First Ave- May 30th

This may be the hardest post to write, not only because it is the last (!) item on The List, but because we have both had so many transcendent experiences at First Avenue. It is the best rock venue in the country, though not for reasons that are easy to pinpoint. It’s just so perfectly proportioned that, like Fenway Park, there’s no bad sightline (unless, like Fenway, you’re behind one of the few poles or the occasional extremely tall guy).

Until 1970, First Avenue was a Greyhound station. Once you know this fact, a bus station’s features are recognizable around the room: the winding but practical staircase to an upper level, the general openness of the space. You can picture ticket windows, magazine racks, boards with arrival times. Even the building’s rounded exterior resembles that of a bus station.

These days, of course, the reference point is Prince. Purple Rain was largely filmed here, but the club is more like a main character (especially since it has better acting abilities than Apollonia and Morris Day combined). As we said in our Purple Rain post, the movie transforms the club into a weird thirties nightclub-punk rock club hybrid, yet First Ave. most definitely remains First Ave. Even 25 years later, you recognize the venue’s all-black interior, the open section back near the bar, the checkered tile floor.

However, we still haven’t mentioned the best part about First Ave. Is it the upstairs restroom windows that look down on downtown streets? Or perhaps the intimate second venue called the 7th St. Entry? No. It is The Railing. Located on a ramp on the stage right floor, The Railing is the perfect place to watch the show. Not only is there a spot to lean (important for us aging youngsters), its slant is useful for the, um, shorter half of this couple. It’s from this spot that we watched the Hold Steady play a sold-out show to their fellow Minnesotans. It’s not the closest spot to the stage, but it’s the one with the best view.

When we first moved to Minneapolis, one of the first things we did was see a rock show – Rilo Kiley at the Prince-owned, now-defunct Ascot Room. Shortly thereafter, we caught The Shins at First Ave. Not only did the Ascot Room suffer by comparison, so did all rock clubs we’ve seen (its closest relative, from our experience, is probably the Middle East in Cambridge). The show was just okay, but we immediately understood the club’s reputation. No bells, no whistles, just a few bars and a good view of the stage.

We were thrilled to learn the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would be playing First Avenue in honor of our last night in Minnesota. It was a very nice gesture. Though the show was sold out, Dave weaseled his way onto the list by reviewing the opening band. The show was incredible, one of the best we’ve ever seen. Karen O was the consummate performer, dancing around the stage without losing her breath, spouting water into the air as if from a whale’s blowhole. We were so happy to run into Engum, Peter, and Katie, people with whom we’ve watched many First Ave. shows. Halfway through one of her band’s exuberant songs, Karen O. stepped on a pedal that shot Y-shaped confetti into the air, and we knew we had the perfect sendoff.

After “Date With The Night”, we took out our earplugs, shuffled through the crowd and went out the door, leaving behind both The List and Our Minneapolis.