Animal Collective at First Avenue on 5/20/09

By: David de Young
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Animal Collective at First Avenue - Twitpic courtesy of Chuck Olsen Last night I saw Animal Collective at First Avenue. It was my first time seeing them live (though we reviewed their 2007 First Avenue appearance here.) I’d been eagerly anticipating the show after enjoying Merriweather Post Pavilion, their highly-praised 2009 album and one of my favorite discs of the year. MPP hits some of the emotion...

King Khan and the Shrines at Triple Rock Social Club on 5/16/09

By: Donette Ambrosy
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King Khan and the Shrines - Photo by Jenn Barnett More photos forthcoming. My anticipation for what I expect to be a really great show can sometimes get me overly wound up, prompting me to engage in uncharacteristically sassy and even unsavory behavior. The King Khan & The Shrines show at the Triple Rock on Saturday, May 16 was no exception. I should have known the evening would be raucous f...

The Kills at First Avenue on 5/11/09

By: Amber Schadewald
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 The Kills - Photo by Amber Schadewald As the dial tone and telephone sound intro to their set began, the crowd hush only slightly, too excited to hold back their screams of anticipation. My knees went weak as the two figures dressed in black let out their first notes to “U.R.A. Fever”, the bass tones hitting my chest with a erotic thrust, followed by strong, smoky voca...

Peter, Bjorn and John at Fine Line Music Café on 4/21/09

By: Kristin A. Hasler
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Peter, Bjorn and John - Photo by Jenn Barnett Fresh off their Coachella gig, I imagine Peter, Bjorn and John were still discovering sand in odd places as they arrived in Minneapolis for their first “proper club gig” promoting their new album Living Thing. You can fully indulge in their new album on peterbjornandjohn.com (I’d also check out their a la mode performance of “Living Thing”...

Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 with Adam Levy (review and slideshow) at The Varsity Theater on 4/19/09

By: David de Young
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Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 with opener Adam Levy. Slideshow by Jenn Barnett, set to “What You Is” by Robyn Hitchcock from Good Night, Olso.   (Review by David de Young) Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 opened up their set at the Varsity Sunday night with a nod to one time Dinkytown resident Bob Dylan, playing a cover of Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me.” The Venus 3, Hitchcock’s latest backing band, includes Peter Buck of R.E.M. on ...

Slideshow: Glas Vegas w/ Von Iva at The Varsity Theater on 4/7/09

By: Jenn Barnett
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Photographer Jenn Barnett's slideshow of photos from the Glasvegas and Von Iva show at the Varsity Theater.  See more of Jenn's slideshows on her blog at http://www.jennbarnett.com/blog ...

Slideshow: The Ting Tings at The Varsity Theater on 4/6/09

By: Sara Montour
The Ting Tings played to a sold out crowd at The Varsity Theater last night and HowWasTheShow BFF, Sara Montour, was there to capture the moments and the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums.  

Heartless Bastards and Good Old War at The Varsity Theater on 4/4/09

By: Donette Ambrosy
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Heartless Bastards at the Varsity - Photo by Jenn Barnett (See full slideshow of photos by Jenn from this show here.) Fans of the Gaslight Anthem may have been disappointed when Saturday night’s sold-out show at the Varsity Theater was postponed, due to complications arising from guitarist and vocalist Brian Fallon’s tooth abscess. (In February, during Gaslight’s European tour, Fallon apparently ...

Gordon Lightfoot at State Theatre on 3/22/09

By: Kristine Lambert
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Photo: Gordon Lightfoot at Massey Hall, Toronto, Ont. Photo by Kasra Ganjavi. Usage: CC-BY-3.0; Released under the GNU Free Documentation License. Feelin' Good Was Good Enough For Me...   There were nothing but smiles all around as a uniquely soulful slice of humanity converged upon the State Theater last Sunday to see troubadour Gordon Lightfoot. Lightfoot’s show at the State was the culmina...

HWTS does SXSW 2009 - Sara Montour audio diary from SXSW Music Festival at SXSW Music on 3/18/09

By: David de Young
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For the sixth year in a row HowWasTheShow.com provides coverage of the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX with an independent local angle. In past years Stacy Schwartz, Kate Galloway, Mark Mallman, Steve Cohen and Neil Olstad have all contributed famously to our extensive personalized coverage.  This year, HowWasTheShow BFF, photographer Sara Montour heads south to host a series of "almost...