The Suburbs at Turf Club (November 14, 2026)

One of the fun things that can happen in a music scene as rich and deep as the Twin Cities is that you can get the opportunity to see a band in a much smaller venue than might otherwise be true. Proving the point, Twin Cities pioneering rockers The Suburbs were doing a pair of shows at the Turf Club in Saint Paul and I felt lucky to sneak into night two to see the legends.

The evening started with The Rodents, a Minneapolis based quartet playing some punk and new wave influenced rock. I love that two of the members have a long history supporting tours as stage techs and all four have been heavily involved in the local music scene. On stage with vocals/guitar, guitar/vocals, vocals/bass, and drums, those punk tendencies were definitely at play with the song Beer Drinker, but still on top of a solid rock foundation. These guys knew the drill and were tight on their marks and I always love good musicianship. Cellophane had a solid guitar intro as the bassist took lead vocals and his slightly higher tenor gave a different tone that played well here. Changing back over to the baritone vocals brought that contrast right to the forefront and The Rodents were running great. And of course, as soon as that happened, they started the wrong song and it went a bit into the intro before they stopped and got going on the right one. River’s Edge was solid even as our second guitarist hurriedly changed rigs and caught up just in time for his instrumental solo, and that small bit of drama got big cheers from the upbeat crowd. A bit of country tone on that one showed that the band had cast a pretty wide net on their genre inspirations. A Dire Straits cover of So Far Away was right up the band’s alley and they pulled the audience in to a bit of sing along on the chorus. 4 More Years wasn’t a political song, though it got some good jokes before getting going with some more solid guitar work. Standing by Yourself had the most electric intro of the evening, and it was nearly the end of the set. No Time was a perfectly named closer and The Rodents had offered up a great start with their professional rock and roll work.

Up to cap off their two night run was The Suburbs. A foundational band in the Twin Cities rock & roll story, they have a certain pop, art rock sound, with a good mix of humor mixed in as well. The band has had a couple of long hiatuses, first in the late 80’s and again in the early 2010’s, and it’s also come with various line up changes, but with vocalist & keyboardist Chan Poling and drummer Hugo Klaers being in all iterations. They have seven albums over their nearly fifty years, ranging from their 1980 debut In Combo to 2021’s quite fun Poets Party. We last caught The Suburbs quite literally in the suburbs in August 2026 as part of Excelsior’s Concerts in the Commons music series. The band (so many people!, vocals/keyboards, guitar, guitar, bass, vocals, drums, trumpet/keys, and sax) was just vibrant out of the gate. And when Turn the Radio On hit as the second number the crowd went completely off and Poling was clearly pleased. Dish It Up let Klaers rule on the heavy drum intro and this had a bit of that pop art sound as Poling sang spoke the lyrics and that brass gave an underlying brightness to the number. Steve Price’s bass work here was clutch and his Michael Caine-esque suit and look were top notch as well. Poling got some keys work at several points on Tiny People and things were running so smoothly that it was easy to not notice how locked in the band was to each other. Guitarist Steve Brantseg may have the most intrinsic rock & roll mode of nearly any musician I’ve ever seen, as he had a flair at all times that never detracted from the overall band. He and Jeremy Ylvisaker (also on guitar) had a great moment lined up with each other that just screamed rock and that was such a relatively small moment, but it was the summation of all of these things that made The Suburbs so entrancing. 

Cigarette in Backwards was another delightfully silly song that showed great musical skill. Music for Boys was killer and that underlying musical motif was bomb. Janey Winterbauer got some great moments on backing vocals and she simply did whatever needing doing: singing, dancing, percussion, it all got done. Lost You on the Dance Floor was spot on for the band and was humorous and emotionally meaningful at the same time, if that makes any sense whatsoever. Cows was everything you would hope for, and that silliness while still being a fabulous rock song was a perfect summation of the band and it also had an excellent Ylvisaker guitar solo. We had a guest drummer late, which let Klaers take vocals on Baby Heartbeat, which had the crowd screaming along. Rattle My Bones was such a good close to the main set and brass was perfectly set to support the multiple vocal harmonies. Up for the encore, the crowd reaction was tremendous and while there were two songs, the only closer that mattered was Love Is the Law and as the brass heavy intro hit the crowd was in full dance mode. The Suburbs had thoroughly owned the evening and the lucky crowd was near ecstatic as they lined up for merch.