I Hate Proving That I’m Still Human After All

Years ago, when I moved from my little apartment in Uptown Minneapolis to the townhouse I live in now, my mom asked me how the packing was going. Truthfully, it wasn’t going well. I had gotten to the point where I was just throwing random things in random boxes and told myself I was going to just deal with it once I got moved on. Many of these boxes were full of black t-shirts. My mom asked me how many shirts I had from concerts, so I counted, and, at the time, it was already in the triple digits. She did the math and realized that had I not spent, on average, $15 per shirt, I would have had more money for the down payment on my house. It made me realize that I had too many black shirts, so I cut back and established rules for myself when it came to buying shirts at concerts. I’ve been good lately. Only buy a T-shirt here and there, and only when it fits the rules (which includes things like having tour dates on it or a cat, but that’s another story). Why am I telling you this? I bought a shirt last night, and that goes to show how amazing my Monday night at First Avenue was.

I don’t remember how I fell into Will Wood’s world. Truthfully, I think I was going down a drunken YouTube rabbit hole one night and stumbled upon his video for “Hand Me My Shovel, I’m Going In!” I was instantly hooked and quickly became obsessed with this quirky and unique musician. His sound was very gypsy inspired but with a musical theatre quality to it. Think Gogol Bordello meets Panic at the Disco but with a slight Danny Elfman kind of eeriness that pops in and out at times. Yeah, it was weird, it was fun, it was catchy, and, most importantly, it made me feel so many things. There are moments in Will Wood’s music that make you want to dance and others where the words hit so close to home that you can taste them. I’ve spent years obsessing over Will Wood’s music, and Monday night was my first time seeing this iconic musician live– to say I was excited would be an understatement.

The line wrapped around the block to get into the iconic venue, which, truthfully, surprised me. For all I knew, I was the only one in Minneapolis who knew that this was a can’t miss kind of show. At first, I was annoyed. My planned intimate night with Will Wood and telling people how I was one of the few people at this amazing show was foiled, but then I started looking at the audience. The young kids in line were all dolled up in fabulous outfits that often came complete with glitter and third eyes drawn on faces. It was just as theatrical as the music I was about to hear, and that’s when my annoyance turned to a thrill. Sure, this show clearly wasn’t going to have the “small” vibe I had been craving, but it was going to have a vibe that can only come when you see an act who rarely tours but has a cult following.

Will Wood and his fantastic band (The Tapeworms) kicked off their set with a personal favorite of mine, “Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll.” It’s a satirical piece about how, at the end of the day, Will presumably hates all three of those things. It set the stage for the fun and snark that was to come with the rest of the set but also gave me my first glimpse into the fact that Will Wood is more than just that quirky voice I’ve heard on recordings; he is a true showman who has a way of commanding an entire room from behind a keyboard in a way that you don’t often see. Although every note fit in its place perfectly and every song sounded just like the recordings I had been obsessing over for the past few years, there was an extra flare given to each song, whether that was in the form of the band dancing around to the super fun beats or just Will’s overall aura. There was no way you stood through this show without at least cracking a smile.

The band powered through fourteen songs and a two-song encore that lasted right around an hour and a half. Although that made the ticket price point more than worth it, it wasn’t enough for me. Will Wood and the Tapeworms are one of those acts that could play for hours on end, and it would never be enough. They could play the same three songs repeatedly for hours on end, and it wouldn’t be enough for me. Long story short, nothing would have been enough. The amount of joy I felt throughout the night on Monday was something I couldn’t put into words. With so many dark things happening around the planet right now, it was truly a special thing to feel so joyous and straight-up happy.

I have a lot more to say about Monday night’s show. I saw a flip phone, and if you know me personally, you know that this is something I’ve always wished I could do. Truthfully, if it weren’t for this blog and my booking company, I wouldn’t be on social media. I hate the fact that I am connected 24/7, and I hate the fact that my phone seems to control my social interactions. I often joke about going back to a landline and a flip phone, so it was nice to see a flip phone out in the wild. I even admitted to the young owner of this phone how jealous I was of them, and they urged me to take the plunge because they felt so much freer without a smartphone. How did I forget to bring up the fact that there were cat adoptions happening at the merch table? The story behind that is long but beautiful and, don’t worry, I didn’t come home with yet another cat (although I was tempted). This was a strictly 18+ show, which led to some confusion, a lot of tears from people who didn’t read the restrictions when buying the tickets, and a slow-moving line to get in, but I couldn’t quite figure out why it had to be strictly 18+ and not an all ages show (which would have surely gotten more people through the door– although it was already a packed show). Then there was just the audience in general. This was one of those shows that gave me hope for the future of music, and I loved the way that there were moments when the audience had drowned out the booming band with their screaming of every word. Oh! I almost forgot– one of the band members led a freaking cha-cha line throughout the club?! As I said, there are a million other things I could write about, but truthfully, I can’t just work on this review all day; I have to get to work.

All you need to know is that if you weren’t at First Avenue on Monday night to see Will Wood, you missed out. End of story. What a heck of a show and absolutely one that will be in consideration for my top ten of the year.