About time, Pearl Jam. Your large base of hard-core Twin Cities fans has waited 11 years for you to finally play another headlining show like the one coming Sunday at Xcel Energy Center. We still love you, but now you know we really hate to wait.
After Pearl Jam, which concerts are most overdue?
After long-awaited Twin Cities shows by Pearl Jam and the Replacements, these are the bands we're missing the most.
October 19, 2014 at 1:24PM
The Replacements recently learned this, too. They went a year between their first reunion gig and last month's Midway Stadium show, and hometown fans were on the verge of filing a class-action lawsuit. Even Garth Brooks did better: He came out of retirement and quickly made Minneapolis the fifth city on his tour, ending a 15-year drought in one of his top markets with a flood of 11 Target Center shows next month.
It's time to hold the other holdout acts accountable. Leaving out the pipe-dream reunions (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd) as well as the artists who rarely perform nowadays (Tom Waits, Björk, Kate Bush), here's a ranking of the acts most overdue to play a Twin Cities concert.
1. Radiohead
Last gig: State Theatre, 1997
Minnesota has never experienced the lords of British cool as an arena band, that's how long it's been. The quintet doesn't do long tours — generally just 10-city treks — but they managed to make it to a couple of other Middle America outposts, Kansas City and St. Louis, in 2011. Not cool, lads.
2. Stevie Wonder
Last gig: St. Paul's RiverFest, 1988
He's never been much of a road hound, but Lil' Stevie still keeps up a big enough performance schedule for Twin Cities fans to feel superstitiously cursed. He went 13 years between local stops from 1973 to 1986, and has since doubled that stretch. Not sure if it helps or hurts that he's playing Chicago's United Center Nov. 14.
3. OutKast
Last gig: Area: One Festival, Midway Stadium, 2001
Sure, it's been only six months since the Atlanta hip-hop duo played its first reunion show at Coachella, but they have crammed in 42 gigs since then, in a lot smaller markets than ours. Blame this one on our lack of a high-bucks festival, since that's mostly what they've played.
4. Iron Maiden
Last gig: Roy Wilkins Auditorium, 2000
It'd be nice to see one of metal's enduring giants one more time before the band members look as undead as their mascot Eddie. They can't use our relative remoteness from other big cities as an excuse: We've seen frontman Bruce Dickison — a trained pilot — flying their band jet all over the globe.
5. Jack White
Last gig: Orpheum Theatre, 2005
He has played memorable dates with his side bands the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather in the meantime, but we're calling the last pair of White Stripes shows our last chance to see White shine as frontman, playing some of his best-known songs. He has skipped us on tours for both his solo albums.
6. Phish
Last gig: Target Center, 2000
Phishheads' concert flashbacks can last only so long. The Vermont jammers may have skipped us because of our lack of an in-town outdoor venue, but the revamped Somerset Amphitheater is worthy — and the drive takes only as long as a couple of their songs.
7. Lorde
Last gig: never
Things happened so fast for the New Zealand goth-pop princess, we never saw her on her short ride to the top of the Billboard charts. Now, she's in a zone between festivals and nice 4,000-plus-capacity venues (a dead zone for the Twin Cities). She is another one Kansas City got before us. Maybe she's biased for the Royals.
8. New Order
Last gig: St. Paul Civic Center, 1989
Yep, they still perform, and they were fantastic at Coachella last year, with a couple of Joy Division songs dropped into the mix for extra Gen X thrills. Too bad bassist Peter Hook is no longer with them, but fans can see him take on the old discography with his new band the Light at the Fine Line on Nov. 15.
9. Kanye West
Last gig: Target Center, 2007
The bad taste Ye left after canceling on us three times — most recently last November — would get a good palate cleansing if he put on a show anywhere near as electrifying as that '07 performance.
10. A big one from the little guy
Last arena gig: Target Center, July 7, 2007
Prince has been generous with his hometown shows of late, but they've all been in smaller venues with irregular ticket policies and set lists, including the Dakota, Myth and Paisley Park. No complaints, really, but now seems like a good time for an arena show like the ones he offers in other cities. Or how about a stadium date? Lord knows another Kenny Chesney stadium gig is not overdue.
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658
