Fruit Bats at Fine Line (October 22, 2026)

Fruit Bats Setlist

1. Shane
2. Think Aboutcha
3. Rushin’ River Valley
4. Let You People Down
5. When U Love Somebody
6. Cazadera
7. Rainbow Sign
8. From a Soon-to-Be Ghost Town
9. The Bottom of It
10. My Sweet Midwest
11. You’re Too Weird
12. The Saddest Part of the Song
13. That Goddamn Sun
14. Mandy from Mohawk (Wherever You May Be)
15. The Balcony
16. Flamingo
17. The Landfill
18. Perhaps We’re a Storm
19. Humbug Mountain Song
    
    — Encore —
20. A Lingering Love

Rocktober has everything you could want and more. With so many shows every night right now, it’s an embarrassment of riches, and many bands playing new albums released this year. It was time to dig into some indie rock music as Fruit Bats hitting the Fine Line in Minneapolis supporting new music.

The evening started with Matthew Logan Vasquez. He’s part of the rock band Delta Spirit, but he’s also released six solo albums, including 2026’s Sana Sana. We last caught Vasquez opening for Low Cut Connie in October 2023 at First Avenue. The trio (vocals/guitar, bass/vocals, and drums) came out with a high flying rock and roll, with Vasquez into it and the music turned all the way up. This was a much heavier rock than the more placid album versions I had listened to, and I was pleasantly surprised at how hard the band was going at it. Trailer let the drummer go loose and the intensity and fervor were pretty hypnotizing. It also helped to have the drummer mid stage instead of way to the back, and it made the whole experience feel a bit more intimate. Wolf had Vasquez howling several times in the song and it elicited similar responses from the crowd. Vasquez also had several guitar solos on this one and it had the band laying into it. That was followed up by his singing into the heavily reverbed guitar pressed right up against his face, in a move I am pretty sure I have never witnessed before. These guys had no room for small talk, mostly moving from one to the next rather quickly with Vasquez occasionally throwing out a brief comment or band introductions with music playing. Heading into a couple from the new album, Hanging had a timeless rock feel, with punctuated vocals and driving instrumental sections, with all three blasting off for a bit before settling down slightly for the next verse. Another round with Wish It Were Me had the build up and man, the drummer just killed it as he pounded those large, heavy cymbals and his energy throughout the set was outstanding. Vasquez called for and got an audience conga line as they moved into a cover of Wooly Bully and they simply rolled through a bunch of songs with things getting increasingly wild. Vasquez thought they were out of time, but the drummer (correctly) noted the wall clock was three minutes fast, so they jumped into one more and the crowd was emphatic in their applause as Matthew Logan Vasquez had laid it all out there for a tremendous opening set.

Fruit Bats, the band name for Eric D. Johnson, was ready to take over. Johnson has had a long and fruitful (sorry, not sorry) music career. He started with Califone (who we recently saw at Turf Club in April), then got going on his own, only to also join The Shins for a few years in the latter 2000s. But all the while he has been busy with the Fruit Bats title, with a dozen albums released, including his newest The Landfill, released here in June 2026. We saw Fruit Bats playing solo in October 2025 at Icehouse. In that show, Dan noted that “the stripped down format suited him”, as he played a set of sad songs. Here at Fine Line, we had a full band (vocals/guitar, guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums) on stage and Shane was a good starter that was a full indie rock sound, even when it strayed more towards a folk Americana. Rushin’ River Valley was a bit of a southern rock style and the backing band was a good match for that material. Crazily difficult, somehow the bassist managed to break a string and as he ran off to borrow the opener’s bass, we got a solo song of Let You People Down which was well done and just as Johnson thought about a second one (starting with the lyrics “still waiting”), the bassist was back and Fruit Bats headed into the planned agenda again. The opening chords of When U Love Somebody had the crowd cheering loudly, then singing along and that repeated guitar riff was a solid and catchy hook. Rainbow Sign had a long psych rock sounding open before Johnson came in vocally, and then he was enveloped in a silly amount of fog, an oft repeated effect that eventually forced me to give up my spot at the front of stage. I love good sequencing of songs, and Fruit Bats was doing a great job of slowly shifting across some related genres and From Soon-to-Be a Ghost Town had keyboards and drums really shining in support. My Sweet Midwest had the lights drop all the way down before the spots came on for that folk rock song and we had a bit of a guitar jam late and the band was cruising.

We had some funk guitar and keys in yet another shift and the band was in a bit of a R&B mode with Johnson well up in his vocal register for a bouncy version of You’re Too Weird. A pair of songs from the new album had the most Americana number in That Goddamn Sun, with a near slide guitar effect and more good keys work. The upbeat tempo of Balcony felt fun for the band and was another catchy song. After a solo song (on purpose this time!), the band was back for the title track and The Landfill was a perfect late set number, with Johnson full out on the vocals. After band intros, Humbug Mountain Song was the end of the main set, a banger with Johnson’s long hair flying. After a bit of a wait, the encore was A Lingering Love and was a final burst as Fruit Bats thanked the crowd and a happy crowd headed to merch or poured out onto the Minneapolis streets having witnessed a very fun show.