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​The temperature at the old Club 3 Degrees is heating up as the Brick finally added some more concerts to its schedule. When the March 19 Jane's Addiction show was the only thing on the schedule, Gimme Noise expressed some worry and concern about the Warehouse District venture. As things have filled out some more, the AEG Live-backed venue is showing some muscle and a bit of versatility in the slate of eight shows booked between March and June. More >>

​As the excitement continues to build over Now, Now's upcoming sophomore record, Threads, we get the first video taken from the new batch of songs, the snappy but all-too-fleeting "Dead Oaks." That number also served as the title-track from Now, Now's recently released digital EP, which was put out by Chris Walla's Trans Records. The label is also handling the release of the local trio's forthcoming full-length, which is due out March 6.

The playful video, directed by Mitchell Wojcik, captures clips of the band on the road, performing live, doing photo shoots, as well as plenty of goofing around, and is as exuberant as the song is. While "Dead Oaks" is just a brief glimpse of what the rest of the record will sound like, it still remains a strong introduction to the band's bolder new direction.

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​The exuberant Detroit party band Electric Six returns First Avenue, a room that they claim is one of their "favorite venues in the world," on May 11. And to prove just how special the legendary local club and their Twin Cities fans are to them, the band will be recording this show (as well as the next night at the Double Door in Chicago) as part of a planned live double-album.
 

Unsurprisingly, the first disc will feature the band's celebrated debut album, Fire, in its entirety, which they will play front-to-back during their second set at the Ave. The second disc will feature non-Fire material culled from the band's other albums, and these songs will be part of the first set that E6 plays at First Avenue. Now Fire has a majority of the band's big hits, so "Danger! High Voltage" and "Gay Bar" will obviously be played. But here are five Electric Six's lesser-known, but still explosive, songs that we hope still find their way into their first set.

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​To further prove the healing power of both friends and music, the Honeydogs have announced plans for a album release party at First Avenue on March 10. The distinguished local band will be celebrating the release of their 10th studio album, What Comes After, and First Avenue has generously decided to donate $1 of each ticket sold towards the memorial set up for frontman Adam Levy's departed son Daniel. More >>

​Those of you who saw Jane's Addiction's tour announcement yesterday probably asked the same question that many other local residents did when they saw the venue listed next to the Minneapolis date on March 19th -- What the hell is the Brick? It turns out that the Brick is a new Minneapolis rock club owned by concert promoter AEG Live which is opening in March in the former Christian oriented venue Club 3 Degrees on 5th Street (directly across from Epic). The capacity of the club is said to be around 2,000, but other than the Jane's show, no other events have yet to be announced for the forthcoming new space. More >>

​"Lay Your Cards Out," the first video from Polica's debut album, Give You The Ghost, made its premiere today via Jay-Z's Life+Times online site. The mostly black and white clip, which is directed by Minneapolis resident Chris Hadland, features ghostly images of Channy dancing along to the groove, only adding to the ethereal, moody nature of the stellar track. The growing spotlight focused on the band should only expand after the video's debut on Jay's highly influential Life+Times, easily broadening the national appeal of Minneapolis' hottest new band. Take a look at the video and Polica's upcoming tour dates after the jump.

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​After quite a bit of speculation (and many customary fake announcements), the lineup for the Coachella Music and Arts Festival was released yesterday, with the Black Keys, Radiohead, and Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg serving as the headliners. The massive music festival, held each spring on the Empire Polo Club grounds in Indio, California, is trying something a bit different this year, and expanding the festivities to two consecutive weekends, April 13-15 and 20-22, with the same lineup repeated over both sets of dates. Whether that will be too much of a good thing for both the concertgoers and the bands themselves remains to be seen, but with a lineup as strong, top to bottom, as Coachella, who wouldn't want the chance to see all of that twice? More >>

Photo By Erik Hess

​Winter is always a great time to catch local acts here in the Twin Cities, since most national bands aren't brave enough (wisely) to tour here during the colder months. But with the recent springlike temperatures around these parts, one's mind certainly can begin to wander towards what it will be like during the warmer seasons. And, with all of today's concert announcements scheduled for the spring, you can forgive us if we start thinking of all of the shows that will help usher out winter and ring in the eventual rebirth of springtime.

The Black Keys (with Arctic Monkeys as support) lead the way in today's big concert announcements, as the boisterous Ohio duo made public their plans to play the Target Center on May 15th (ending speculation, at least for now, that they would headline an upcoming local outdoor music festival this summer). But that's only a small fraction of the recent concerts that will soon be rolling through the Twin Cities. Read on for a list of upcoming late winter/spring shows.

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​Classic rock fans of the Twin Cities, are you ready to dance the night away with Van Halen once again? The legendary arena rock band has reunited with original frontman David Lee Roth, and are set to reconnect with their fans in a big way on a massive U.S. tour that finds the combustible band hitting the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on May 19th. That date comes a couple of months into Van Halen's sprawling American tour, so we'll have to wait and see if Eddie and Alex Van Halen are able to put up with Roth's outsized personality for that long. But here's to hoping that the band doesn't self-destruct once again before they even reach Minnesota. More >>

Photo by Eric Elvendahl

2011 Best New Band nominees Sexcat

​With all of the holiday hubbub this week, this one almost got lost in the shuffle: the lineup for First Avenue's annual Best New Bands showcase was announced last Friday afternoon on Radio K's Off the Record, and now those of us who missed the live reveal can check out the seven chosen bands thanks to an announcement on the venue's site.More >>