A personal favorite of mine, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness will be making a stop by First Avenue on Sunday, March 3rd as part of The Upside Down Flowers Tour.
Lauded for creating emotive, astute rock with his L.A.-based bands Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin, a sea change occurred for prolific pianist-performer Andrew McMahon around 2014. The old-school model of the music biz had collapsed, allowing McMahon freedom, but a wealth of open doors also brought pressure. McMahon was truly operating In the Wilderness. It was an apt descriptor for a beauty and wildness that was at once terrifying and freeing. As McMahon walked through his creative open door, he wondered, “What does me making music 14, 15 years into my career look like?” His answer: “It was about incubating my creative process with a handful of trusted people, for a journey and end result that’s spiritually fulfilling and a purely artistic endeavor, not a commodity.”
On tour, as in life, McMahon looks forward to onward and upward. He won’t leave the past behind entirely, though, noting with a laugh that his longtime band is “effectively just Jack’s Mannequin with one extra guy, which is sort of hysterical.” However, “in recent years, I’ve tried to keep the studio and the road separate in an effort to keep them both pure,” he explains, “which I find keeps those relationships strong.” While some Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate songs will be in his live set, McMahon is also “making a point not to make it a pure nostalgia fest, and to really lean on the new material and keep people coming for the new stuff.” When the armor falls away and the rug is pulled out, you’re left In the Wilderness. Some may crumble or fall. But not McMahon. He writes his way in—and out—of life, with Upside Down Flowers as a strong musical and lyrical statement about that journey.
Joining in on the fun will be Flor. With their nuanced songwriting and inventive sensibilities, flor use their songs to explore feelings of longing and heartache, anxiety and self-doubt. On their debut album come out, you’re hiding, singer/guitarist Zach Grace, bassist Dylan Bauld, guitarist McKinley Kitts, and drummer Kyle Hill alternately magnify and brighten those feelings by dreaming up an intensely cinematic take on synth-driven alt-pop. But for all its transportive melodies and triumphant mood, come out, you’re hiding was born from a place of painful vulnerability.
Still not enough for you?! Let’s throw Grizfolk in as the opener. The story behind the band Grizfolk unfolds like a richly episodic Beat novel: it’s a collection of vignettes that give way to one another with ease; their songs like chapters in a traveler’s cherished diary, suspended in time and space above an aural landscape of blue-collar romanticism and electro-inflected folk-rock.
Tickets are [surprisingly] still available here.
Remaining Tour Dates:
Feb. 19 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
Feb. 21 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
Feb. 22 – Mashantucket, CT – Fox Theatre
Feb. 23 – Clifton Park, NY – Upstate Concert Hall
Feb. 24 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
Feb. 26 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
Feb. 28 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
March 1 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore
March 2 – Chicago, IL – The Riviera Theatre
March 3 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
March 5 – Milwaukee, WI – The Pabst Theater
March 7 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
March 9 – Denver, CO – Fillmore Auditorium
March 10 – Aspen, CO – Belly Up Aspen
March 12 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
March 14 – Missoula, MT – The Wilma
March 15 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theatre
March 16 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
March 19 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades
March 21 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
March 22 – Los Angeles, CA – The Orpheum
March 23 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
March 24 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
