Minneapolis This Week (October 19, 2025)
Here is what is going on this week in Minneapolis/St Paul, ending on October 19, 2025: • DICE at Turf Club (Oct 14, 2025) • Paul McCartney at US Bank Stadium (Oct 17, 2025)
Music
GoGo Penguin at Fine Line, Minneapolis (October 7, 2025)
Manchester trio GoGo Penguin brought their intricate, guitar-free blend of jazz and electronica to the Fine Line. Surrounded by keyboards, laptops, and acoustic drums, they delivered dizzying polyrhythms and luminous tension. Bassist Nick Blacka anchored the chaos.
Grandaddy at First Avenue, Minneapolis (October 8, 2025)
Twenty-one years after their last Minnesota show, Grandaddy returned to First Avenue to perform The Sophtware Slump in full. Note-perfect and emotionally heavy, the set traced millennial dread and fragile hope before loosening into celebratory encores—including birthday cake for guitarist Jim Fairchild. Vermont’s Greg Freeman opened with a beautifully restrained set.
Peter Murphy: Silver Shade
Silver Shade is Peter Murphy’s latest album; his first new music in over 10 years.
Jax: October 24 to October 27, 2025
Here are some shows, taking place in Jacksonville and nearby cities, from October 24 to October 27, 2025: • Tedeschi Trucks Bandt at the Amp (Oct 24-25, 2025) • Aly & AJ at FIVE (Oct 25, 2025) • Matisyahu at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall (Oct 27, 2025)
elbow at First Avenue (October 7, 2025)
British band elbow played a great show at First Avenue, with a full band creating some amazingly layered sounds.
Royel Otis at Uptown Theater, Kansas City MO (2025-10-03)
Australian guitar-pop sensations duo Royel Otis played a crowded Uptown Theater (after being brought indoors and upgraded from GrindersKC) in midtown Kansas City, in support of their second full-length, hickey, released in August (via Ourness/Capitol Records). Explaining the album title, the pair has said "…because love bites harder than any other emotion in the world."
Mpls: November 2, 2025
Here are some shows in Minneapolis/St Paul on November 2, 2025: • Infinity Song at Amsterdam Bar & Hall (Nov 2, 2025) • Billy Raffoul at Turf Club (Nov 2, 2025) • The Two Lips at 7th St Entry (Nov 2, 2025)
Caroline Kingsbury and Maris at Green Room, Minneapolis (October 4th 2025)
Alright, another Twin Cities music venue under my belt as the Green Room played host to co-headliners, Caroline Kingsbury and Maris. It’s a fun, intimate venue with plenty of great sightlines. The balcony allows for great views of the stage; straight on you still fell plenty close, and from the sides you feel like you’re practically on stage. When I review shows, I tend to move about and really couldn’t find a bad spot. If you haven’t been, check it out.
Laveda: Love, Darla
New York-based quartet Laveda released their third album Love, Darla on Bar/None Records.
Ehsan Matoori at The O’Shaughnessy (October 4, 2025)
Ehsan Matoori and friends brought an evening of world music to The O’Shaughnessy in St. Paul, performing original works inspired by the poetry of Rumi.
Joan Osborne at The Dakota (October 3, 2025)
Singer Joan Osborne featured a set of Bob Dylan songs mixed with her own in the first of a two night set at the Dakota in Minneapolis.
Low Cut Connie at First Avenue (October 2, 2025)
Next up and right on time was Low Cut Connie. What more needs to be said about this bawdy, fun-loving house band. We are big fans and have seen them quite a bit over the years. There was John’s review in Nov, 2018
Shonen Knife: Our Best Place (Expanded Edition)
Our Best Place (Expanded Edition) (Sep 19, 2025) Shonen Knife Discography Minna Tanoshiku (1982) Burning...
Tune-Yards at Fine Line (October 1, 2025)
Tune-Yards, with opener Kassa Overall, brought a tremendous start to Rocktober at Fine Line in Minneapolis.
