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A live concert review of the immortal Bob Mould at the Varsity Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota!

April 1st, 2009 Posted by: Dust Devil

HOLY COW!

I personally have made a perk of my job traveling around the country to check out in concert great artists at great venues. I truly am living in a dream world folks.

My latest stop was in Minneapolis, MN. This is a hallowed ground for some great music, going back to my junior high and high school days. Husker Du and the Replacements immediately come to mind, and let us not forget Prince while we are at it.

The purpose of this trip was to finally have an opportunity to visit the First Avenue, a venue I have wanted to visit for years, particularly since I began this quest to see live music away from home. A great show came up with New York indie rock and shoegaze artist Longwave supporting a great post-punk band out of the U.K., the Bloc Party. I have blown it twice so far in regards to the Bloc Party, so I felt I owed them a trip to the midwest.

I arrived Thursday March 26 in Minneapolis and enjoyed a few days of R&R, even venturing to Wisconsin for two of those days. Monday, March 30 arrived, the day of the show, and to my dismay I get an email from Ticketmaster that the show was cancelled! Now, never mind they get to keep my “convenience” charge for a cancelled show, but I am out of state for an event that is no more!

Fortunately, luck struck in the form of the legendary Bob Mould of Husker Du, Sugar, solo performer and producer fame playing the same evening at the Varsity Theatre near the University of Minnesota in Dinkytown. Remember how great it was last year in Denver when Noam from the Mobius Band saved the day for me at that show? This was the same type of happy luck I was fortunate to encounter. By the way, if you still do not own anything from the Mobius Band, they are a GREAT band. Go buy Heaven or The Loving Sounds of Static. Now.

Anyway, this post is going to contain kudos to some very cool people, and Brittney from the Varsity Theatre deserves some big props! When I called the venue in desperate hopes the Bob Mould show was not sold out, she spent the time giving an out-of-towner from Phoenix great train and bus directions. I arrived at 7:00pm, got some pizza from a great joint across the street, then got in line for the show.

Once I was inside, my immediate thoughts were memories of the Palace West in Phoenix, AZ back in the eighties, and the Bluebird Theatre in Denver, CO. Another shining example of converting an old moviehouse into a great music venue! The sound was great, there is plenty of GA room in the middle, but for an old codger like me the plush seating on the sides was very apropos. I found an open seat on one side of the venue and readied myself for a great evening.

The last time I saw Bob Mould was December 8, 1994 at the Electric Ballroom (sigh … another great Arizona venue gone) in Tempe, AZ. Yes, that is the right date, I still have the ticket stub! This was during his tenure as the frontman of the incredible Sugar, my personal favorite Mould project. The band was touring in support of their second full-length album File Under Easy Listening and blew the doors off the place. That show was so loud, so intense. What an amazing evening.

14+ years later I am about to see him again, just weeks before his Saturday show at Coachella 2009. No opener on this “Intimate Evening With Bob Mould”, just the legend along with guitarist/bassist Jason Narducy of Verbow fame. The two came out onstage, Bob with acoustic guitar in hand, and the audience went nuts.

I can only imagine how incredible it must have been growing up in the Twin Cities when Husker Du was around, having the opportunity to see Bob Mould play all the time. Today this gentleman sports a grey goatee and spectacles, which an audience member did comment about during the show, to which Bob responded that he needed them to see that “it was time for the next song”.

Starting off an amazing 18 song set with Wishing Well from his first solo album Workbook after the break-up of the Huskers, Bob proceeded to prove that he is just as intense and engaging a performer with an acoustic as with the electric guitar. The two performers ripped through a set that featured parts of the entire Mould catalog. Whether delivering an inspired Hardly Getting Over It from the Husker Du days, Your Favorite Thing from his incredible time in Sugar or See a Little Light, another great track from Workbook, Mould was on and the crowd loved every second of it.

A man that has experienced a myriad of emotions over the years of his storied career, Bob was extremely friendly and humorous on this evening, asking the crowd if he had ever played at the Varsity Theatre before and again making reference to his age in the process, commenting that “I don’t live here anymore. You have to help me.” Several times during the evening Mould stepped on his distortion pedal to add that intense element of his sound that was such a significant characteristic of the Huskers and Sugar.

This date was especially significant, as Mould pointed out during the set that thirty years ago on March 30, 1979, Husker Du played their first show at Ron’s Randolph Inn in St. Paul, and this evening also happened to be the 20 year anniversary of Workbook. History on top of a great show!

The middle of the set featured three new tunes from his latest effort Life and Times, due to be released April 7. The title track opened things, followed by a great number entitled The Breach, a tune that easily could have been a part of F.U.E.L. from Sugar. He ended this part of the set with Sorry Baby, But You Can’t Stand in My Light Anymore. Introducing the song as “the best thing I’ve written in forever”, this track was absolutely brutal, an incendiary piece of music full of unbridled emotion. What a great track!

An already great set became even better when Bob grabbed the electic guitar, plugged in and played five more tunes imprinted with his signature wall of noise. I Apologize and Celebrated Summer from Husker Du’s 1985 release New Day Rising closed out the first set to a thunderous ovation from the audience.

It did not take long for Bob Mould and Jason Narducy to take the stage for two more tracks, the power-pop style of If I Can’t Change Your Mind from Sugar’s debut Copper Blue leading off the encore, and then a mind-shattering take on Makes No Sense At All from my personal favorite Husker Du album Flip Your Wig. After approximately an hour and a half, Bob took his final bows and promised a return in the fall with a full band. Another Minneapolis trip may be in the Dust Devil’s future!

Folks, Bob Mould is one of those artists that regardless of the type of music you like, you HAVE to see him play one of these days if you haven’t already. Plugged in, acoustic, solo or with a band, he delivers a 100% performance every time he takes the stage. I can guarantee a great show when you go see him live, he is that intense and that incredible.

Thank you Mr. Bob Mould, for continuning to prove music that goes against the mainstream is exponentially better than the Top 40 schlock we have fed to us by mainstream radio! Thank you Varsity Theatre for providing Minneapolis with one heck of a great venue!

Last, thank you to my new friend Duane there in Minneapolis, you really made a lonely Phoenician feel at home during the show. I had an amazing time anyway, but your kindness was totally appreciated and won’t be forgotten. What a great guy! Thanks for the ride to the train station as well after the show!

Folks, another successful adventure. Just think, Coachella is a mere seventeen days away …

Cheers!
The Dust Devil

Filed under: Venue News & Reviews, Event Reviews, Cheers and Jeers