Friday, October 18th, 2013, Anberlin joined The Maine and Lydia for a concert at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis.
If you are a frequent concert attender in the Twin Cities you remember Mill City Nights from their days as Club 3 degrees. This was the first time I had been there under the new ownership. Not a whole lot has changed. It is still a great place to go see a show. Whether you want to be down on the main floor, or up on the balcony there really is not a bad place to watch the bands.
The first band to play was named Lydia. Lydia is a 5 person indie-rock band from Gilbert, Arizona. They have been around for about 10 years. Their sound is actually what you would expect from an indie-rock band. A nice blend of acoustic guitar sounds with a light electric feel in the background with some synth and keyboard. It was a really nice feel for an opening band. They played the usual 5 songs to get ready for Anberlin. I was surprised by the amount of people that seemed to know and sing along with their songs because I had never heard of them. But that made for a more interesting atmosphere than the usual concert opener.
The second band to play was the co-headliner The Maine. The Maine is an American rock band from Tempe, Arizona. They have received a big following because of hits like “Into Your Arms” and “Right Girl”. They released their first full length album in 2008. Their stage presence was awesome. They played many of their hits like “Into Your Arms” and “Inside of You”. Their lighting was very well done too. The glowing “M” in the back of the stage would flash and change colors with the mood of the song. The lead singer would change from playing the piano to electric and acoustic guitars from song to song. They ended with a very fast song to get the energy up for Anberlin which was really nice.
Anberlin played last. And they were fantastic. If you are unfamiliar with Anberlin, they are rock band from Florida and have been around for about 11 years. They have been on many major tours all across the world throughout their career, this time stopping in Minneapolis. They opened the show with one of my personal favorites “Paperthin Hymn.” From there the show only got better. They had a great mix of new songs off of their newly released album Devotion and hits from all the way back to Blueprints from the Blackmarket. They brought energy with songs like “Godspeed” and slowed it down with a great one “Unwinding Cable Car”. Their energy was phenomenal. They ended with easily their most popular song, “Feel Good Drag.”
From Lydia to Anberlin this was a very entertaining night at Mill City Nights.
–Andrew
