St Paul

Minnesota Yacht Club, Harriet Island (July 20, 2025)

The final day of the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival, at Harriet Island, in St Paul, was looking to be nearly perfect weather and was certainly the heaviest attended crowd of the festival early in the day.

Minnesota Yacht Club, Harriet Island (July 19, 2025)

With no real rain in the forecast for Day 2 of the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival, things were looking clear for the full slate of bands. Organizers and Festival staff kept things moving smoothly, which was impressive given the large number of people in the relatively small Harriet Island Regional Park.

Twin Cities Jazz Festival at Mears Park, St Paul (June 20-21, 2025)

On a balmy summer evening in downtown St. Paul the Twin Cities Jazz Festival kicked off its 27th year. Earlier in the week the Star and Tribune noted that the TCJF is bigger than the Taste of Minnesota and boasts more musical acts than the Minnesota Yacht Club. In fact, there were over eighty artists playing 20 venues over two days and a lot of it was free. So, it was my intention to catch five of these acts at Mears Park.

Mozart’s Prague Symphony with Gábor Takács-Nagy at Ordway Concert Hall, St Paul (June 15, 2025)

In their 2024-25 season finale, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra delighted the audience and received three standing ovations throughout the afternoon at the Ordway Concert Hall. Reunited with Gábor Takács-Nagy, it was clear to see the strong connection the orchestra has developed over the years with the Hungarian conductor.

Sessanta (Primus, Puscifer, A Perfect Circle) at Xcel Energy Center (Jun 1, 2025)

Xcel Energy Center last night played host to Sessanta 2.0, the continuation of Sessanta, which was the sequel to Cinquanta – a 50th birthday celebration for Maynard James Keenan. The show featured A Perfect Circle, Primus and Puscifer all on stage at the same time rotating through (mostly) three song sets (see set list to the right) with those not actively performing just hanging out (or sometimes involved in antics), enjoying the show. It was a remarkable, well-executed approach.

The Magnetic Fields at Fitzgerald Theater (May 9-10, 2025)

Five Artists, Four sets, three records (or CDs if you prefer), two nights, and one Stephin Merritt: 69 Love Songs the 25th Anniversary tour at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul. What a sublime couple of evenings. The Magnetic Fields know how to put on a performance and those in attendance were treated to an amazing one. I had the pleasure of seeing them perform 69 Love Songs like this back in 2002 and was blown away by the fidelity to the sound of the album while simultaneously being its own event. The voices of Shirley Simms and Stephin Merritt were flawless. Having been to my fair share of recent shows by bands from the ‘90s and ‘00s, I was not sure what to expect of their voices 23 years later. Well, spoiler alert, they’re still flawless, and I don’t say that lightly.