Twin Cities Metal is dedicated to promoting live metal and hard rock in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Here you will find news, reviews, and photography of bands that play in the Twin Cities.
There’s something
going on every night this week of all rock/metal styles, so surely there is a
show you should get out to see!
Doom metal guitar
god Wino brings his acoustic/folk
show with Conny Ochs to the Turf
Club in St. Paul tonight, Thursday, August 16.
Friday, August 17
has rock band Saving Abel playing in
St. Paul at Station 4 with Matchpoint
and Aeous.
Of course,
Saturday, August 18 is the big day for Knotfest at Somerset Amphitheater. You
can read my final update (with set times and live streaming information) about
the event here, but the confirmed bill at this time is Slipknot, Deftones, Serj Tankian, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Lamb
Of God, Machine Head, Cannibal Corpse, Prong, and Gojira. Also
on Saturday, the show for rockers The
Classic Crime and Embers In Ashes
has been moved from the North Star Room in Mounds View to Station 4 in St.
Paul. Saturday as well has classic rock band The Guess Who headlining a benefit show for the Laker Educational
Foundation with Patty Peterson and moZiak at Epic in Minneapolis.
It’s a brutal night
of metal on Sunday, August 19 at Station 4 in St. Paul with Eyes Set To Kill, My Ticket Home, Awaken The
Empire, Brothers Loyalty, and See The Rise. That same night Texas Hippie Coalition will be rocking
at The Cabooze in Minneapolis with support from The Lost Wheels.
Things set even
more intense at Station 4 in St. Paul on Monday, August 20 with Abolishment Of Flesh, Skinned, Sadistic Passage, What Lies
Within, and Fetus Heist.
Station 4 in St.
Paul then has an all-local bill on Tuesday, August 21 with Face Of Oblivion, Micawber,
Ominous Conception, Australis, and Vessels For Our Ghost.
To wrap up the week’s
event, Canadian thrashers Unleash The
Archers bring their show to Station 4 in St. Paul on Wednesday, August 22
with local support from the mighty Dawn
Of Valor and Eternalize,
featuring Pyramaze and Echoterra keyboardist Jonah Weingarten
in their first ever full performance.
Due to the
unfortunate situation surrounding the well-publicized incarceration of Lamb Of God singer Randy Blythe in a
Czech prison and cancellation of their planned tour with Dethklok and Gojira,
there’s been a bit of uncertainty about the final bill for Knotfest this
Saturday, August 18 at Somerset Amphitheater in Somerset, Wisconsin. A number
of changes have been confirmed, and Randy has also been released from prison
(on August 2) and is back in the US. Here’s the latest update on the performers
at Knotfest.
The most important
news is that Lamb Of God will be
making one-off performances at both Knotfest events (the other in Council
Bluffs, Iowa on Friday, August 17). They had initially cancelled, but now are
back on the bill. With the Lamb Of God/Dethklok/Gojira tour up in flames, Dethklok
has cancelled but Gojira will still
be there. Taking the place of Dethklok
is the mighty Machine Head.
If you can’t attend
Knotfest, Event View Live is hosting Slipknot’s
performance as an internet streaming pay-per-view event for $19.95. In addition
to access to exclusive backstage footage and band interviews, Event View Live is
also doing a cool thing by allowing you to stream the concert on demand for 30
days after the event. So even if you can’t (or don’t want to) sit at your
computer on Saturday night, or if there are bandwidth issues when streaming
live, you can watch the concert at your convenience.
The Triple Rock
Social Club in Minneapolis just announced a local show with Emergent, Vaudeville, Thira, Whither The Tide, and R.A.G.E. on Friday, August 10.
Hard rock band Saving Abel plays an 18+ show at
Station 4 in St. Paul on Friday, August 17. Advance tickets are only $5.
