First Avenue. A historic nightclub known for its deco flare, was once home to Minnesota's most famous pop culture icon: Prince. I've heard about this venue my entire life. After looking into shows happening in the greater Minneapolis area, I came to find Luke Grimes was performing there the next evening, November 30th. I thought to myself, "Who's Luke Grimes?" I gave his top song a listen and I was sold. Called up a friend to join me and the tickets were bought. To First Ave we go! Love a last-minute find.
Luke Grimes is an American actor and musician. He is mostly known today for his role in Yellowstone as Kacey Dutton. He has starred in some big-name movies including American Sniper, the Fifty Shades of Grey series, Taken 2, as well as some other television shows. However, when you look him up online there's next to nothing about him anywhere. Especially from the music side of things. Which makes sense given he falls under the country genre and I hadn’t heard the name.. I would argue I'm well-versed in the genre as a whole, so that was an indicator of the status of his perhaps lesser-known music career. The Midwesterner flaunts a country style, embodying the vibe around the Montana ranching-based show Yellowstone. He has one album that was released this year, 2023. It's called "Pain Pills or Pews" and falls under the EP category, so not even a formal album. It is essentially a combination of all of his released singles. His most popular song is "No Horse To Rise" at over 18 million plays. His second most played song, "Playin' On The Tracks" has a little less than 2 million plays. "No Horse To Ride" was a hit featured on, you guessed it, Yellowstone. Regardless he has a great sound, and it truly showed live.
First Avenue is a dark venue with two levels. The audience consisted of mostly mid to late aged adults, lots of cowboy boots and hats. Right up my alley. Carter Faith was the opener, she's a cute blonde country girl with an amazing voice. Not very well known but definitely engaged the crowd. Grimes came on around 8:50pm, right on time. The set was simple, great lighting and light show throughout the performance. As mentioned, the venue itself is very dark so the lights really highlighted the stage. It wasn't overpowering but it did bring a great element to the show. Grimes wore simple jeans, boots, long-sleeve shirt and baseball hat. He had a big smile on and the crowd went nuts for him during his quick walk-on. Immediately the vibes are great, and did I mention he's handsome as heck? He opened up with his song "Burn". His sound is genuine, passionate but on the calmer side. He played the guitar while he sang, and it was awesome. His music makes you want to sway and nod along with the lyrics and instrumentals. It's heartfelt and comforting in a way. Nothing you'll be screaming to or getting hyped with, but in the best way it felt like he was singing around a campfire. It was beautiful. There's a somber tone to most of the songs, a lot of lyrics about drinking, love, and cowboy-ing, as they say.
Unfortunately, I did note that there was a lot of talking throughout the whole performance from the audience. I would describe the audience as so: nobody didn't want to be there, but not a single person around me was singing along to the songs. Simply because nobody knows his music very well. Regardless, you could tell everyone was having an awesome time. Lots of smiling, hugging, kissin', and swaying. At one point he sits down on the stool, holding on to his red solo cup. He's telling a little story about his music career and how he had lots of doubts along the way, but really appreciates the opportunity to perform here. He thanks the crowd for coming out, and I swear most people are still talking amongst themselves. Grimes had great stage presence but perhaps his crowd engagement wasn't as strong. My favorite part of the whole night was one line he said after reflecting on his troubled music career start, "as long as I have my wife, I've won." I love seeing artists, especially good-looking ones who are on the road, give a sentiment to their loved ones to show appreciation for their support. After he left the stage at the end of the show, I turned to my friend and said "I loved that. I'd go again for sure." And I'll leave it at that.
Luke Grimes at First Avenue in Minnesota, November 2023
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