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Photo by David de Young (click for full size, full band photo)
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Curtiss A's tribute to John Lennon last night at Minneapolis' First Avenue nightclub brought the spirit of Lennon into the mosh pit. He was alive last night, and I'm pretty sure if he were still around he'd be rocking out like we did.
The show featured full electric whammy bar freakout versions of every cool Lennon tune you can name, and a loving remembrance of George Harrison with an extendo telecaster bendy fest on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." The crowd was definitely older, lots of gray hair, and I swear I never see any of these people out for music except on this most holy of Minneapolis music nights.
I walked in to "Cold Turkey" getting the screaming four piece treatment, Curtiss hanging out over the edge of the stage, starting off with a bang.
"She Said, She Said" turned the place into the closest thing to a mosh pit these boomers will see - ever. "Tomorrow Never Knows" had them slackjawed at the intense vocals from our leader Mr Almstead (Curtiss A) and full on psychedelic keening birds and acid trip echoes from Steve Brantseg's slide and Tele. Way up on the neck, and all the way up over the pickups Brantseg showed us a new world into "Tomorrow" and out the other side. I think people were shocked when it finally ended - most of them looked like they'd just gone to a place they haven't yet told their kids about. Acid flashbacks? It's a school night!
The sweet songs were sweet, "Please Please Me," "Anytime At All" and "You Can't Do That" all rocked out, big smiles all around. The protest songs had everyone shouting. The shimmery studio stuff shone like new. "Rain," "A Day In The Life," "I Am The Walrus." How'd they do that? With as many as five guitars on stage at a time, that's how. To say it was layered would be an understatement, but this was real music, played by real musicians down to the cello in the back, the flute on 3-4 tunes, the acoustic percussion. Even the axes gave you that feel of real music, punk like the Beatles played it in Hamburg, loud like Lennon might play it now if he made it out of superstardom and back into clubs. A Beatle bass, two different Rickenbackers, a 12 string Tele, and a couple battered punk'ed out garage Tele's.
If you need an excuse to come downtown for live music, this is it folks. This thing is amazing. Pray to Jah that this mecca stays open. When I walked into First Ave I felt like I was going home. What a pleasure to see it packed with people again. I hope we can see you there next year, same bat place, same bat day.
Location Info:
First Avenue
Artist Info: Curtiss A
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