The Pains of Being Pure At Heart with opening acts Ablebody
and Fear of Men at The Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis MN on April 29th,
2014.
I preordered tickets to the concert as soon as they went on
sale. This was to be a sort of date night for my wife and I. My mother-in-law
came over to the house to watch the baby. We were going to have dinner at
Chipotle near home but changed our minds. We decided to eat somewhere closer to
the venue. This meant that we were going to be early to the venue and were able
to park behind the building. We walked about a block and a half before deciding
on a hole in the wall gyro joint. My wife had a gyro but I wanted a burger. The
burger was sub par but was elevated by the addition of the spice mix that they
put on the gyros.
After a cheap dinner we went back to the venue and waited
for the doors to open. It was just a matter of minutes before they opened, not a
big deal. I picked up a promo poster on the way in. We went to a table on the
main floor and sat down. There is a line of tables at the back of the main
floor and behind them on the upper floor is a bar like structure with seats
facing the stage.
After we had procured our seats I went up to the merch table
co see what they had. There were albums for both of the opening bands but
nothing for The Pains of Being Pure At Heart except for a T-shirt, I didn’t
really like the graphic, and some micro pins. I was very saddened that there
was no music to support The Pains on this stop of the tour. There wasn’t anyone
at the merch table at this point so I went back to sit down and wait for the
show to start.
The first opening group was Ablebody. They are a three piece
group that could have done with an additional member or two. I say this because
there were pre-recorded tracks with each song. I did like the vocal style, the
way that the lyrics were sung and the tone of the singers’ voice. It reminded
me of some of the 80s music that I like. I can’t say that I am going to search
out their music but it was a good start to the concert.
After the Ablebody set was over I saw that Kip was manning
the merch booth. I went up to talk to him. I asked him why there weren’t any of
the new single for sale. He said that they sold out of them very quickly and
weren’t going to get any restocked until they got to Seattle. I was bummed out.
I was looking forward to getting a copy at the concert so he could sign it. He
did tell me that the single Eurydice will probably get a 7” release in Europe
though. I am excited for that. I showed him that I was the writer of this blog.
He said that he read all the posts that the pains were a part of and that he
didn’t know that I was from Minneapolis. Then one of the photographers at the
show stepped up and had a bag of music for Kip to sign. I never want to be that
guy but at the same time I totally want Kip to sign all of my Pains records
too.
I went back down to listen to the next band, Fear of Men.
They were a four piece group with female vocals. The vocalist has a very pretty
voice. She also played a beautiful metallic green Fender guitar with a tortoise
pick guard. I had never thought about this color combination before but that
night it struck me as a very pretty color combination. The group was the right
choice for an opening act. It helped that they had released an album on the day
of the concert. I was actually annoyed by and enjoyed the strange gyrations of
the lead guitarist for this band. He played simple picked chords but the way
that he moved while playing the chords had to make it difficult to play the
notes. It was a good set but I was not interested in the group enough to buy
their music either.
Kip took the stage by himself for the first song. He played
his new black on white Fender Telecaster. This was the first time I had heard
this new guitar live. For a long time I hated what the Fender electric guitars
sounded like. I changed my mind and bought on in 2008. I was happy to see that
Kip had done the same thing. I feel that it has given the new music a new
dimension, especially with this new track, Art Smock. This song being just Kip
and the electric guitar the song has a fragile sound and is very sweet.
After Art Smock ended members of the two openers came out to
fill out the rest of the band. The bassist and the guitarist from Ablebody and
the lead guitarist from Fear of Men came out to play keyboards and backing
vocals. Also the drummer from Fear of Men came out. The following track had a
miscue but restarted quickly. The song, as with all of the new songs I found,
had a different feel from the past two records. The distortion seemed to be
lacking or not even there at all. It gave the song a cleaner sound and came off
with a more pop feel than ever before. It was awesome.
The next new song that was played was sung by the vocalist
for Fear of Men. This is a completely new angle for The Pains to go in. I like
the idea a lot. It opens up more avenues for the group to move in. It is super
poppy and reminds me of the music that I liked growing up as a kid in the 80s
with the synth sounds that were played on the keyboard especially.
The next song is the first single that has been released
from the forth coming album, Simple and Sure. This is the song that I was
hoping to get on 7” at the concert. The song sounded fantastic and very near to
what I have heard from the studio recording. I think that it is very amazing
that this rag-tag group can come together to make a near exact sound live. I
always think that is an amazing feet.
There was a little bit of a pause between Young Adult
Friction and Life After Life where he talked about snow in May and how sucky
that is. He also talked about the pop feel of the new music and compared it to
Mmm Bop. Then they went into the next song Life After Life. This was the second
track that was female vocal lead. There was a pre-recorded track with this one
that had a trumpet or french horn being played. It is a sweet song about
relationships, spiritual and physical.
The next new song, Eurydice, is the newest single from the
band. The chorus in this one really grabs me. The song has a good beat but the
chorus really kicks butt. I am so excited for this to be put out on a 7”
record, even if it is only released in Europe.
The last new song was played as the first track of the
encore. That song is called Coral and Gold. I can’t say that this is my
favorite track that I have heard from the new album but it is good. It is a bit
sad in the chord progression. It also doesn’t stand out like Eurydice or Simple
and Sure. After the song Kip talked about his dad going to the show in Chicago.
He said that the show was sold out so his dad left. He thought it was odd that
his dad didn’t say he was going to the show. Kip could have easily put his
dads’ name on the guest list if he knew he was coming.
All in all, this was a really great show. I am sad that
there wasn’t any music to buy. I am also kicking myself for not bringing anything
for Kip to sign but not knowing that there were not going to be any records or
CD to buy from The Pains what could I have done?
Thanks to Able Body and Fear of Men for supporting the tour and for helping out The Pains (Kip) to fill out the band. Thanks Kip (The Pains) for coming out to Minneapolis again. Also, Thanks to the Triple Rock for having the concert.
Track list:
Art Smock
Until The Sun Explodes
Heart In Your Heart Break
The Body
Kelly
Simple and Sure
Come Saturday
Young Adult Friction
Life After Life
Eurydice
This Love Is Fucking Right!
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
Encore
Coral and Gold
Everything With You
City Pages did a review of the concert
also if you want to see someone else’s point of view.
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