Where does Stompsgiving rank in your list of favorite holidays? Not sure? That’s ok. It was a new occasion created by The 4onthefloor (4OTF) to help you fill that “there’s nothing to do” void you may have feared in the days following Thanksgiving. Did you attend Friday night’s Stompsgiving Eve festivities at the 7th Street Entry? Or at least make it for Stompsgiving Day at the Turf Club on Saturday night? If you did, you now might rank it just behind Christmas (sorry, no fat guy in a red suit delivers presents to you), but higher than Thanksgiving (same old, same old). Now any great holiday is spent with your family and friends and The 4OTF made sure to invite their friends and recent tourmates, The Shackletons and Koo Koo Kanga Roo. Of course, they also invited you and provided that nice two-night package deal. Hopefully you made it both nights. If not, keep reading to find out what you missed.
THE SHACKLETONS
Friday Night at the Entry
Friday’s Stompsgiving Eve was of course a bit more informal and held at the smaller, 200-person capacity 7th Street Entry. It did not include Koo Koo Kanga Roo, who needed to spend Stomps Eve with the other side of their family (their own show at the Cedar Friday). The Shackletons are comprised of three young Campbell brothers (Colin, Cameron, and Evan) who have bonded with Gabe Douglas and The 4OTF, opening for many of their shows in the past year. The trio chose their band name because it sounds cool, of course. Also, because it seemed like every night they had a show there was a snowstorm. Like Ernest Shackleton’s vessel, “The Endurance”, the brothers’ van by the same name, was shipwrecked on a road trip this year, and left to Cars For Kids in Sturgis, SD. So, go ahead and blame the weekend’s crappy weather on the boys. Thankfully, nearly everyone found a way to make it through the sloppy roads to fill the Entry in time for the 9pm start.
The Shacks kicked off their opening set with their most recent single, “Happy Boring Life”, whose lyrics admit, “I’ve got the last part down.” We all probably have friends who have that part down and stayed home tonight. Those boring friends missed “Minnesota Girls”, the Shacks popular argument to the Eagles that also celebrates our toe-numbing 30-below temps that will soon be here. Plus, their other newer song about a cold place, “McMurdo”. On Halloween night the band was here at the Entry (with Last Import and the Gully Boys) and played a cool set of only The Cars covers. Tonight, they pulled out “My Best Friend’s Girl” and got the crowd singing along. We also heard their recent screamer, “Genevieve”, plus a bunch of their new songs like “Hearts of Gold”, “The Cartographer”(my name for it), “Exactly What It Looks Like”, and “King Geoff”. The brothers grew up playing the Blues and showed off this side of themselves on their cover of “Automatic”. Before they were done, they also played one of my favorites from their Second Attempt EP, “St. Bibiana”. Running short on time, the band decided to close with a shorter cover tune that originally planned, going with The Who’s “I Can’t Explain”. This was a fitting finish since Colin claims his guitar influences start with Pete Townshend.
The Shackletons Friday Setlist:
Happy Boring Life / Minnesota Girls / McMurdo / My Best Friend’s Girl / Genevieve / Hearts of Gold / The Cartographer / Automatic / Exactly What It Looks Like / King Geoff / St. Bibiana / I Can’t Explain.
Saturday Night at the Turf Club
The Shackletons opened up Stompsgiving Day ceremonies with one of their new songs, “Hearts of Gold”, and they again shared all four new songs with the larger Turf Club crowd. It makes you think a new album might be in the works. They also made sure to play “Minnesota Girls”, “McMurdo”, and “Genevieve”, dedicating that one to Gabe Douglas who popped up on stage for a quick “Genevieve” yell. They would play different cover songs tonight, including one of their favorites, “Take the Skinheads Bowling” and quite a surprise closer with Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name”.
The Shackletons Saturday Setlist:
Hearts of Gold / McMurdo / The Cartographer / 4am / Take the Skinheads Bowling / Exactly What It Looks Like / King Geoff / Genevieve / Minnesota Girls / Happy Boring Life / Killing in the Name.
KOO KOO KANGA ROO
Saturday Night at the Turf Club
At first glance you might have wondered how a kids band ended up on the Stompsgiving slate. However, as Bryan Atchison and Neil Olstad told us, their target audience is five-year olds….and drunk adults. Especially those wild and crazy teachers that were a big part of Saturday’s crowd. Whether its kids shows or these 21+ events, Koo Koo Kanga Roo requests crowd participation to the simple moves that accompany most of their songs. They want to “Get Yo Body Movin'” like they did on their first song and they often celebrate such goofy things as a “Unibrow”, by having everyone hold their index finger across their forehead like they had one brow.
