Blogpost: Japandroids @ 7th St. Entry

Posted by Nathan G. O'Brien • July 3, 2012

Posted by Nathan G. O'Brien • July 3, 2012

Japandroids

7th St. Entry

Minneapolis, MN

July 7, 2012

When a touring band starts their set by saying, “It feels like we’re back home, Minneapolis”, the natural instinct is to go Okay, yeah sure buddy— I bet you said the same thing last night in Chicago/Milwaukee/Madison/Detroit/somewhere in Canada/etc.  But when Japandroids lead singer and guitar player Brian King said it to a sell-out crowd Tuesday night, the eager, packed-in audience opted to believe him.  Minneapolis, for all of our shameless self-loving scenesterism, can be a fussy crowd; often times offering our lesser-known hometown bands nothing but folded arms and blank stares.  That being said, we tend to treat out-of-towners—at least those with a good amount of buzz—really, really well.  So it comes without surprise that Japandroids, who are in heavy rotation locally on both 89.3 The Current and 770 AM Radio K, were welcomed with open arms.

Personally I was hesitant to believe the hype surrounding the Vancouver-based guitar and drums duo when their first album Post-Nothing was released in ’09, and admittedly, not for any justifiable reason.  Basically I wanted to hate them because I was already a Japanther fan, and these guys—being a another two man band with “Japan” in their name, who played punk-informed anthemic indie rock—were seemingly more popular and thus were a threat to my self-created DIY-loving-cool-guy world. After all, we Twin Cityans had already dealt with a similar situation a couple of times:  First, at the height of the early ’00 garage rock revival an Australian band calling themselves The D4 started making the press rounds, while our beloved bar punkers the Dillinger Four, who are affectionately referred to as D4, who had been killing it for years, went largely unnoticed outside of the smallish punk world.  Then, a few years later, the indie-rock universe was going bananas for Vampire Weekend, while our very own Vampire Hands had been creating  far more original and better music and for quite a bit longer but without the attention of Spin Magazine and Pitchfork.  So, while Japanther was not a TC band, as a fan of them, all the attention ‘droids was getting upset me just the same.  Then one day, seconds away from murdering the Internet because it wouldn’t shut up about Japandroids, for some strange reason—almost as if I was being controlled by a mind not my own—I went out and bought Post-Nothing.  I’ve been hooked on them ever since; snatching up their collection of old EPs No Singles in ‘10, and of course, the new album a few weeks ago.  In retrospect it was quite silly to try and dismiss a band—even without hearing them—based on the fact that they have a similar name and makeup of another band I already liked.

So, on the last night of their American tour, Japandroids landed at the legendary 7th Street Entry in downtown Minneapolis (where the Replacements once played five nights in a row in October of ’85 and where Atmosphere did an eight night stand twenty years later) to blow off some steam before the long, show-less drive back to Vancouver.  Despite the hellish temperatures (a heat index up around 107 degrees Fahrenheit) King and drummer David Prowse played as if it had nothing left to lose; like they literally did live here and could just go home and pass out after the show.  They frantically and sometimes sloppily, bashed through every track from their outstanding new record Celebration Rock.  The songs that seemed to garner the most crowd participation were the lead-off single “The House That Heaven Built”; with its overabundance of ooh-ooh-ooh sing-a-long parts, the youthful drinking anthem “Younger Us”, and the album opener “The Nights Of Wine and Roses”; which was preceded by King urging everyone to check out The Dream Syndicate album by the same name, saying that the creation of Celebration Rock was influenced heavily by it.  The set was rounded out with select gems from Post-Nothing such as “Young Hearts Spark Fire”, “Wet Hair” and one of my personal favorites, “Sovereignty.”  It was an oddly touching few minutes, as the Minneapolis crowd, who has its own love/hate relationship with finicky weather, proudly sang along to the PNW anthem: “It’s raining in Vancouver, but I don’t give a fuck.”

Of interest was how, even though it was an 18+ show, the majority of the audience seemed to be in their late 20s to even early 40s.  (No doubt, a result of the Current’s affect on the local music scene—it’s undeniable, indie rock crowds have gotten older here since they debuted on-air in ‘05.  It’s something that is quite heartwarming to see actually.)  Near the end of the set they played the final song off of Celebration Rock, “Continuous Thunder.” Despite the band’s apologetic nature for playing “a slow one” it was near-perfect moment, as the lyrics, centered around lost love, resonated well with the us older attendees that may have a bit more life experience under our belts in that department.

