By: Joe Lang
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Boiled in Lead - Publicity photo by Isadora Nieman
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I didn’t really know what to expect when I showed up to see Boiled in Lead; even though the band has been a Minneapolis staple, playing St. Patrick’s Day every year for over 20 years, I was only really familiar with their critically acclaimed 1994 album Antler Dance. That album had a completely different lineup; the only two players that are still performing in the group are Drew Miller and Robin Anders. The current incarnation features (original lead singer) Todd Menton on guitars and vocals, among other instruments, David Stenshoel on fiddle, and arguably the best (or at least most versatile) guitarist in the Twin Cities, Dean Magraw.
Although I missed Mark Stillman, I showed up to catch the tail end of Savage Aural Hotbed’s “set.” I would guess this band is like the Blue Man Group on steroids (I’ve never seen a whole Blue Man performance). The premise is that these guys wear lighted uniforms and bang the hell out of trash cans and water cooler jugs in rhythmic patterns. At one point, the band was using a buzz saw and shooting sparks into the audience.
Afterwards, patrons were asked to clear the main floor and the Minnesota Police Pipe Band filed down from the balcony and played a short set of music. On a few tunes, several curly-haired young ladies dressed in Irish garb did some traditional Irish dancing. While it is fun to listen to traditional bag pipes for a bit, I was more anxious to see the headliner, and the canon for pipe bands can really be less than captivating for an outsider given the (lack of) harmonic range and tempos.
As the pipe band slowly made their way back up the balcony and out, the projection screen rose and Boiled in Lead started their set. It felt like they came out with more of a whimper than a bang, and Dean’s playing had more of a Big Wu/Phish jam bandy feel, which really didn’t do it for me. I’d heard Dean’s jazzy playing on releases like Seventh One and his Celtic chops on his collaborations with John Williams, particularly the new album Raven. But at first this just didn’t seem right.
After a song or two, Dean quickly warmed up and his playing was more ferocious on a Mark Stillman cover, as well as a tune the band dubbed “The Albanian Louie Louie.” Dean switched over to a drone guitar, which gave a textural sitar sound.
As the set wore on, I couldn’t help but think about Mick Taylor quitting the Rolling Stones; Jagger and Richards, even after auditions, refused to accept Eric Clapton into the band. The reason? Clapton would have become the centerpiece. The same thing had happened with this band. This was not the hard rock powerhouse Boiled in Lead I became acclimated with – this was Dean Magraw featuring Boiled in Lead. Sure, some of the other band mates had moments to shine; Robin Anders beat the drums in his solo so hard I could actually feel his bass, and Stenshoel had some very nice fiddle solos. But over the course of the evening it was Magraw, laying down beautiful slide guitar, psychedelic E-Bow swells and Eastern colors that really shined. As a guitarist and huge fan of Magraw’s I might be biased, but I would say it was probably the best lineup the band has seen.
The problem with the show overall, for me, was that it dragged. Sure, there were some peaks, but there were a lot of valleys over the almost two and a half hour set, and the flow felt a bit lopsided. Had the band played a 90-minute set, I might have felt differently, but toward the end my friend and I were up competing on an old Tetris arcade game rather than hanging on every note.
Location Info:
First Avenue
Artist Info: Boiled in Lead, Minnesota Police Pipe Band, Savage Aural Hotbed
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