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  • A Belated Concert Review: AC/DC Open North American Tour with Brilliant Showing in Minneapolis

    Of all the music acts that experienced their commercial peak sometime during the 20th century, there are approximately 15 (as of late March 2025) that have over 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Members of this club of timeless icons include Elton John, Queen, The Beatles, Nirvana and Madonna. Also among them, with 31.9 million as I’m writing this, is the Australian hard-rocking, head-banging, heart pounding power chord machine that is AC/DC. My suspicion that this number was an indicator of how beloved they are by all ages was very much confirmed at the opening show of their “POWER UP” North American Tour in Minneapolis on Thursday, April 10th, their first US show in almost a decade. From little kids to college students, Gen Xers, the elderly and everything in between, people from all walks of happily volunteered to have their socks rocked off by a band with 50 years of experience in doing just that, and they still do not disappoint.

    When a band takes on a stadium tour in their twilight years, it’s easy to imagine that they’re doing it just for the paycheck. And when you’re a legend and can put a name like “AC/DC” on the ticket, people will flock by the tens of thousands and enjoy the show regardless of how well you actually perform. But that’s clearly not how this band operates. The hype actually started the day before the show with the appearance of the “High Voltage Dive Bar” pop-up experience at a local event venue. I wasn’t able to attend, but my secondhand understanding is it’s like the band’s traveling museum, complete with iconic props and a gift shop, and I only heard good things about it. By showtime, the excitement of the crowd was palpable.

    Singer Brian Johnson and lead guitarist/founding member Angus Young, 77 and 70 respectively, were the stars of the show; the only ones that moved around the stage and at least one video board camera on each of them at any given time, they still know how to make the most of the spotlight. Johnson, who only just returned to the band 18 months ago after stepping away for several years due health issues, marched around on stage with a joyful grin that was contradictory to the dark and scary lyrics he was singing in the absolute best way. Unsurprisingly he needed the breaks between songs to be slightly longer than normal and singing may not be as fierce as it used to be, but that’s nothing to hold against him and he served his role as conductor of the rock n’ roll train brilliantly.

    Guitarist Angus Young keeping the crowd loud during is lengthy “Let There Be Rock” solo. Credit: Derek Dalrymple (myself)

    For Angus Young on the other hand, the only sign that he’d recently become a septuagenarian was his disheveled white hair. I don’t have many live rock guitar performances under my belt, but it is a list that includes Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Mick Mars of Motley Crue, C.C. DeVille of Poison and the E Street Band trio of Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren. And maybe this is recency bias, but for me, Young trumps them all in terms of pure ability and is up there with the greatest players ever. If you were there and his iconic contributions to smashes like “Shoot to Thrill”, “Whole Lotta Rosie” and “T.N.T.” didn’t convince you of this, then the extended guitar solo to close out “Let There Be Rock” and the show’s main set, which was possibly 20 minutes long but I was so engrossed that I didn’t realize time was passing at all, certainly did. His trademark schoolboy outfit may have slowly disintegrated as the night went on, but his ability to blow the doors off of US Bank Stadium with just a guitar never wavered.

    One more thing I want to quickly address is the critical decision every attendee of an AC/DC concert has to make and is a topic of much discussion online: to wear earplugs or not to wear earplugs? Anyone I’ve ever talked to about seeing the band live says it’s the loudest show they’ve ever seen, and I don’t find that hard to believe. Furthermore, any time you find a post on r/ACDC or any other forum related to the band that asks, “This is my first AC/DC show, what should I expect?” half of the replies mention the need for earplugs. A few songs into the show on Thursday, even though I hadn’t seen anyone around me using them, I decided to give earplugs a try; nothing fancy, just basic orange foam plugs. And it wasn’t because I felt like my ears were hurting or anything, but more so that it was so loud that the music sounded somewhat distorted. Earplugs changed all of that and the band sounded great from that point on, the only trade off being that I couldn’t hear Brian Johnson quite as well but enough to enjoy his performance. Overall, my verdict is suggesting them to any future AC/DC concertgoers, both for the well-being of your ears and for getting the most out of the music.

