.

Bryan claims Welsh as a second language, and the songs she writes and sings in Welsh are among her most affecting. We got a handful, including “Yn Rhydiau’r Afon,” from a 7″ split with Colorama — a song that blooms from something intimate into something enormous even in a stripped setting. The promised solo material was kept to a strict minimum (one song apiece), but Bryan and Dafydd supported each other on those efforts so thoroughly that you’d barely know the difference. Between the two of them — two guitars, electronic help, and their soaring harmonies — they didn’t need much to sound huge.

The two-set structure (no opener, but two hour-long sets) gave room to stretch. For the second, they were occasionally joined by percussionist Byron Owens of Utah’s Stone Company, whose shakers, electronics, and theremin-esque bowed saw — one instrument, we learned, that must travel in checked bags — added an expansive dimension to a Parkway stage deliberately chosen for intimacy. The Joy Formidable, though, was always going to bring their characteristic intensity regardless of the room.

Until the technical issues bit again. Dafydd started playing a Kinks cover one song early. Then Bryan opened “Whirring” on the second verse, and when the song stopped to recover the first, she recalled the bewildered L.A. studio engineer who’d heard “this much delight / fills columns to new heights” and understood not “filled columns” but Phil Collins. Having told that story, Ritzy Bryan had the sillies, and “Whirring” was postponed entirely — which made it the perfect moment for the Kinks cover after all. “Cradle” and “Wolf’s Law” closed the night, with a promise to return with a full band and kick it up several more notches.

TJF’s stage banter is always priceless. The last night of a tour can offer hearty helpings.