Tenacious D Bring the Thunder to Surly Festival Field

Last updated on September 23rd, 2022 at 12:59 pm

When was the last time you were excited about a Monday?

It’s easily the worst day of the week, and my guess is that if you’re over twelve or have a job, it’s probably been quite a while since you’ve looked forward to one.

Yesterday wasn’t just any ordinary Monday, though. It was the day when Jack Black & Kyle Gass of Tenacious D made their triumphant return to the Twin Cities, serenading us with the divine sounds of Rock n’ Roll and blowing the (imaginary) roof off of the Surly Brewing Festival Field!

Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Tenacious D, Surly Brewing, Minneapolis Concert 2022. — Tenacious D performing at Surly Festival Field in Minneapolis, MN (photo by: Chris Kirihara)

Currently out on the road celebrating, in part, the 20th anniversary of Tenacious D’s legendary self-titled debut, a record which is forever etched into the subconsciousness of every millennial who risked infecting their families desktop computer with countless viruses to illegally download it via LimeWire, Monday’s raucous performance in Minneapolis was one of the final tour stops of the year. They didn’t let a single second go to waste.

It had been just over a year since I had the pleasure of attending a show at Surly, and while it took me a minute to figure out the entrance to the grounds was now in a different place (it makes way more sense now!), as soon as I walked through the gates I immediately remembered how much of a necessity it is for any music fan in Minnesota to experience a show there.

The team that First Avenue and Surly assembles to put on these fantastic shows at a venue that feels like a fully functional city-within-a-city is sensational, and each year I’ve gone, they’ve tweaked things a little bit to make the process better and more enjoyable. Mix in some (usually) incredible late-summer/early-fall weather, and it’s almost always a night to remember.

As per usual with my concert reviews, poor planning on my part only offered me a short window of time to catch the tail end of DJ Douggpound’s performance while securing a beer, catching up with some familiar faces I met while walking around the grounds, and eating some french fries I got from a stranger who no longer wanted them, before finding a place to post up and enjoy the night.

As the band took the stage a little after 8:00 PM, they kicked off the show with a few tracks from their most recent release, Post-Apocalypto. It was admittedly a bit difficult to hear them at first due to a few technical glitches and a chorus of enthusiastic cheers from the sold-out crowd. Still, a couple of songs in, everybody got settled in, and we were officially really to rock!

Being the consummate professional that he is, Jack took a moment before the song “Low Hangin’ Fruit” to rile up the crowd a little bit with some Minneapolis vs. St. Paul jeering before recounting the time that the band first played the infamous First Avenue stage in the 90s, or “back before most of you were probably born” he later joked.

Of course, the meat of the performance came about halfway through as the band started ripping through songs from that aforementioned self-titled album and the incredibly popular soundtrack to their motion picture Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

Shortly before the thunderous opening notes of “The Metal” rang out, quick flashes of lighting from a nearby rainstorm started to flash above the stage, offering an almost cinematic atmosphere as the crowd performed their own animated renditions along to songs like “Kickapoo,” “Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown),” “Wonderboy,” and “Tribute.”

The band played to the crowd by throwing in Prince’s “Darling Nikki” during “Double Team” to wind down their initial set. For the encore, they began with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times” before ending with the song that mortified our parents more than anything else in the world… “Fuck Her Gently.”

As the final notes rang out across the field and the house lights slowly began to fade, I couldn’t help but have a big dumb smile plastered across my face as I made the trek back to my car, already singing the lyrics to my favorite performances of the night back to myself in my head.