We Went There: Kiwi Jr. At Cloudland

(Photo of Kiwi Jr at Cloudland by Reviler’s Jon Behm. See his full photoset HERE.)

As I mentioned in my preview post ahead of their Friday show at Cloudland, Canadian janglers Kiwi Jr are a band that burst into my world in late 2019 on the strength of their outstanding debut Football Money, but I had not totally kept up with their output.

When I saw they were playing at Cloudland in Minneapolis, I knew I had to see it, but also had to quickly cram for the test by diving into not just their latest album but their last few. Luckily they all were great (even if I’m still most drawn to the slightly less polished debut), which was reinforced during their outstanding 75ish minute set Friday night.

I couldn’t help but wonder if I had somehow missed the band on a previous stop, but they confirmed this was their first visit to our fair state, and it proved well worth the wait. Their 12 song set, pulling mostly from their latest LP Blowin’ Up, but with sprinkles from all four of their LPs, was all that I could have hoped for and more. Their airtight songwriting cut through the full room like a knife through hot butter, with the full charm of the songs glistening through.

Highlights for me included the early set standout “Photos of the Reenactment” from their new record, Football Money standout “Salary Man” and set closers “Night Vision” from their last record and the title track from their new LP. While their whole set was great, and I would have loved to hear more, I also appreciated the band eschewing an encore, a practice I hope fades from our concert landscape.

The band set such a high bar on their recorded output that I had wondered going in if they were going to have to really cut back on their adornments or if they’d struggle to match the glow their songs reach in the studio, but I was pleasantly surprised they cut no corners and their sound, born out of a fairly routine bass/guitar/drum/synth combo, was as pristine and impressive live.

Their set was one of those experiences where I (and others around me) were left wondering: why isn’t this band huge? In the moment, seeing their great set in a full-but-small room, I didn’t intend to look the gift horse in the mouth, but I do hope at some point in their future I can complain about the big room they are playing in and fondly reminisce when I saw them in this intimate space.

Opening the night were local fellow travelers Real Numbers (who were great and I’ve seen countless times) and slightly more raw Sandpaper (who were also great and I’ve never seen before), really rounding out an excellent night of live music at a venue that we are lucky to have here in the Twin Cities.

josh keller

Writer / co-founder