Kim Gordon Setlist

PLAY ME
GIRL WITH A LOOK
NO HANDS
BLACK OUT
DIRTY TECH
NOT TODAY
BUSY BEE
SQUARE JAW
SUBCON
POST EMPIRE
NAIL BITER
BYE BYE
I’m a Man
Trophies
It’s Dark Inside
Psychedelic Orgasm
Paprika Pony
Cookie Butter
— Encore —
Cigarette

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■ Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the band, while Steve Shelley (drums) followed a series of short-term drummers in 1985, rounding out the core line-up. Jim O’Rourke (bass, guitar, keyboards) was also a member of the band from 1999 to 2005, and Mark Ibold (bass, guitar) was a member from 2006 to 2011.

Downtown Minneapolis was an absolute madhouse as the Minnesota Twins were hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers with the greatest player on earth, Shohei Ohtani, taking the mound for the visitors. A few blocks over at First Avenue another icon, rock & roller Kim Gordon, would be donning the stage to wow a different crowd.

Fiery Furnaces were the opener and the sibling pair of Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger have been at it since 2000, in an on-again, off-again band in between solo efforts. After a huge run of eight albums in the 2000’s, they took a decade plus hiatus, and recently put out Stuck in My Head in 2024. Their art-pop infused indie rock is a very particular thing and that’s produced concept albums with gargantuan, ten minute tracks and in this most recent album, twenty full tracks. After a bit of a delay, the duo (keyboards/back up vocals and vocals) launched into that very intricate piano work and Eleanor singing. Blueberry Boat was the exquisitely long opener and a perfect intro, with a number of sections of piano and its very full lyrical story. Matthew’s piano work slid across into some epic feeling sweeps, though with just the keyboards and vocal, the overall volume was obviously capped and this had a stripped down acoustic-style feel. My Egyptian Grammar was fun, but I also have to admit it was difficult as times to know when one song had ended and the next began, as they purposefully kept things moving. Matthew was suddenly pounding keys on Forty-Eight Twenty-Three Twenty-Second St. and creating an operatic feel that supported Eleanor’s cryptic lyrical flow. It was such a lulling, hypnotic set of continuous music that when Eleanor simply said “thank you”, it snapped a chunk of the audience out of the dream to cheer for the band. There were also moments of near satire, as when Eleanor sang, “and I told them they had the wrong Eleanor Friedberger” in complete seriousness. As they wrapped up they thanked the crowd, and Fiery Furnaces had truly made a unique vibe for the evening.

I got to talk with Matthew, and later, with Eleanor between sets. Asking Matthew about that more stripped down feel, he was nearly apologetic at first, saying “you can be soft or loud on keys, well, not too loud actually”. But he was also quietly passionate about how the sets give the crowd a unique experience, and I couldn’t have agreed more. Later, I asked Eleanor if she had any preference for the significantly longer numbers or the (mostly) shorter numbers on the 2024 album. She stopped and really thought about it, and dear reader, thinking is not necessarily an easy thing to do near the merch table with all of the bustle and noise of the surrounding crowd. Eleanor ultimately didn’t seem to have a preference, but mentioned their approach to the live sets where songs can be adapted to length and that they come up with a set, hone it for a few performances, then change things up. It was fun to see the real intentionality from Fiery Furnaces, and hopefully they will be back around sooner than later.

The great Kim Gordon had the crowd murmuring in anticipation. Although most famous from her time in Sonic Youth, she’s got three excellent solo albums, including 2026’s PLAY ME. These albums have a heavy electronic backed mix to Gordon’s guitar and vocals. On this evening, it was a quartet (vocals/guitar, bass/electronica, guitar/electronica, and drums) that came out and this was power rock with that heavy, danceable electronic music. Gordon was rocking that microphone in the way that only seasoned veterans can, and her backing band was perfectly supportive, while helping drive things forward. It became clear right away that we were going to get the entirety of the new album played in order, and dear reader, that wasn’t a problem in the least. Gordon was a presence and GIRL WITH A LOOK was angry and desirous all at the same time. The audience was hooked and the mix of electronic music with more traditional instruments was pretty brilliant. DIRTY TECH was a wonderfully weird number and Gordon and band were running on all cylinders.

Gordon finally brought out the guitar, and in that quiet moment, a “we love you, Kim” got a raucous cheer. But not as raucous as the intro to BUSY BEE, which had a much more industrial backing sound, similar to the wonderfully abrasive The Collective album from 2024. It also had brutal drum work that provided a complementary base to the song. SUBCON had some vocal modulation beneath or with(?) Gordon’s dripping spoken sung lyrics. BYE BYE was the transition between albums and got us to that darker and heavier industrial sound, and now we were into the earlier solo work. Gordon was on guitar for a lot more of the latter set and she simply commanded attention. The deeply satirical I’m a Man was just poison in Gordon’s hands and was a highlight of the entire evening. Psychadelic Orgasm had Gordon kneeling on stage, which looked super uncomfortable, but she popped up quickly to finish it off. A heavily vocal modulation on Paprika Pony also had more killer drum work and it was obvious we were nearing the end. The main set ended with Gordon knelt over the pedal boards, working it furiously on guitar for Cookie Batter, and after a quick exit from stage, the encore once again had Gordon on guitar for the unreleased Cigarette. Dark and rumbly, it was a perfect finish for rock royalty and Kim Gordon walked out of First Avenue riding high.