After kicking off their 2015 reunion run out in California in February, Babes in Toyland will kick off 2016 closer to home -- and finally fit in a long-awaited show at the hometown club they know so well.
First Avenue just announced a Jan. 30 gig with the hometown heroes. Tickets to the Minneapolis date go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. for $25 via eTix.com and First Ave outlets.
Co-founders Kat Bjelland and Lori Barbero played their first local gig together in 14 years at Rock the Garden outside Walker Art Center in June, an hour-long set whose ragtag moments were easily buried under the trio's impressive ferocity and the undeniable emotional/sentimental undercurrent. Back then, the band members repeatedly voiced a "wait and see" answer to whether or not they would continue playing long enough to make it back to First Ave again.
Since then, Bjelland and Barbero parted ways with longtime bassist Maureen Herman and added young replacement Clara Salyer, a local scene vet at age 23 known from her bands Total Babe, Prissy Clerks and Whatever Forever. Salyer's peers in Kitten Forever -- whose new album is due soon on JD Samson's label Atlas Chair -- will open for Babes at First Ave, just as they did over the past month on a tour that culminated at Austin's Fun Fun Fun Festival this past weekend.
Here's a clip of the Babe performance at Rock the Garden, produced by 89.3 the Current.
