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From: Keith Lee

Opening opening act was the lead singer from the Minneapolis local band
Lifter Puller. His set got better as it went along, but only after you got
used to his weird affected accent (Elvis Costello rip-off?) and his
way-too-bright Telecaster guitar. Not bad- any of you locals should check
out the full band- if you don't mind the Uptown pretty-boy schtick, they
put on a good show.

Next was Andrew Duplantis. Singing was great- some lyrical moments- same
strum pattern for pretty much the whole set (3/4 speed Brasilia). I could
see him getting a band....

Very strong performance from Bob. I'm completely embarrassed by the
Minneapolis crowd- I'd say 3/5 of the crowd were U of MN frat boys and
their girlfriends, who often muttered "hey, they didn't play enough Sugar
stuff-" and absolutely no reaction to the new stuff. 1/5 of the crowd were
the die-hard fans. 1/5 went because their friends went. All in all, not the
most informed nor the most emotional crowd. I think the indie/underground
torch has left the town, much like the Twins (Bob's only comment was that
he had a "shitload of new songs", "the Yankees suck, but at least they're
not leaving town" and his gracious comment that he "drank too much coffee"-
read, "this crowd is dead, I'm shutting you out and I'm ripping through my
set, so fuck off") Those of you who think the Twin Cities is a mecca for
underground music- try Austin, Boston or Chicago. Not here.

Back to the set. Bob's voice was very strong- a couple of cracks towards
the end, but it was probably more from intensity than sickness. The new
songs (particularly the "6 day old" Along the Way) should sound great when
it gets finished in the studio- Bob's guitar work was phenomenal for those
songs. I'm probably the only list member who can't figure out lyrics to
save myself, but fragments of what I heard sound great.

Other highlights: a blistering version of Chartered Trips, with screams of
"Chartered" only topped by his primal screaming of the Slim (found on
Besides); an intimate version of Too Far Down; an intense version of
Thumbtack; great presentation of the new songs, both the threesome
presented at the Guthrie in Feburary (New #1/Vaporub/High Fidelity) and the
others that followed it. To follow up on the Yo La Tengo thread- they
played the absolutely hysterical video of Sugarcube before Bob's set (and,
in my humble opinion, the song is a tribute/parody to Bob). Also, Terry
Katzman (owner of Garage D'Or, former Husker roadie) was making a board
tape of the show, but the tape ran out during the second encore.

All in all- a very solid show, probably the most solid I've seen solo in a
long time. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but go see him!

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From: Chris Wheaton

I have a few comments on the MPLS show.
1)  Bob was great.  Moving Trucks was awesome.
2)  I had one of the frat guys next to me the whole show.  I was a more than a little
     pissed off at the fact that he was singing all of the songs he knew at the top of his
     lungs.  I don't know about other listeners but I didn't spend the money to hear this
    drunk guy's attempt of Bob karoke,  Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with 
    people singing along.  Hell, I do it.  When your singing escalates to shouting 
    every song it really takes away from the experience.  I was wondering if anybody
    else has run into this.
3) Andrew was really good as well, he should record "counting leaves days" and 
    "company".
4) He said nothing to the crowd of getting a new band together.  I hope to god this is
    not a joke.

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From: tlewis

first of all, it was a real treat to see andrew again; hopefully he'll
handle opening duties for a lot of other dates.  he and bob did that weird
identical-outfit thing again; how do they do that?  but he had his own
musical style, very powerful and sometimes soulful.  good luck to him.

okay, to concur with the other reviews so far, there was a predominant
frat-feeling in the air, whatever that means.  i had a couple in front of
me doing an advanced bump'n'grind to "too far down", of all things.  very
painful.  but people responded equally as enthusiastically to "workbook"
and husker stuff as to the few sugar tunes; "celebrated summer" in
particular whipped everybody into a frenzy.  the crowd was often
surprisingly respectful:  "too far down" got an intensely hushed, quiet
reworking, and at a pause some guy screamed "bob!" only to be shushed by
the back of the room!  i've never heard that before.

well, enough of that.  for whatever reason, bob wasn't up to a long
discussion, but genuinely seemed to be having a great time.  every song
was infused with a truly scary level of energy that i've never heard, in
my half-dozen or so times seeing him.  i'd argue that if he was truly on
automatic pilot, he'd standardize the delivery.  instead, the vocals and
often playing were a work in progress, which was a real treat.  even
"egoverride" got sort of a makeover and was complete fun.  the quality of
the show being what it was, i didn't think he could switch gears for the
encore...but then pulled out two utter, slow stunners.  this may be the
best performance i've seen by him.  but that seems to be his gift:  he
refuses to let anything lie and so constantly one-ups himself.  wow.

quick new song impressions (before my meter runs out!):  
"along the way" has a weird, sort-of foreboding, sideways chord structure.
cool.  "first drag of the day" is one massive hook that you could play for
hours.  "reflecting pool" is a shot of adreneline, an absolute
short-but-sweet rush; sort of like if we'd had a chance to hear "deep
karma canyon" live. "moving trucks" is very moving lyrically and is
sandwiched around a nicely chunky solo.  *more solos please*!