Yesterday it was
announced that the Dethklok, Lamb Of God, and Gojira tour was cancelled due to Lamb Of God’s singer Randy Blythe
ongoing legal trouble in the Czech Republic, where he continues to be held in
jail. All three bands were scheduled to be a part of Knotfest with Slipknot on Saturday, August 18 in
Somerset, Wisconsin, and I’ve removed them from the calendar listing. Hopefully
replacement bands for Knotfest will be announced.
On Sunday, August
19, Texas Hippie Coalition will play
at The Cabooze in Minneapolis.
Blue Felix plays a free show at Neisen’s in Savage on Thursday, August
23.
The Turf Club in
St. Paul has instrumental warriors Zebulon
Pike along with Jel, Pizza Boys, and Good Morning Gentlemen on Friday, September 14. This show will also
feature a drum-off with Dave King, JT Bates, Martin Dosh, and Tim Glenn.
As if having Wino playing on Thursday, August 16 at
the Turf Club in St. Paul wasn’t awesome enough – now godly doom metal pioneers
Saint Vitus will play at the Triple
Rock Social Club in Minneapolis with Weedeater
on Monday, October 1.
GWAR returns to First Avenue on Sunday, November 18 with Devildriver, Cancer Bats, and Legacy Of
Disorder. This is an all ages show, and tickets go on sale today, Friday,
July 27 at 12:00 noon.
Lastly, rock legends The Who will be performing Quadrophenia(and more) in its entirety at the Target Center in Minneapolis on
Tuesday, November 27. Tickets go on sale at 10:00 am today, Friday, July 27.
This past Thursday
night’s Hoobastank show at the
Varsity Theater in Minneapolis was cancelled. According to the Varsity Theater website, refunds will be given at the point of purchase. No reason was given
for the cancellation.
Twin Cities band Throw The Fight has been confirmed as
support for Steel Panther at their
sold old show on Friday, July 27 at The Brick in Minneapolis.
The SoundTown
festival scheduled to take place Friday, July 27 and Saturday, July 28 at
Somerset Amphitheater in Somerset, Wisconsin has been cancelled. A post
yesterday on the event’s website reads, “unfortunately the ticket threshold was
not met and promoters had to make a difficult decision to cancel the event.”
Refunds are being issued automatically. There really weren’t any bands of
interest to metal fans except perhaps Jane’s
Addiction and Weezer, but
nevertheless it’s unfortunate to see a big event go under. The bottom line is
that there has been such a massive proliferation of all-day and multi-day
festivals in the area and greater Minnesota, and there was no way that all of
them could be supported.
Former Hollywood Undead singer Deuce will appear at Station 4 in St.
Paul on Thursday, August 9 for an all ages show. Tickets are on sale now.
Kansas City death
metal band Ares Kingdom has been
added as the headliner to the first night of the 2012 NYDM Annual show on
Friday, August 10 at Station 4 in St. Paul. Chicago’s crazy death crew Macabre headlines the second night on
Saturday, August 11.
Slipknot’s performance at Knotfest on Saturday, August 18 at Somerset
Amphitheater in Somerset, Wisconsin will be broadcast live over the internet at
Event View Live. Register now for $14.95 and you will gain access to “Slipknot
Saturdays, The Road To Knotfest”, a weekly broadcast of exclusive interviews
and live performance clips from their current U.S. tour. The price rises to
$19.95 on August 12. Of course why livestream the show when you can witness it
live along with all of the other great bands? The great feature is that
purchasers can view all postings for up to 30 days after Knotfest.
Canadian melodic
death metal band Unleash The Archers
make their way to Minnesota for the first time on Wednesday, August 22 at
Station 4 in St. Paul. Support will come from local power metal kings Dawn Of Valor and Eternalize, the new female-fronted band featuring keyboardist Jonah Weingarten (Pyramaze, Echoterra, Avian) making their debut non-acoustic performance.
Jonah Weingarten performing with Echoterra in 2010.
Listen to "What I Want" from the upcoming Eternalize debut album.
