Took a break from blogging and social media for a while, but decided to get back into the swing of things and start a new month with the return of one of my favorite local bands on Friday, as local legends Flipp had their first reunion show at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis.
My friends in VIA started the show with a ton of great energy. They were looking forward to playing the legendary venue for the first time ever, and I couldn't be happier for them. I only wished more people had showed up in time for their set.
Next up were the decidedly different band Enemy Planes. It was unusual to see a rock group with a pair of keyboardists/vocalists (and a couple of drummers who shared stage time pretty evenly), but the growing crowd really got into their set.
About 10:30 pm, a "welcome back" montage played on the overhead screen, and as the screen slowly rose, Flipp launched into their hit "Clone Me." I used to see them play at the Red Carpet nightclub in St. Cloud back in the day, and it seemed like they never missed a beat. Frontman Brynn Arens, multi-instrumentalist Chia Karaoke and drummer Kilo Bale hit all the right notes at the right times, much to the delight of the packed house. It was also good to see original bassist Cherry Forever onstage jamming at the show.
I was all smiles when the next song was my favorite Flipp track "I Still Love Rock n' Roll." I missed their music and their antics, like Chia's launching Flipp cereal into the crowd and Brynn playing both guitar and drums at one point during their set. Even though it had been more than a decade since these guys rocked a stage, they never missed a beat!
I was jostled around a bit being in the front row as usual, but didn't mind it so much this time. After the show, I wandered over to the merch booth to buy my first Flipp T-shirt and chat with a couple of friends. I also got to catch up with Brynn and Chia. I was surprised that Chia remembered seeing me at shows and adding some of my stcloudmn.com and Muse magazine articles about the band to their website back in the day!
Sadly, I won't be able to attend their next reunion show at the Red Carpet on July 15th-got other birthday concert plans that day, stay tuned! If you are able to go to this show, I highly recommend it-I guarantee you won't be bored!
That's all for now-have a great holiday weekend!
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