You’ve all seen the promotional “Wobbly Man” at grand openings, etc. Tonight, it was your turn to inflate and deflate. Of course, the main reason the band was included in Stompsgiving had to for their song “Dinosaur Stomp” which had audience members stomp and chomp like a mighty dinosaur. Making us all feel better about ourselves, they sang their motivational anthem “You Are the Best” with the crowd repeating “Best” each time. After “Shake It Well”, their song about pulpy orange juice, Neil addressed the maroon and gold attendees, telling them if they just walked in from the Gopher game, they were in the right place. After seeing their Rose Bowl hopes destroyed, Koo Koo Kanga Roo was here to help lift spirits. Neil admitted they are a gimmick but added, “If you don’t like us, it’s on you. You didn’t drink enough.” He also told us that both he and Bryan are from Minnesota and if you see a band playing a gig on Thanksgiving weekend that pretty much means they are from there.
They played a cover of Tag Team’s “Whoomp! (There It Is)”, that everyone knew, before getting to one of the teachers’ favorite things, “Glitter”. This even prompted a brief appearance of a glitter creature. “Cat Party!” is probably one of their most popular songs and Neil asked different audience members to bring different things to the party, just like in the recorded version. At the end he told “Boris” that he was not invited, because he’s from Wisconsin! Again, helping lift our spirits.
Bryan admitted to the audience he did something naughty before the show. He drank a half of can of Miller Lite. He teased that he had too much to drink and was not sure if they could continue. But they did and ramped it up by coming down to the floor and having the crowd form a giant ring to participate in “Shake Yo Foot”, their version of the Hokey Pokey. They had just the men come into the middle of the circle to shake their bodies then quickly dismissed them saying, “You guys smell”. Then it was the ladies turn, but they were also turned away after remarking, “It smells like White Claw out here.” After also singing “Hot Sauce” down with the crowd, they thanked everyone for forming a ring and observed that no one slipped or got hurt. They also made sure to again thank all the teachers for coming out. Always good to thank your meal ticket repeatedly.
Two more familiar songs were “I Get Loose” and “Everyone Poops” after which Bryan said they needed to apologize. Not for their pooping, but for forgetting the first verse of their own song. He asked us to boo them saying they deserved it. With some announcements before concluding, they asked for one clap for the Turf Club, then three claps for the trio of Shackleton brothers. They also asked if we were ready for The 4onthefloor and they pointed out Gabe Douglas in the crowd, saying he’s been watching from the start. Douglas was such a good sport in and joining Bryan and Neil on stage and fully participating in the song for their final song. The song was called “Awesome Rainbows” and ended with a multicolored parachute being pulled over the audience’s heads or a festive finish this silly middle act. It was fun to be a kid again, even if just for that hour.
Koo Koo Kanga Roo Saturday Setlist:
Get Yo Body Movin’ / Unibrow / Wobbly Man / Dinosaur Stomp / You Are the Best / Shake It Well / Whoomp! (There It Is) / Glitter / Cat Party! / Shake Yo Foot / Hot Sauce / I Get Loose / Everybody Poops / Awesome Rainbows.
Rollin In the Minivan (later with The 4onthefloor).
THE 4ONTHEFLOOR
Friday Night at the Entry
When the hosting headliners took the stage Friday, frontman Gabe Douglas still sported his full beard. He gave his typical introduction, telling the crowd they were The 4onthefloor from Minnesota and would be playing all their songs in 4/4 time. They played as a 4-piece Friday and Douglas introduced Nick Costa (guitar) on BD2, Matty (bass) on BD3, and Joey (drums) on BD4. The BD references harkens back to the days in olden Stompsgiving times when each musician also had a bass drum in front of them.
They began Friday’s set with a pair from their most recent album, The North Remembers. First it was “Igniter” to flip the switch on this Stomps Eve party, followed by “Stop?Stahp.” The fast moving “Lake Street Shuffle” heated up guitarist Costa enough to ditch his jacket. Good thing, since their ever-popular “Engine No. 4” was a true beard shaker, with Douglas shaking his long beard faster and faster. The wild-eyed singer would give a shout out to The Shackletons, telling us his faith in rock n’ roll music was restored by the Campbell brothers. Costa’s dirty guitar work opened the band’s fun cover of Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Snake Farm” and Gabe, clearly enjoying himself, exclaimed, “It’s a great night of music in Minneapolis!” After playing a cover of Ol’ Yeller’s “Jean Jacket Weather” Douglas teased that it was probably time to retire that song as it was now light or medium winter jacket weather. We would also hear some of The 4OTF’s popular older songs like “Some Days” and “King of the Jungle”. Nick Costa also sang a song from his solo album, Devastator, called “Throwin’ Shade”. This was a great mid-set change of pace showcasing the guitarist’s own songwriting work.
