11/21/24
Studio B @ Skyway Theater in Mpls
Photos by Brett Zisler
Review by Nick
BETTER LOVERS returned to Minneapolis a little over 6 months after their first visit with a new album in tow guaranteed to get the pit moving. That definitely happened in a very sweaty Studio B on a cold November evening. BETTER LOVERS’ show back in May a couple blocks down at the Fine Line is hands down my show of the year. It was going to be hard to top that show and even tougher to do it in Studio B. BETTER LOVERS made Studio B look and sound like a totally different room. The band took a challenge and accomplished a feat. Smaller stage? No problem. Not much for lighting. They brought their own. No barricade? Even better!
The crowd got amped up as soon as the intro started and then into Will Putney’s guitar intro on “Lie Between the Lines” before the tsunami hit when the song kicked in. The band was firing on all cylinders from the jump and the crowd ate it up. While the pit wasn’t as active and people definitely weren’t stage diving like they were at the Fine Line, this show packed intensity trading back and forth from the band to the crowd.
BETTER LOVERS is a band that is meant to be seen live. The intensity is captured translating exceptionally well on record but the live show is where the magic is delivered. Every single person is key to crafting the hurricane level insanity that is BETTER LOVERS with all the pieces fitting together to erupt a metal version of Captain Planet.
I could go on and on with how well songs were placed in the set. “Lie Between the Lines” ran right in to “Sacrifical Participant” which got drop kicked by “Your Misplaced Self” before “Become So Small” landed the suplex which led to the chair across the back of “Superman Died Paralyzed” .. and that’s just the first 5 songs. This set was the equivalent to an average person being thrown into the Royal Rumble.
Edgar in the crowd got the best birthday present one could ask for at a show as Better Lovers tore in to a impromptu Better Lovers version of a Happy Birthday song complete with reprise. Moments like that aren’t going to be found at just any show you go to … only shows in small intimate settings like this one where not everything is planned out. That’s what makes Better Lovers shows … expect the unexpected and become a part of the chaos.
Intensity level was never really brought down until 11 songs in to the set when the melodic “At All Times” entered to give everyone a little bit of a breather before “God Make Me an Animal” came screaming in and “Love As An Act of Rebellion” whipped everything around in the opposite direction. Thriving on chaos, Jordan started grabbing people from the crowd and pulled them up to get on stage before they kicked in to a frenzied version of “30 Under 13”. Jordan crowd surfed at the end of the song from the stage to the merch table … which in this case was in the lobby of the venue that also houses Skyway Theater and The Lyric.
Better Lovers had a solid hour long set that highlighted their entire catalog leaving only 2 songs from the new album out of the set. I know I said this in the May review and I’ll say it again .. the next time Better Lovers is in town, do not miss it. This is the stuff legends are made of. Better Lovers, Please come back again in 6 months.
SEE MORE of BRETT's PHOTOS from BETTER LOVERS here!
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