In my previous life as a chronicler of shows, I wrote detailed concert recaps that were more play-by-play than exegesis. But the setlist and banter Friday night at Kult in Helsinki weren’t nearly as important as the immersive experience of…
I saw Bob Dylan in concert for only the second time on Thursday, October 16, 2025, in Helsinki, on show #1 (we were first, baby!) of the Fall 2025 Rough and Rowdy Ways tour.
It’s ironic that, despite having lived half my life in Minnesota, I never saw Dylan in the US. Both my Dylan concert experiences have been in Finland.
By way of a smooth transition, Dylan’s last performance before heading to Finland to start his European tour was a 23-minute, five-song set at Farm Aid in Minnesota on September 20th.
Regular readers of my Substack may have noticed I’ve stolen more lines from Nada Surf to illustrate ideas than lines from any other band in recent years, most recently, my essay called “All Flavors All the Time,” a line from “So Much…
Despite being a lifelong music geek, I wasn’t familiar with the Dutch band NITS until this past year. It’s not like the band has been hiding under a rock for the fifty years of their existence, and I’m not ignorant…
To do a dangerous thing with style Is what I call art. – Charles Bukowski When my concert companion asked what I thought about Rickie Lee Jones’s performance in Helsinki Wednesday night as we walked from the venue, it made…
During the encore of his 32-song, three-hour show in Helsinki Friday night, Bruce Springsteen asked the audience of 42 thousand, “Do you think you can outlast the E Street band?” I, for one, couldn’t, even if Springsteen is 74 and…
I vividly recall Nick Cave’s tour stop in Helsinki on the “Conversations with Nick Cave” tour in 2019. Not just because I was one of the lucky few selected to sit on stage with the performer during the first of his two-night…
If you are looking for a theatre adventure this summer–or next—you won’t find a better location or value than at Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre. Located in Spring Green just west of Madison, APT has been impressing theatre goers with excellent…
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HowWasTheShow contributor Kristine Lambert submitted these photos from Starman, a David Bowie tribute presented by DJ Jake Rudh’s Transmission, held on Tuesday, January 12th at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. The event was originally scheduled for January 27th, but due…
