Justin Bailey 
When is the last time you attended a show that was built entirely upon local music acts? A week? A month? Six months? Over a year? Who was performing that night? Was it a memorable performance?
With concert ticket prices soaring, and many people living paycheck to paycheck, it’s understandable if you only choose to make it out to see nationally-recognized acts. Often times, it’s viewed as the “safest bet” in terms of getting the most out of your money.
What if I told you that, on one night, three acts that are sure to be selling out venues across the country within three years were all on one bill, and more importantly, that they all call the greater Twin Cities Metro area home?
That was the case on Friday night at Fine Line Music Cafe in Downtown Minneapolis, as three local favorites and superstars-in-the-making, Yam Haus, Early Eyes, and Last Import performed in front of a sold-out crowd on the second-biggest weekend Minneapolis has ever seen.
Last Import
Hot off the announcement of their very first music video & East Coast tour, as well as opening for the Minneapolis-legend Bob Mould last weekend at Turf Club, Last Import was riding high and feeding off the energy of the packed crowd early.
Packing most of their self-titled debut album into their half-hour set, they even pulled out a few surprises, including an amazing performance of the early 2000s classic “Oops!… I Did It Again” by Britney Spears, to which the crowd literally couldn’t help but sing along.
If you’ve followed my writing over the last six months, you’ll know how much of a joy it’s been for me to watch this young band grow and carve out their own piece of this thriving Twin Cities music scene, and I’m excited to see how far these three ladies can take this dream they have.
Early Eyes
It’s been, admittedly, about 18 months since I last saw Early Eyes perform. Similar to my struggles to see another incredible local band, The Shackletons, my schedule just never seems to line up with the shows they are playing.
Luckily for me, their performance on Friday night was almost an hour long, giving me plenty of time to catchup on this truly amazing and incredibly talented group of people.
Early Eyes became a band in October, 2016, as a temporary pop-up ensemble. Drawing from all sorts of musical backgrounds, their songwriting abilities were worthy of winning The National Endowment of The Arts Songwriting Challenge, and since that time they have grown quite the dedicated following in the Twin Cities.
It’s difficult to put my thumb on exactly what genre Early Eyes would fall into, but, I think that’s what makes me love them so much.
Their performance on Friday included a two-piece horn section, as well as an impeccable backup singer, something I had not seen from a performance of their before. It resulted in a jazzy, contemporary, indie-rock influenced, beautifully unified sound that I, obviously, had trouble comprehending and putting into coherent words.
Simply put, if you’ve never seen Early Eyes perform before, just go do it. You will not regret it, and that’s all I have to say about it!
Yam Haus
If you still have not seen Yam Haus yet, I truthfully have no idea what you are doing with your lives. Simply because I can’t put it into better words myself, here’s a brief snippet from Yam Haus’s website:
Minneapolis-based pop group, Yam Haus, is challenging the indie-dominated scene of the Twin Cities. Tight guitars, dreamy synths, and clean production from Grammy award-winning producer Mark Heimermann bring the energy of WALK THE MOON, the charisma of Coldplay, and the emotion of Ed Sheeran.
Performing for over an hour on Friday, their expertly crafted setlist hit all the high points of their discography, as well as a few surprises like a cover C+C Music Factory’s “Everybody Dance Now” as well as a mashup of Miley Cyrus’s “Party In The USA” with “Toxic” by Britney Spears, the latter featuring a really fun guitar solo at the end that ignited the crowd.
The entire performance was a party, and it was quite obvious at the end of the night why this show sold-out, even with no shortage of entertainment options in Minneapolis this weekend.
These three bands have very, very bright futures ahead of them, and I would recommend you take every opportunity to see them in such intimate venues as Fine Line Music Cafe or Turf Club, because all three of them will be touring on a national level very, very soon.