Water From Your Eyes and Her New Knife at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (30 Sep 2025)
Water From Your Eyes and Her New Knife at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (30 Sep 2025)
Stacey Ryan at 7th Street Entry (September 29, 2025)
It was an early show at 7th Street Entry, as two young singer songwriters were...
KALEO at The Fillmore (September 29, 2025)
Icelandic blues rock band KALEO wrapped up their successful American tour with a stop at The Fillmore in Minneapolis. They closed on a bang.
John Maus at Green Room (September 28, 2025)
John Maus brought a unique energy to the Green Room in Minneapolis and unleashed an onslaught of music and stage presence.
Big Trouble at The White Squirrel Bar (September 27, 2025)
Big Trouble had their monthly residence performance at The White Squirrel Bar and the instrumental band played a wide variety of genres, highlighting their skills as musicians.
Record Player R612
The world’s best record players are all made by Audio-Technica. It is the brand that everybody, who is into vinyl, recommends. I would love to own an Audio-Technica product, but all their starter turntables are priced at $200 to $350. Those are the starters, which are the “cheap” entries. If you want to “Step-Up”, those starts at $400… and when you go all-in, you’re looking at $2,000 for a turntable. That is crazy money to throw at a record player, in my opinion.
Deltron 3030 at Uptown Theater (September 24, 2025)
Supergroup Deltron 3030 (Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Dan the Automator and Kid Koala) just rocked the Uptown Theater, in Minneapolis, last Wednesday. They did all the hits (“3030”, “Positive Contact”, “Memory Loss”), and, like the last time, they played “Clint Eastwood”, the song that made Gorillaz famous.
Radio Free Alice at 7th Street Entry (September 24, 2025)
Almost October, and Wednesday night was as balmy as any summer eve. Downtown Minneapolis was...
James at First Avenue (September 21, 2025)
James was at First Avenue and rewarded the crowd with a marathon set, playing the entirety of the album Laid and much more.
Sparks at the Fitzgerald Theater (September 20, 2025)
Sparks is a musical tandem of Russell and Ron Mael, two brothers born and raised on the coast of California, who found a musical home in London. Their musical journey started quite a while ago in 1971. Since then they have recorded 28 studio albums and over 500 songs. They are currently touring to promote their latest release Mad, but they had plenty of other songs to dip into during their almost two hour concert.
Dakota 40th Anniversary Block Party at Dakota Jazz Club (September 20, 2025)
Forty-year anniversary celebrations were on the menu this weekend. In Chicago the Pogues played Riot Fest to celebrate the 40 years since the release of their seminal album Rum Sodomy & the Lash. At The Bank on the University of Minnesota campus an all-star line-up, including Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, headlined the 40th Farm Aid Music Festival. And on Nicollet Mall in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, a jazz club reached the rare milestone and decided to throw a party.
Pulp at the Armory, Minneapolis (September 20, 2025)
Pulp's charming frontman disclosed all of this to us over the course of a captivating two-hour show - one that betrayed no sign of his advancing age (62 years and, now, one day). The touring version of Pulp (ten strong, with many of them switching instruments and roles throughout the night) sounded phenomenal, whether picking tracks from 1995's Different Class or 2025's More. If you haven't heard it, More has every bit of the hilarious, absurd, satirical songwriting Pulp had perfect in the 90s (when they were mentioned in the same sentences as Oasis and Blur as Britpop Bands That Might Conquer the World). The evening was full of Pulp's most popular driving, high-energy danceable pop, albeit with their signature winking cultural critiques.
The Darkness at the Varsity Theater (September 19, 2025)
British hard rockers The Darkness played to a packed Varsity Theater charming the crowd in support of their new album, Dreams on Toast.
The Baseball Project at Fine Line (September 17, 2025)
The Baseball Project was playing a show at Fine Line in Minneapolis mere blocks from the Twins-Yankees game. Old and new fans got a great show from this very talented band.
Mystery Skulls at Turf Club (September 15, 2025)
Mystery Skulls brought the electronic dance music to St. Paul’s Turf Club to a crowd ready to move.