Vita.MN‘s Vth Anniversary Party at Epic in downtown Minneapolis brought a great variety of bands into a space that doesn’t often see rock and roll these days. Having only been to Epic to shoot two shows so far – P. Diddy and Duran Duranback in April – I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the musical and fashion extravaganza that Vita.MN had planned on Friday night. Fortunately, the mix of Minneapolis artists didin’t disappoint! No Bird Sing, Night Moves, P.O.S. and the Hold Steady proved to be a potent combination. Check out some technical notes and a bunch of seriously celebratory photos after the jump.
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The Goondas, admittedly one of my favorite Minneapolis bands, tore up 7th Street in front with a sold-out crowd and some killer openers, including Pink Mink and Bloodnstuff in celebration of their new EP (and first 7″ release), “Chud”.
You might realize that this is the first post in awhile on Noise Damage. While my freelance work – lots of photography for the City Pages Gimme Noise Blog and some video work for MPLS.TV, among other things – has kept me busy all Summer I don’t intend to let this blog languish. Get ready for more photos of Minneapolis bands this Fall and Winter!
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Har Mar Superstar, Slapping Purses and Seawhores performing at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Minneapolis, Minnesota’s P.O.S. (with Plane Ole Bill DJing) performing a “noon-ass rap show” outside at the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Union as part of Spring Jam 2011.
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Dozens of photos from seven of the eleven bands that performed at Vita.mn’s Are You Local day party at Beauty Bar including The 4onthefloor, Mayda, The Book of Right On, Idle Hands, Doomtree, Haley Bonar and Pink Mink.
Despite the fact that I had shot two of these bands already (Doomtree and Idle Hands) I wanted to cover Minnesota’s music presence at SXSW as much as possible. Vita.mn’s well-curated Are You Local party certianly delivered great bands, but some of the bands conflicted time-wise with a few acts that were on my “must-see” list, bands that won’t be likely to tour through Minneapolis any time soon. I’m sad that I missed Phantom Tails, Hastings 3000, Jeremy Messersmith and Caroline Smith but I was able to at least get photos of Jeremy at the Gimme Noise party the previous day.
The mix of bands at the Vita.mn party was pretty cool. Seeing several members of the Doomtree crew head-nodding on the sidelines while The Book of Right On played a killer set was pretty cool, and the range of experiences from Mayda’s excellent acoustic set to Pink Mink’s all-out Buzzcocks-style punk was pretty awesome. In some ways it was a great preview of what we’ve got to look forward to in this summer’s block parties in Minneapolis!
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Asobi Seksu performing at the Luster Pearl for the Dickies day party during SXSW 2011.
I took a short break from the vita.mn day party at Beauty Bar to hop on my trusty bike catch up with Asobi Seksu at the Luster Pearl about a mile to the south. Something about bands and performers that lose themselves in their music totally captivates me – particularly music with wave upon wave of distortion, delay and reverb. Live performances from bands like NYC’s A Place to Bury Strangers and Minneapolis’ Gospel Gossip tend to leave me breathless and wanting more. Even with their decidedly lighter, more airy sound, Asobi Seksu is no exception to that. After seeing a stellar show in at 7th Street Entry back in late ’09 I’ve been wanting to catch another one of their sets. I was worried that the transition from a dark, hole-in-the-wall bar to a sunny outdoor tent would dull their impact but the slight etherial side of their music went pretty well with an early afternoon outdoor slot. Worth biking over for, for sure.
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Hollerado may be one of the most outright fun rock and roll bands out there. My first time seeing them, when they opened for Free Energy at the 400 Bar the mix of fun-times rock flavors was so awesome that the 400 Bar almost collapsed in on itself. See my dusty old photos with Leslie Kruempel’s great review) at the TC Daily Planet – it was awesome. When fellow MSP photographer Stacy Schwartz told me they were playing a bunch of shows at SXSW (some of which she shot very well) I knew I had to make it to at least one.
I’m so damn glad I did. Hit the jump to see why.
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A Place to Bury Strangers performing at SXSW 2011 in Austin Texas as part of the Rumble Room day party. Or: A case study in ultra-wide, high-shutter-speed, guitar-swinging, brutal-shoegaze mayhem.
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On Saturday, April 9th, Vice Magazine and Vitamin Water brought their Black Lips curated Uncapped Live series to the 7th Street Entry. The ‘Lips picked some Minneapolis ragers to perform – Bombay Sweets, Teenage Strangler and Birthday Suits – and they didn’t disappoint. The branded rock party thing is pretty unusual in Minneapolis, particularly in the Entry, and the portion of the crowd spilling in from Cut Copy’s big show was largely unfamiliar with these relative staples of recent Minnesota rock. By the time Birthday Suits had finished their terse, blistering set there were many jaws on the floor.
These photos couldn’t do their set justice, it was nuts.
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Odd Future performing at MWTX during SXSW 2011.
This was unexpected. Odd Future were originally slated to play the smaller stage at Mess With Texas but got bumped to the big stage at the last minute. The chaos of the insanely hyped up (and notably older) Dead Milkmen fans filtering out while Odd Future’s rude and raucous youth spilled in reminded me that this isn’t just a chaotic, low-security show – it’s also all ages. By the time OFWGKTA (Off Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, for the uninitiated) took the stage the shouts of “WOLF. GANG. WOLF. GANG.” had reached a fever pitch and people were literally climbing over each other to approach the stage. It became impossible to stand my ground anywhere near the 2/3-stage-left spot I had occupied for three prior sets and I soon found myself surrounded by an audience that I was beyond unfamiliar with. There was no etiquette, no “hey, could you please stop elbowing me in the neck” and, frankly, no communication. Dozens of 14-17 year old girls had swarmed around me with one thing on their mind – impressing Odd Future with their fervent recitation of their misogynistic, violent, and angsty lyrics.
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