Top 89 of 2018: Best Twin Cities Concerts
December 10, 2018
Let's face it: The Current's listener-curated Top 89 countdown is the main attraction among our year-end lists. By voting for your favorite songs of 2018 in our Top 89 poll, you're entered to win a serious Down in the Valley prize pack. We'll air the whole countdown from 5 p.m. to midnight CT on New Year's Eve and again on Jan. 1 from 12-7 p.m. CT.
That said, there's more to the story this year. While you make those tough voting decisions, we wanted to celebrate some of the extra-canticular categories of 2018: Best New Artists, Best Albums, Best Local Artists, Best Sessions, and Best Twin Cities Concerts. Here are our picks for that last category — Best Twin Cities Concerts — as chosen by The Current's staff.
New Power Generation
February 3, The Dakota
Fourteen members of Prince's longest-running band crowded the Dakota stage in downtown Minneapolis. Contributor Youa Vang reviewed the show:
Like a couple that could finish each other's sentences, the band knew where each member was going in each part of the songs. They epitomize the top level of musicians representing the legacy of the Minneapolis Sound. What truly showcased their talent was when they moved off course and melted into jam sessions that allowed each performer to shine.
Robert Plant
February 22, Orpheum Theatre
Led Zeppelin's charismatic frontman returned to the Orpheum Theatre with his band the Sensational Space Shifters in tow. They shared Plant songs, Zep reimaginings, and a few covers (including "Little Maggie" and folk song "The Maid Freed From The Gallows") with the sold-out crowd.
TU Dance and Bon Iver
April 19-21, Palace Theatre
Bon Iver and Twin Cities dance group TU Dance teamed up to produce an experimental show called Come Through. In his review, contributor Emmet Kowler noted the ways this differed from the typical concert experience:
Upon entering, you can't help but notice all the ways the Palace has had to adapt to this event. Instead of the throngs of ticket holders, there are patrons, who expect the courtesy of your traditional concert hall rather than a venue that hosts Doomtree, the xx, and Wilco. Instead of standing-room only, there are black plastic folding chairs laid out in comfortably sized rows. There are no lines at the bar, and the house music is kept low enough that you can actually have a conversation at normal volume with your neighbor. The stage has been stripped away of nearly all of its curtains and obstructions, revealing the black brick wall and a set of scaffolding. As if all that weren't enough, you're handed a program as you walk in the door.
Haim and Lizzo
May 14-15, Palace Theatre
If you showed up to the Palace Theatre during mid-May in need of a self-esteem boost, you have superb timing. Lizzo and Haim delivered self-love boosts to all in attendance, as Cecilia Johnson recounted in her review of their first night in St. Paul:
As many Twin Cities fans know, Lizzo has an attitude — one of body positivity, personal prerogative, and fabulous self-love. So when she received emphatic, encore-length applause after her first song "Fitness," she maintained her pose and swiveled from side to side, smiling and accepting every last clap of adoration. That just made us cheer harder.
Haim are a bit more goofy, but they also carry themselves with confidence. They know how well they pull off the "dorky sisters" act, and they know how well they can perform.
David Byrne
May 17-18, Orpheum Theatre
The art-rock icon held down the Orpheum, performing solo songs, Talking Heads material, and a cover of Janelle Monáe's 2015 call to action "Hell You Talmbout." Jay Gabler reviewed the first night:
Thirty-four years after Stop Making Sense, Byrne brought a sense of exuberantly visual musicianship to the Orpheum Theatre last night; he'll return tonight with his mobile 11-piece band. They're not just mobile in the sense of touring, they're mobile in the sense that beyond a mesh curtain that squares off the stage, there's not a single static stage prop in the American Utopia set. No drum risers, no mic stands, no miniature Stonehenge. Just a dozen performers (including six percussionists) with their voices and instruments wirelessly amplified. It takes the concept of Stop Making Sense — which famously opened with Byrne and a boombox on an empty stage — a step farther.
Soundset 2018
May 27, Minnesota State Fairgrounds
Soundset returned to the State Fairgrounds on a hot, hot Memorial Day weekend. Atmosphere performed at the smaller stage, ceding the main platforms to headliners Logic, Migos, and Erykah Badu. Here's Cecilia Johnson's recap of the latter's set (click here for much more):
One breath of fresh air: Erykah Badu, the neo-soul queen who sang us "Hello" and didn't say goodbye until her voice had blown our minds. She lost huge chunks of the crowd, but those who remained sounded like stalwarts, cheering her on with heart. "It's 3 Stacks' birthday," she said, referring to OutKast co-founder Andre 3000. To celebrate, she sang "Liberation" from Aquemini, dedicating the performance to OutKast. She also shouted out her son with Andre 3000, Seven. "Seven's on the drums!" she said before shaking her head. "I was trolling."