The final song of the encore-less performance was a lengthy, raucous version of a Gun Club cover, “For the Love of Ivy”, in which it looked at times like the band might go into instrument-smashing mode.  They didn’t however, which was kind of disappointing, but they did look completely spent, as if they gave it everything that had left in them.  And that alone was completely satisfying.  Besides, everyone else down on the floor looked just as exhausted.  But we actually got to go home and pass out afterwards. Godspeed Japandroids!

Japandroids:  http://japandroids.com/

7Th St. Entry: http://first-avenue.com/taxonomy/term/14

Nathan G. O'Brien • July 3, 2012

More recent blogposts

Tripping Daisy North American Tour 2025

Posted by Mirela Z. • July 13, 2025

Tripping Daisy @ Lee's Palace Toronto, Canada July 11, 2025 Tripping Daisy brought us back to 1995 and sounded better than ever! When the crowd sings along 30 years later there’s no better feeling! Read more

Death from Above 1979

Posted by Mirela Z. • July 6, 2025

Death from Above 1979 @ SummerStage New York, USA July 2, 2025 "The boundary pushing Death From Above 1979 originated from Toronto with the uncompromising one-two punch of 2002’s fuzz-bomb EP Heads Up and 2004’s epochal debut album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine. The band has made numerous appearances on the Billboard charts as well as on TV performing … Read more

Sum 41 @ Scotiabank Arena

Posted by Mirela Z. • June 19, 2025

Sum 41 final shows - day 1 of 2 Scotiabank Arena Toronto Canada Jan. 28, 2025 All photos by @front.row.fans   Read more

Play/Search/Repeat - May 2025

Posted by Loren • May 27, 2025

It's been a while since I put another playlist up. I actually had this 99% done a couple of months ago, but everything went haywire and the list went on hold. This edition of Search/Play/Repeat is a quick play, running about 30 minutes in total. Enjoy! Read more

Visual Learner / BlackDots / City Mouse

Posted by Loren • May 14, 2025

Visual Learner, BlackDots, City Mouse, Couch Potato Massacre Cloudland Theater Minneapolis, MN May 7, 2025 I’m embarrassed that I haven’t covered any shows at Cloudland for SPB previously. It’s a relatively new addition to the Minneapolis scene and a welcome addition that feels as much like a community space as a club. In other words, it’s clean instead of dingy, … Read more

HORSE the Band @ The Glass House 4/26/25

Posted by Aaron H • May 2, 2025

HORSE the Band - Credit: AMH HORSE the Band are on the road celebrating the 20th anniversary of their sophomore album, The Mechanical Hand. Joining them for the first leg of the tour was Pomona locals, Othiel, Flake from Wichita, Kansas, and LA's "melodic crust" quartet, Lagrimas. It's an odd feeling to remember being at the record release show for … Read more

The Linda Lindas/BYOP/Chicano Mosh @ GHCH 4/1/25

Posted by Aaron H • April 5, 2025

The Linda Lindas - Credit: AMH After spending the Summer playing stadiums opening for Green Day and The Rolling Stones, The Linda Lindas are out on the road supporting their new album, No Obligation. For their first major headlining tour since releasing their sophomore album last Fall, the young punk quartet brought along Garage-Punk veterans, Be Your Own Pet for … Read more

PJ Harvey @ Sydney Opera House Forecourt

Posted by T • March 14, 2025

PJ Harvey Sydney Opera House Forecourt 13 March 2025 Sydney, Australia photo courtesy of Daniel Boud and the Sydney Opera House.Caption Some artists perform. PJ Harvey transmutes. Like a figure walking between worlds, she never lingers too long in one place, never allows herself to fossilize into nostalgia. Instead, she reinvents - without ever severing the thread that binds her … Read more

The Get Up Kids/Ozma @ The Glass House 3/7/25

Posted by Aaron H • March 14, 2025

The Get Up Kids - Credit: AMH The Get Up Kids just finished the US leg of their 25th Anniversary Tour for their seminal album, Something To Write Home About with 2 nights at The Glass House in Pomona. Of course, I didn't wanna miss it. Following support from Indie-Rock band, Ozma -- who ran through tracks from their first … Read more

Chat Pile/Gouge Away @ The Glass House 2/22/25

Posted by Aaron H • March 4, 2025

Chat Pile Fans - Credit: AMH Chat Pile are about to wrap up their US West Coast and Canada tour with Gouge Away this week. I was fortunate enough to catch the sludgy rockers when they came through Pomona last week. Nightosphere - Credit: AMH Kansas City's Nightosphere has opened the shows every night. The trio's unique blend of shoegaze … Read more