Review: Macklemore at First Avenue

Been getting into Macklemore from Seattle recently, and was given tickets to see the show. We entered right before the main act, and most of the crowd was pretty young and white. This rapper draws straight from the burbs, I surmised, nothing wrong with that.

Macklemore ripped off the roof, Ryan Lewis, his D.J. is insane and the fact that they do a bit of mashup work in there (say "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier" by The Killers,) did not detract at all for me. Macklemore put it out there, that 8 months earlier he came to Minneapolis and had 7th Street Entry full with 150 people, but now he's selling out shows at 1st ave. That's picking up some steam quick.

My deduction is that Macklemore's new hook focus, if he keeps building on it, will bring him more fans and attention. His songs "Irish Celebration" and "Life is Cinema" killed it, and with Lewis being added to the sound, it seams like that is the direction his music is going in. His older songs, with some exceptions unfortunately blended together a bit.

His stage presence was really great... he talked an awful lot. Which I enjoyed, because he was pretty entertaining, it was just interesting to me. He did "And We Danced" as his British rockstar mad twin or something, and that whole thing was energetic and alot of fun. Would love to see the dude perform again sometime. Maybe with Atmosphere, or another rad Minneapolis act? C'mon!

Thank you

Tim Brown

Review: More Than Lights & Heiruspecs at the Cabooze

Went to the More Than Lights & Heiruspecs show this Saturday, and it had some definitely shining moments. I walked past stereotype number 23, guy who wants to make sure you know he is super high, as we were told we would be the last ones to get in. Gave the doorman my I.D., paid my ten bucks, and sauntered into the as always weed smoke filled Cabooze. Coat checks full up? Damn, gotta hold my coat.

The person before More than Lights was tight but somewhat unmemorable, and More than Lights kicked it off with a rush of energy. A blend of hip-hop and rock blaring, with hip hop predominating. The jazz centric female vocalist definitely is a highlight and clearly has chops, my girlfriend said she was pretty bad-ass. I said "yeah, but basically she'd be boring with out the rest of the band," and she had to agree.

I gotta be honest I had some caffeine before the show, and 3/4th's of the way through Heiruspecs I was just beat. Heiruspecs had a whole slew of people he brought up on stage and that kicked major ass, including this little tiny asian chick from saint paul. "Now! They want it now!" she screamed with major stage presence.

I think what I gathered overall from the show is that I'm really liking live musicians with hip-hop, and these two groups in particular are doing it well.