    For all the bellowing I’ve done about my experience at the show, the most important part of this story is the experience of the person I attended with. My mother has been a fan of rock and roll her whole life and seen many incredible shows, but the one band she’d never caught, until Thursday, was AC/DC. She couldn’t help but shed tears of joy when we bought the tickets back in December, and they returned as the band kicked into their opener, “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)”. I joked with her that she was the first person to cry at an AC/DC concert, and while that’s certainly not true, it speaks to the power of music and the power of this band. For having a murder’s row of songs about… well, murder, as well as hell, Satan, perversion, drinking and every other sin and force of evil in the book, they bring a lot of people a lot of happiness, and that’s something to salute.

  • A Belated Concert Review: FINNEAS Flourishes at the Fillmore in Minneapolis

    A Belated Concert Review: FINNEAS Flourishes at the Fillmore in Minneapolis

    For anyone that has stumbled upon this review interested in one man’s perspective on this show, I should acknowledge the elephant in the room: this is the first concert review I’ve ever written. You’re seeing this on an unknown portfolio blog, not The Minnesota Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press, because I am not a seasoned reviewer with hundreds of critically analyzed shows under my belt. But my guess is, if you’re here, you’re a fan of FINNEAS and his music, craving to know if someone out there had a similarly magical experience at his February 27th, 2025 show at The Fillmore in Minneapolis. In the days after the concert, I was this person too. However, no major publications covered it and I could count the amount of smaller publications that did on one hand. If I had seen FINNEAS with the intention to write a review, one would already exist; it is the lack of coverage that (spoiler alert) this spectacular performance received that has spurred this fan on to give it the recognition it deserves. 

    This isn’t to suggest that FINNEAS (a.k.a. Finneas O’Connell) needs my recognition, of course. The 27-year-old singer-songwriter, producer, and actor has already racked up a lifetime’s worth of accomplishments, primarily thanks to his success with sister and creative partner Billie Eilish across three critically-acclaimed albums and multiple hit singles dating back to 2017’s “ocean eyes.” His trophy case includes two Ocsars, two Golden Globes and 10 Grammys, and (apart from Eilish) has collaborated with Ashe, Lizzy McAlpine, Ringo Starr, Selena Gomez and more. But a noticeable void amongst these accolades is the lack of critical and commercial appreciation for his solo projects. While he can tout major streaming numbers on singles like “Let’s Fall in Love for the Night” and “Break My Heart Again,” his 2019 EP Blood Harmony and albums Optimist and For Cryin’ Out Loud! (from 2021 and 2024, respectively) haven’t broken into the zeitgeist, or at least not in the earth-shaking manner that his sister’s releases have.

    I only realized this was the case after the first single and title track of his most recent album caught my attention upon release this past August and encouraged me to dive into his entire solo catalog. From “American Cliché” and “Life Moves On” to “The Kids Are All Dying” and “Partners in Crime,” I became enamored immediately, and, like any fan of an artist that isn’t a constant fixture of the Billboard Hot 100, I couldn’t understand why he isn’t the biggest deal in popular music. But if that were the case, he wouldn’t have played the elegant and intimate Fillmore Minneapolis on his “For Cryin’ Out Loud! The Tour” this winter, giving his passionate upper Midwest fans a show to remember.

    FINNEAS on vocals and guitar performing his 2024 single “Cleats”. Credit: Derek Dalrymple (myself)

    In the hours that I waited in line outside the venue before the show, I participated in a fellow fan’s TikTok, received a friendship bracelet, eavesdropped on conversations whilst pretending to scroll social media, and watched as the line of 30 when I arrived gradually grew to be well over 100 people, many of them women in their late teens and early twenties on dates or girls nights out, snaking around the block. In a time where concerts attended by this demographic feel more like a heartwarming gathering of friends than a random assortment of fans whose only thing in common is the music they are there to see, I felt closer to the former at this show than anything I’d attended previously.

