The first major anti-ICE protest concert in the Twin Cities has been announced at First Avenue for Feb. 15.
Billed as “ICE Out!,” the Sunday matinee show will be headlined by St. Paul-reared pop/rock stars Hippo Campus, with Papa Mbye, 26 Bats! and one more local music scene fixture to be announced — a mystery act whose blurred-out name on the concert poster not so mysteriously looks like Durry. The event, which is being presented by musicians-run nonprofit Twin Cities United Performers, will double as a fundraiser for immigrant families affected by the federal agents’ campaign in Minnesota.
Tickets to the all-ages affair are already on sale via axs.com. Prices are listed on a pay-what-you-will donation scheme, starting at $30 and reaching up to $1,000 (all for general admission tickets). There also will also be an auction of donated goods at the event to raise money.
“Let’s rally to support families impacted by escalating violence from federal agents in our neighborhoods,” First Avenue’s announcement of the concert reads.
The event had already been in the works behind the scenes when First Ave faced a smattering of online criticism for not posting any public reaction to the killing of Renee Good and other ICE incidents in the Twin Cities over the past two weeks. Rapper Nur-D posted a video slamming the company’s “absolute silence.” Singer Jaedyn James dropped out of this past weekend’s Dolly Parton tribute concert at the First Ave-run Turf Club, also accusing the venue operators of “staying silent.”
On the same night as the Parton show at the Turf Club, the annual Best New Bands showcase in the First Ave Mainroom was converted into a fundraiser for ICE-affected families. The seven acts on the bill donated their pay for the night to MIRAC (Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee) and called for donated goods before the show, including Mother Soki, Sophie Hiroko, Gr3g and Maygen & the Birdwatcher.
Last seen in town playing to 6,000 hometown fans at a sold-out Surly Brewing Festival Field in May, Hippo Campus likely will pack the Mainroom for the I.C.E. Out concert. The band does not perform overtly political or topical songs, but it has performed at other politically tinged events, including the Water Is Life festival with Bon Iver at Duluth’s Bayfield Festival Park in 2021, a benefit and rally for the environmental organization Honor the Earth.
The other acts on the ICE Out lineup have ties to the cause in one way or another. Afrobeat/R&B-tinged rocker Papa Mbye is an immigrant originally born in the Gambia. Both 26 Bats! and Durry were among the numerous Twin Cities-based artists who posted new songs denouncing ICE over the past week.
