Turns out I wasn’t the only one feeling a bit cold as I walked up to the Varsity Theater to see lovelytheband last night.. I was greeted with the sight of a skinny guy in a t-shirt and flip flops running out the door, yelling “Hell No!” and running back inside. Turns out that would set the theme for the night.
The skinny guy turned out to be Grady, the opener for tonight’s show. He ditched the flip flops to perform his set barefoot. The LA based singer got the crowd engaged quickly. To a shout “We love you, Grady” he responded with “I love me too!”. His set was quirky, fun and just the thing to get the cold out of the crowd.
Next up: Cannons! Where do I even begin? If babies could hear at conception “Fire For You” would be the first memory many children born this year would have. In a year that has been tough on artists everywhere Cannons is one of the Cinderella stories. Hearing a band live for the first time always has me curious. In Cannons’ case they do have a “sound” especially their guitar lines that stood out to me. The star of course is Michelle Joy’s voice and stage presence. They introduced a lot of new material including “Ruthless” which I expect we all will be hearing a lot of in the future.
Set List: Baby / Shadows / Ruthless / Hurricane / Bad Dream / Talk Talk / Purple / Up All Night / Fire
Headliners lovelytheband are no newcomers to the tour circuit. Their hit single “Broken” propelled them onto the scene well before COVID. Their current album “conversations with myself about you” forms the core of this tour. The set started with some conversation tracks from the album before vocalist Mitchy Collins and the band took the stage and launched with “Loneliness For Love”. They are a fun band to see life and their music energizes any audience quickly. In keeping with tonight’s theme, the lovely Minnesota weather was brought up and how the band from LA (and their tour bus) were not prepared to deal with it. But as the set progressed the cold moved further and further from everyone’s mind. And that is how during winter in Minnesota, we judge a good concert 🙂
Set List: LFL / Don’t Worry / Waste / IDWGTYP / Emotion / Maybe I’m Afraid / I Hate Myself / When You’re Lonely / Love Somebody Else – Drivers License / Coachella / Pretty / Buzz Cut / Friends
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