Douglas warned that they were going to swear a lot on the next song, but not really a lot compared to if you normally swear a lot. Just the two F words surrounding one S one word that gets shouted out in “Radio Edit”. After a brief band powwow, their fearless leader announced, “It was a unanimous decision that we are having a great night. 4 for 4 that it’s a great day to be alive!” They also decided on their next song, which was the fun sing along “(Drunk)On Tuesdays” during which Gabe slammed a beer while the crowd kept the “On and on and on and on” part going. Colin Campbell was called on stage to sing a cover of “Can’t Hardly Wait”, which was an easy task for the Replacement’s loving Shackleton. He jokingly dug out Douglas’ glasses and wore them for the end of the song before doling out parting hugs. Seeming to alternate between original and then cover, it was now “Faux American” followed by Costa, and the crowd, singing Radiohead’s “Creep”. “Sanchez” somehow turned into an unexpected medley with Smash Mouth’s “All Star”. Then “Junkie” followed by another fun cover of Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy”. Douglas introduced their final song as being about all the beautiful things that happen in Minnesota. It was their Kare11 featured hit, “All My Friends”. The bands stuck around to sign merch and take photos with fans before calling Stompsgiving Eve a night. It would be time to do it all again very soon in the other Twin City of St. Paul on Saturday night.
The 4onthefloor Friday Setlist:
Igniter / Stop?Stahp. / Lake Street Shuffle / Engine No. 4 / Snake Farm / Some Days / Jean Jacket Weather / King of the Jungle / Throwin’ Shade / Radio Edit / On Tuesdays / Can’t Hardly Wait (w/ Colin Campbell) / Faux American / Creep / Sanchez / Junkie / My Own Worst Enemy / All My Friends.
Saturday Night at the Turf Club
The 4onthefloor was the 5onthefloor for Saturday night’s sold out show as their second guitarist, Kai Brewster, added his talents to the effort. The band took the stage to the “Imperial March” and guitarist, Nick Costa sported a matching Darth Vader Christmas sweater. Gabe Douglas arrived with a different look tonight too, after doing some maintenance on his beard since yesterday. He would tell us later in the show they were playing some songs played last night but also many different ones. This was true from the onset as the first three songs were not played Friday. These were “Off the Cuff”, “Ms. Behave”. and “Undertow”. They played “Engine No. 4” next and then brought Koo Koo Kanga Roo on stage to sing their “Rollin in the Minivan” song with the band smiling and accompanying. The climax of the song was a massive high-five between Bryan and Neil after a long build up.
Some of the same songs played both nights included “Some Days”, “American Faux”, “Radio Edit”, and “(Drunk) On Tuesdays”, which Douglas dedicated to making sure everyone getting home safely tonight. Some of the other new additions to the Saturday show included “Lionhearted” and “Bricklayer”. Rather than singing one of his own songs tonight, Nick Costa sang Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So” with the crowd loudly singing along. Just like Friday, Colin Campbell sang “Can’t Hardly Wait” with the band and then earned three more claps from Douglas (like Koo Koo Kanga Roo taught us) for each member of their band while Koo Koo Kanga Roo then received two.
Another different cover song tonight, that appeared to be a mid-show decision, was Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy”. I also saw Costa sing this at his Devastator album release show. After Costa joked that the song was totally in his range, Douglas asked, “Speaking of in your range, have you cooked any cakes lately? (Wait for it) In your range (rimshot please). It was Saturday band meeting time now and Douglas announced that they determined they were indeed in the Turf Club and that they had two more songs. They were “Stop?Stahp, and of course “All My Friends”, the perfect closer for a wonderful Stompsgiving weekend. Time to put away the Stompsgiving decorations, but I’m already looking forward to next year. Happy Stompsgiving everyone! Until then, check out this recent gift from The 4onthefloor to you of over twenty new HD videos of their entire 9/28/18 album release show recorded at the Varsity Theater.
The 4onthefloor Saturday Setlist (Incomplete):
Off the Cuff / Ms. Behave / Undertow / Engine No. 4 / Rollin in the Minivan (w/ Koo Koo Kanga Roo) / Lake Street Shuffle / Some Days / On Tuesdays / Bricklayer / Lionhearted / (Missed this one) / American Faux / (New Song?) / Say It Ain’t So / Can’t Hardly Wait (w/ Colin Campbell) / Radio Edit / (Also missed this song) / If It Makes You Happy / Stop?Stahp. / All My Friends.