Pop-punk rockers There For Tomorrow perform an early,
all ages show on Monday, September 24 at Station 4 in St. Paul with support
from Deaf Havana, Set It Off, Divided By Friday, and This
Is Breathing.
Rock band Local H performs Wednesday, October 3
at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis. This is an 18+ show, and tickets
are on sale now.
Former Minutemen bassist Mike Watt plays the
Turf Club in St. Paul as Mike Watt + The
Missingmen with Japanese instrumental band LITE on Sunday, October 7. This is a 21+ show, and tickets are on
sale now.
Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson
are teaming up for a double-headliner tour with support from J Devil that hits the Verizon Wireless
Center in Mankato on Tuesday, October 9. Ticket information is not available at
this time.
Greece’s epic black
metal band Septicflesh last played
in town in July 2012 as support to Children
Of Bodom, and now they return to headline Station 4 in St. Paul on Friday,
October 19 with special guests Krisiun
(Brazil), Melechesh (Netherlands by
way of Isreal), Ex Deo (Canada),
featuring Kataklysm singer Maurizio
Iacono, and Inquisition.
Reformed
alternative heavy rock band The Afghan
Whigs will be playing the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis on Sunday, October
28. This is an 18+ show, and tickets are on sale now. I saw The Afghan Whigs in
1992 or 1993 at The Yacht Club in Iowa City in support of their Congregation album, and they put on a
great show.
It’s a thrash fest
on Monday, November 12 when Skeletonwitch,
Havok, and Mutilation Rites invade the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis.
This is an 18+ show, and tickets go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, July 14.
Death metal legends
Deicide will storm Station 4 in St.
Paul on Wednesday, November 14 with support from We Are Legion, Tennessee
Murder Club, and Burning Bethlehem.
There's been a slew of new concert announcements this week (more on these tomorrow), but one bit of news can't wait and that's the long overdue return of Slipknot to the Twin Cities on Saturday, August 18 at the recently renovated Somerset Amphitheater in Somerset, Wisconsin. To make it even more special, this is one of only two dates for Knotfest, an apparently new annual festival-style touring event—the other being Friday, August 17 in Pacific Junction, Iowa (just outside the Omaha, Nebraska metro area). The band lineup differs slightly on each day, but the Somerset date has a more extensive bill, so far being:
Main Stage: Slipknot Deftones Serj Tankian The Dillinger Escape Plan
Second Stage: Dethklok Lamb Of God Cannibal Corpse Prong Gojira
More bands should be added to the bill. I'm just hoping that a long-time favorite live band of mine, The Urge, who is slated to play the Pacific Junction date, will be added to the Somerset show. From the initial press release, it sounds like there will be vendors and a variety of activities including carnival rides. One cool feature will be a "Slipknot museum" with information and memorabellia from the band's archives. I'll have more information about the event as I learn it!
Tickets for both dates of Knotfest go on sale this Friday, June 8 at 10:00 am CDT through Ticketmaster. The event is all ages and tickets for the Somerset date are only $23 plus fees. The Ticketmaster event page states that "A limited number of tickets will be made available at 'early bird' discounted prices." It's unclear whether $23 is the early bird price or whether this is the standard price.
mplsmetal@yahoo.com
For a few years I published a metal/hard rock magazine that was distributed nationally through Desert Moon Distribution, Hot Topic, Tower Records, and Virgin Megastores. My real career took all my time so I ceased publication of the magazine.
Artists I have interviewed include Iron Maiden, Dio, Slipknot, Korn, Pantera, Danzig, Halford, David Coverdale, Incubus, and many, many others.
Bands I have photographed in a variety of settings (photoshoots, stadiums, arenas, clubs) include AC/DC, Metallica, Disturbed, Slipknot, Slash's Snakepit, Korn, Kid Rock, Machine Head, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Dio, Pantera, Staind, Danzig, and dozens of others!