Kamasi Washington
June 16, Rock The Garden
Kamasi Washington and his band tore up the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden during The Current and the Walker Art Center's summer music fest. Cecilia Johnson described it this way:
Saxophonist/composer/producer Kamasi Washington topped my Rock the Garden. He and his band – including background vocalist Patrice Quinn, knockout keyboardist Brandon Coleman, and guest star "Pops" Rickey Washington (yep, Kamasi's dad) – entranced thousands of slack-jawed, even teary-eyed patrons with their persistent, shape-shifting jazz. "The Rhythm Changes" lived up to its name; "Fists of Fury," from upcoming album Heaven and Earth, landed punches thanks to an epic drum-off between Tony Austin and Ronald Bruner Jr.
Janelle Monáe
July 3, State Theatre
Janelle Monáe returned to Prince's birthplace and her onetime home, Minnesota, to let freedom ring throughout the State. Andrea Swensson paints a picture:
Freedom is a major theme in Monae's work, dating back to her ArchAndroid period, but she had never appeared so present and joyful on stage as she did Tuesday night. Her new album, Dirty Computer, celebrates her newfound sexual liberation, and in the live setting that translated to a polished performance that was frequently interrupted by playful crotch-grabbing, middle fingers in the air, and even a few swigs from a bottle of pink wine as she sang the introspective "Don't Judge Me."
Courtney Barnett, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker
July 21, Surly Festival Field
This triple-threat bill rocked Surly Festival Field on one of those perfect Minnesota summer nights. In her show review, associate blogger Hanna Bubser reported:
Watching [Courtney] Barnett perform with her band is pure fun. The connection that they share makes it feel more like a jam session in a friend's garage rather than a choreographed performance. They rocked with one another through songs including "Need A Little Time," "City Looks Pretty," and "Nameless, Faceless." Barnett also threw in a few songs from some of her older releases, like "Avant Gardener" and "Depreston."
Jack White
August 6, The Armory
The former White Stripes frontman sold out the Armory, a giant new venue in downtown Minneapolis, with no trouble. He barely struggled getting folks to follow his no-phones rule, either; if they wanted to see the show, audience members had to lock away their devices for the entirety of the show. Hosts Mary Lucia and Bill DeVille discuss:
Trampled By Turtles
August 25, Minnesota State Fair
Lissie and Lord Huron opened, but that was just the beginning for folks at this year's Music-On-A-Stick. Associate blogger Maia Jacobson saw it all:
Duluthian bluegrass heroes Trampled by Turtles proved themselves worth the wait. Before they came out on stage, an audience member near me commented, "Why are they making us Wait So Long?!" referencing one of the headliners' most popular songs. But the crowd eagerly received their opening tunes: "Victory" and "Help You" from 2011's Palomino. About five songs deep, the band slowed down their high-energy performance with "Life is Good on the Open Road," from their latest album of the same name.
Mitski
October 26, First Avenue
Mitski's Be the Cowboy tour sold out every last U.S. date, including this stop at Minneapolis club First Avenue. Cecilia Johnson watched as she got comfortable onstage:
Mitski spent the first half of the show rather walled off, gazing down and performing austere choreography. During "I Don't Smoke," she pantomined smoking, swinging her fingers up to her mouth and back in time. "Washing Machine Heart" saw her shaking in the appliance's turbulent, rumbling way.
But later on, she started getting looser with the crowd. Referencing her past performances at the 7th St Entry, the smaller room next door, she said she'd always been curious what it would be like to play the Mainroom. "Well, this is what it's like," she said, and she noted how honored she was to join the lineage of performers at the well-known rock club.
Low
November 2, Fitzgerald Theater
Duluth's 25-years-strong rock band released their brazen album Double Negative this year and performed a whole lot of it at the Fitzgerald Theater. Watch the concert in full via The Current's YouTube:
Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus (boygenius)
November 17, First Avenue
Baker and Dacus earn their second entries on this list, joining Bridgers in the supergroup known as boygenius. First, each singer/songwriter performed a set of her own material; then, the trio united to perform all six songs from their self-titled EP.
Brandi Carlile
November 29-December 1, State Theatre
Honorary Minnesotan Brandi Carlile played a sold-out three-night stand this winter at the State Theatre in Minneapolis. Along with her co-writers and background vocalists Phil and Tim Hanseroth, she drew laughs and tears during songs from new album By The Way, I Forgive You and past repertoire. She ended each night with a mic-off, lights-out sing-along of "O Holy Night" and/or "Amazing Grace."