First Avenue’s Tribute to The Replacements featured wide range of local artists converging on it’s Mainroom Friday Night. The night was scheduled to end with a full performance of “All shook down” with a number of vocalists taking their turns.
Mad Ripple Hoot for Slim
First up was a Mad Ripple Hoot for Slim. Normally The Mad Ripple is the nom de guerre for Jim Walsh but this show there were 7 guitars, 1 harmonica and a couple of percussionists. And since that was not enough to fill the stage, they brought out a bunch of friends for the first song.
Bruise Violet
The punk trio has been taking the Twin Cities by storm this year. This was their first time playing the Mainroom and the ladies were just giddy about it. True to their reputation their set was hard, fast and raw. For “Fuck School” they brought out Max Timander. One song was dedicated to a nail polish color “Troublemaker”.
Fury Things
The Minneapolis trio describe themselves as “Quiet dudes playing loud music” and lived up to their reputation. Bassist Devon Bryant has some pretty decent stage moves. For me the favorite was their cover of “Makes no sense at all”.
Nato Coles & the Blue Diamond Band
With the words “Let’s play some College Radio Music” Nato Coles started his set. His stage presence is quite fun to watch, he jumps, moves around and is generally the focus on stage. The band is working on their new album slated for “late Winter 2016”.
Al Church
Church released his album “Next Summer” uh, well last Summer. He started with Lydia Liza for the first song and delivered a great, energetic set.
The Melismatics
Minneapolis’ Melismatics were the headliner and had all the songs from The Replacement’s final album “All shook down”. Each song was presented by a different vocalist.
