My Brightest Diamond has released five albums and played hundreds of shows, but each one is a novel experience. Two of their only constants: Shara Nova’s classically trained voice and her bent toward artsy surprise. In Nov. 2018, she released the My Brightest Diamond album A Million and One, a more electronic, dancey project than…

“It’s hard to put together a set now,” Matt Healy said at the Armory on Tuesday evening. “We’ve got so many songs.” Or, as Prince would’ve said, “Too many hits!” Healy’s band the 1975 have put out three stuffed albums in the last six years, earning themselves millions of fans and formidable commercial success. Most…

Every Wednesday night at Lee’s Liquor Lounge, Shannon and Bill Butler gather a new group of people out to the dance floor for a swing dance lesson. They start out by teaching the core pulse of the dance and then move on to some basic footwork. The Butlers might throw in a few new moves…

Planning a Minnesota road trip? Check a local landmark off your bucket list — specifically, one of these places made immortal by shout-outs in song. Get your playlist and your map app ready! Red Wing: “Kelly’s Bar,” Trampled by Turtles Our musical road trip starts on Old West Main Street in Red Wing, Minnesota, where…

“Every time I come down to the Driftless,” said Humbird, “I wonder why I live in Minneapolis.” The singer-songwriter was speaking before a rapt audience on Saturday afternoon at Burke’s Music House, a listening room with the slightly decadent feeling of the sofa showroom it functions as when it’s not serving as a music venue.…

One of Beyoncé’s biggest fans had her own homecoming last night. Lizzo, aka the former queen of Minneapolis hip-hop, returned to the Twin Cities for her first local headlining show in about two years. Like the rest of the shows on the Cuz I Love You tour, this Palace Theatre date sold out minutes after…

Kiss The Tiger – “Bad Boy” I wish all plays crackled with as much energy as Kiss The Tiger‘s “Bad Boy.” Frontperson Meghan Kreidler and her fellow professional actors (™) pull off an exuberant action film in three minutes. The band is set to go on tour this month before returning to the Twin Cities…

This Saturday, May 4, the exhibit First Avenue: Stories of Minnesota’s Mainroom opens at the Minnesota History Center. We were able to take a look inside. Here are a few of the things we learned! There are still many Minnesotans who know First Ave best as a bus station. While many Minnesotans may think of…

A week after Paisley Park’s Celebration 2019, we asked attendees to share their impressions. De Angela L. Duff Traveling to Paisley Park in April has become an annual pilgrimage. This year it was hard to not be at Paisley Park on April 21. I had grown used to being there the past two years. Because…

Sanitation expert and a maintenance engineer Garbage man, a janitor and you my dear A real union flight attendant, my oh my You ain’t nothin’ but a waitress in the sky The lyrics to the Replacements’ “Waitress in the Sky,” a singalong favorite from their 1985 album Tim, are hardly complimentary. What listeners might not realize,…