Hey, kids, look at this
When I found out Aimee Mann and Ben Kweller would be doing a show in the area, I was only somewhat interested. I like them both a lot, but I saw them each recently, and last Thursday's show was in the middle of an especially busy week. But then I learned something important: their show would be at the Minnesota Zoo. The zoo!
Aimee Mann - Thirty One Today.
Ben Kweller - Penny on the Train Track.
The Minnesota Zoo is in Apple Valley, a suburb just south of the Twin Cities. As zoos go, it's a pretty good one. The animals are mostly out in the open, and the overall space is huge. To get to the tiny amphitheater, we walked along a walkway on a pond with herons. These herons were also in the background for the show, which made for some pretty amazing viewing.
More thoughts and photos after the jump.
Kweller played songs from his upcoming record Changing Horses (due out in January), and while I wasn't crazy about the songs - the album will be mostly country/folk - he was fun to see, as always. He even snuck in an old one, "Family Tree," for the fans.
I'd seen Aimee Mann a few times before (most recently in December), so her set wasn't a revelation. But she's always fun to see, especially because she's a master of banter. ("Sir, you know I'm not going to play 'Voices Carry'.") She told a story about how "Borrowing Time" from her new record was, in a different form, intended for Shrek the Third. Because of various issues, her song wasn't chosen, and she recalled realizing that most movies like Shrek have a "you can do it!" attitude. "And," she said, "that's not really what I do. I'm more like, 'No ... you really can't do it.'"
The band for her new tour consists of just one guitar player - Mann herself - which mirrors the band on her new album, @#%&*! Smilers. There were two keyboardists, each playing a bit of piano, synth and organ. It worked great, and made guitar-driven songs like "Save Me" sound pretty different.
As you can see in that first photo, people were actually dancing (and jumping!) at the end, which was funny to everybody, especially Mann. She pointed out that the one hippie who started it was initially dancing to "Driving Sideways," which she told him was "impossible," though she appreciated it just the same.
At the show, I ran into Dee and Luftmensch from My Old Kentucky Blog. They wrote about it here.