The top 10 fall shows we're most excited about
You know what Of Montreal needs? A woman with quirky fashion sense.
Fall is like our harvest season for live music: Bands have finished gestating on the summer festival circuit but haven’t yet been killed off by the first frost. It’s called Rocktober for a reason, but let’s not overlook Rocktember and Rockvember. After sorting through dozens of strong venue schedules, The A.V. Club undertook the extremely difficult task of choosing just 10 shows that make up for the falling temperatures.
Pavement + No Age (Sept. 12, Roy Wilkins Auditorium)
Talk of a Pavement reunion has been going on for so long it’s hard to believe the band is finally returning to the Twin Cities this month. Pavement’s 10-year run yielded some great albums, and recent setlists show that Stephen Malkmus and company are ready to play a little bit of everything. Openers No Age can make an impressive amount of noise for two guys.
Patton Oswalt (Sept. 18, Pantages Theatre)
Okay, he’s not a rock band. But in a strong season for stand-up (Todd Barry, Louis C.K., and Margaret Cho also have local dates coming up), Patton Oswalt is still the standout. Unlike comedians who are always “on,” Oswalt has a laid-back, everyman quality about him, whether he’s threatening the life of his one-time hero George Lucas or picking apart that horrible “Christmas Shoes” song.
Arcade Fire (Sept. 22, Roy Wilkins Auditorium)
Roy Wilkins has always seemed like a more suitable venue for a high school basketball game than a rock show, but if there’s one band that can suitably fill that cavernous space, it’s Arcade Fire. Plenty of musicians have tackled the topic at the center of AF’s latest album, The Suburbs, but who’s ever done it on such a grandiose scale?
Of Montreal + Janelle Monáe (Sept. 23, First Avenue)
Of Montreal knows the impact a great special guest can have on a live show (just watch its YouTube clips with Solange Knowles and Susan Sarandon), so it's bringing one on the road. Professional R&B weirdo and sometimes-android Janelle Monáe is already well-acquainted with the psychedelic pop band: She appears on its new album False Priest.
Mark Mallman’s Marathon 3 (Oct. 7-10, Turf Club)
It’s happening. After playing a 26.2-hour “marathon” show in 1999 and doubling the goal in 2004, the Minneapolis piano man is going for a triple: According to our rudimentary math skills, that’s 78.6 hours of continuous music. From one man. Oh, and he’s actually just playing one really long song. Recalling how exhausted Mallman was at the end of Marathon 2, we can only imagine the state of delirium he’ll finish this one in.
Guided By Voices (Oct. 12, First Avenue)
For GBV fans, a plain old reunion would’ve been reason enough to get massively messed up and start doing jump-kicks. But the Akron band went the extra mile, reuniting the early-'90s lineup that recorded indie-rock classics like Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. The band has been broken up since 2004, so enjoy some of the best 90-second pop songs ever written while you have the chance.
Gorillaz (Oct. 17, Target Center)
Damon Albarn continues to play his part in smoothing international relations with the latest, very diverse lineup of Gorillaz. The group’s Escape To Plastic Beach tour not only features the now totally commonplace round of multimedia hocus-pocus but also Paul Simonon and Mick Jones of The Clash, soul singer Bobby Womack, British MCs Kano and Bashy, and members of Swedish synth-pop group Little Dragon.
LCD Soundsystem + Hot Chip (Oct. 23, Roy Wilkins Auditorium)
James Murphy has said that This Is Happening will probably be LCD Soundsystem’s final album, so let’s send the band off with a dance party for the record books. Adding to the electro-pop frenzy is Hot Chip, whose surprisingly steel-drum-heavy One Life Stand has the beats to make even the stodgiest Midwesterners shake a leg.
The Vaselines (Oct. 27, Varsity Theater)
It’s a rock 'n' roll fairy tale: A Scottish duo records two EPs and one full-length of simple, infectious pop before breaking up. A couple of years later, Nirvana covers some of their songs, raising the Scots’ status to “cult.” Now they’re ready to make their Twin Cities debut while on tour behind their first album in 20 years, Sex With An X.
Grinderman (Nov. 23, First Avenue)
It’s been three years since Grinderman’s first and only album, but you can’t call the group lazy. Free from their main gig as half of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, the members of Grinderman (Cave included) are finally ready to release Grinderman 2. The album’s first single, “Heathen Child,” continues the tradition of sexy but sinister stoner rock with buzz-saw guitar and an alluring bass groove.
