Flyleaf Ignite Sold Out Fillmore
This past weekend had me faced with a tough decision: either I could venture out to my first ever Yacht Fest down at Harriet Island in St. Paul OR I could catch a career spanning set from Flyleaf in Minneapolis, a band I grew up with and have never gotten the chance to see live. I had this weekend circled in my calendar for months and debated for just about as long on what I would choose to do. Ultimately, I decided to ditch the heat/sun (I have had enough of it on my early morning runs outside over the last few weeks) and head down to The Fillmore in Minneapolis to get to an indoor show, which did not provide as much relief as I thought it might. The sold out night with Flyleaf was filled with excited fans when I got to the venue, and I couldn’t wait for the evening to begin.
With two openers on the bill, first to take the stage were Heidi Shepherd & Henry Flury of Butcher Babies. While I have never caught a set with the full band Butcher Babies experience at any of the festivals I’ve been to where they also happened to be playing, it was cool to catch them start the night off with an acoustic set. The duo plus an additional guitarist kicked off their set with a cover of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” before moving into an acoustic rendition of one of their latest tracks “Blame it on the Wind.” Covers of “Just a Girl,” “My Hero” (a dedicated track to Shepherd’s late grandmother), “Teenage Dirtbag,” and “The Best Deceptions” rounded out the singalong time on stage. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this opening set but it was fun to vibe along to a more easygoing cover set to kick the night off.
The last opener of the night was South Carolina rock band Islander. Here was a band I completely lost track of; my last vivid memory of them was catching one of their shows many years ago at The Garage in Burnsville, and since then Islander has fallen off my radar. Islander came out hot, a complete contrast to the prior act, literally taking the stage by storm. I was immediately transported back to their set at The Garage and yet it was somehow even more chaotic than before. Even though most of the crowd was there for Flyleaf, Islander commanded the stage like it was their show. The crowd got moving, with a few crowdsurfers trickling in over the barricade and a mosh pit or two opening up during the set. It felt like Islander didn’t miss a beat during their time on stage, getting the crowd warmed up for the final set of the night.
Last but certainly not least for the night was Flyleaf with original vocalist Lacy Sturm. The band kicked off their near twenty song setlist with a short selection from their sophomore record “Memento Mori,” including a brief play of “In The Dark” and full versions of “Chasm” and “Again” before ripping into “Fire Fire.” As it was my first time being able to catch this band perform any of their tracks, I was ecstatic and immediately brought back to the 2005 - 2013ish time of my life where three records, “Flyleaf,” “Memento Mori,” and “New Horizons,” took turns on rotation (there are still plenty of their tracks that make it on to my running playlists to this day). I definitely wasn’t the only one that was sharing that experience, even those newer to the band seemed to be connecting to their music and performance.
The band played a delicate balance of giving each of their three records with Lacy Sturm nearly equal play time (right about 6 songs off of each record), showcasing the highs of each one and sprinkling in a few deep cuts. Even so, it felt like the band played hit after hit, culminating with “I’m So Sick,” “All Around Me,” and “Arise;” it felt like I forgot just how many solid tracks this band has in its arsenal. While the band was not much for talking during their performance, with the exception of a brief break prior to “All Around Me,” it served their set well, the energy in the room maintained near a boiling point for the roughly 80 minutes Flyleaf was on stage and the crowd not minding one bit to keep the momentum humming along. One of the highlights for me personally was hearing “So I Thought” live, which is one of my favorite tracks off of their debut record. All in all, I’m glad I seized the opportunity to catch Flyleaf perform to a massive crowd at The Fillmore (probably the most full I have personally ever seen that room), a sentiment I shared with the sold out crowd.