    Once we were let in, I managed to stake my claim on a position roughly the equivalent of the seventh row slightly left of center on the general admission floor, the closest I’ve ever been at a concert and a spot well worth waiting for. Bad Suns, the tour’s opening band featuring Christo Bowman on vocals and guitar, Gavin Bennett on bass and keyboard and Miles Morris on drums, who pulls double duty by playing for FINNEAS as well, provide a great spark to get the crowd warmed up. Their 2016 track “Swimming in the Moonlight” kicked the doors open early and set the tone for, as someone that hadn’t listened to them before, an energetic and enjoyable set that had me adding a few songs to playlists afterwards. The only halt in momentum came halfway through the set when Bowman tried to get the crowd involved in a little experiment, having the crowd take out their phones, find their new song “Communicating” on their preferred streaming service, crank up the volume and press play at the same time. An interesting idea on paper, it unfortunately came out flat in practice. However, the band’s subsequent smooth performance made up for it.

    At 8:45 pm, Finneas walked out on stage alone, sat at the keyboard stage left and jumped into the dreamy piano intro to “Starfucker,” the opening track on For Cryin’ Out Loud!, performing the first verse and chorus solo before the rest of the band joined him onstage to finish it off. The next song was “Lotus Eater,” a synth-heavy mid-tempo love song and my personal favorite of his. Under lights of saturated teal and pink, Finneas and the band started rolling, putting on a jubilant performance of the song with energy the crowd was more than willing to match, scream-singing every word.

    This excitement didn’t cancel out the intimate atmosphere that made the show feel truly special, and was something I’d never experienced as someone that’s only been to stadium and arena concerts before. Finneas himself leaned into this as well, frequently taking time to talk to the crowd; three songs into the show he mentioned it was his first time playing solo in Minnesota and thanked the crowd for selling out the venue. Later on he was given a plush doll of himself from an audience member that stayed on his piano for the rest of the show. The highlight of these in-between moments though, came unexpectedly to everyone. Finneas’s acoustic guitar wasn’t working properly as tried kicking in to the show’s penultimate song, “Let’s Fall in Love for the Night.” In the bit of down time while techs remedied the problem, Finneas noticed a sign in the crowd that I couldn’t see but assume said something along the lines of “I know all of the words to ‘Let’s Fall in Love for the Night!’” He then handed her the microphone and led the crowd in an a cappella version of the song whilst Finneas danced along on stage until a few lines in when, like any fan would that was suddenly given the mic at a concert, forgot the words. Finneas joked afterwards that what just happened, “sounds like a stress dream I’d have” before starting up a stellar version of the real thing.

    I’ve had a lot of time to think about what the apex of the concert was, and though there is a wide array of options, my brain always goes back to one answer: the back-to-back “covers” of “Till Forever Falls Apart”, a hit Ashe/FINNEAS duet from her debut LP, 2021’s Ashlyn, and The Zombies’ psychedelic 1968 hit “Time of the Season.” Songwriter and keyboardist in the band Lucy Healy played the role of Ashe brilliantly, leading the now fully immersed and energized crowd through the first verse before handing the mic back to Finneas, who closed out the song by dropping to his knees and belting out a final “LOOOOVVVVEEEEE” with what felt in the moment like cinematic majesty. The band then quickly moved into a sultry rendition of “Time of the Season” a song that he and the band debuted their version of on Australian radio station triple j and, according to his setlist.fm page, was not a guaranteed get that went over great.

    What impressed and surprised me the most were the changes that were made to some of the more subdued songs to give their live versions a bit more bang. A trio of songs from For Cryin’ Out Loud! were given new life: the west coast melancholy ballad “What’s It Gonna Take to Break Your Heart?” featured a revamped drum breakdown from the aforementioned Miles Morris. “Little Window,” a slower jam about the dangers of cellphone addiction, gave lead guitarist “Rat” a chance to shine in a way you don’t get on the album. And “Family Feud,” a touching tribute to his sister, got some updated lyrics, changing her age to be accurate (she’s now 23) and ending with an acknowledgement of the distance between them, as she was touring Australia at the time. Also, Blood Harmony standout “I Lost a Friend” reached a rock opera climax that helped it earn its placement towards the end of the set.

    As the show came to a close with a rollicking performance of “For Cryin’ Out Loud!” and the exuberant crowd grabbed merch, took pictures and made their way home, I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. FINNEAS hit every high and low emotional touchpoint that an audience member might hope to hear at a show, delivering a complete experience. He excelled as a band leader, vocalist, guitarist and gracious host. For someone who’s spent almost all of his time in the spotlight behind his generational talent of a sister, he has all of the tools to hold center stage as well. I’ll only remember this show for a lifetime.