Rarely has an band’s tour been more Zeitgeist than Gogol Bordello coming to First Avenue promoting their new album “We Mean It, Man!”. ICE still roams the streets of the Twin Cities impacting daily life, and here come’s this band made up of first generation Immigrants whose in your face attitude has been around for well over 20 years.

No wonder First Ave was sold out and a good sized crowd was ready for the first Opener.

Boris and the Joy set was heavy on guitar - no surprise since he’s the former guitar player of Gogol Bordello. Supported by Synth tracks and loops his riffs brought me back to classic Rock at times.

I only had caught one bit of a Puzzled Panther Video and was looking forward to their set. Turns out “looking forward” was definitely an understatement. At their core is songwriting duo of Victoria Espinoza and Kay Bon Tempo but the band also includes Eugene Hutz on guitar and keys (Gogol Bordello), Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) on drums, and Rob Mellinger on bass. The band opened with a machine gun salvo of post punk style songs. Catchy, danceable, and quite memorable.

The crowd had barely recovered from the machine gun fire when Gogol Bordello took to the stage much like a battle ship opening fire with a full broadside. What makes the so much fun to photograph is also the biggest challenge - there is so much happening on stage all at once. Ignition, their first song from the brand new album, set the pace and they never really slowed down. Their energy carried over to the crowd, offering an outlet for the anger, frustrations and anxiety many of us had building up over the last few months. That probably peaked during the FUCK ICE chants.

That breakneck speed sometimes hides how layered their sound is. Putting my camera gear away after the first 3 songs, I often stand at the far side of the mainroom so I have room to put my bag on the floor. Not sure if it was my location but during “From Boyarka to Boyaca” when Puzzled Panther joined the, the sound of the Charango (An Andean string instrument) was very prominent.

Set List: Ignition / I Would Never Wanna Be Young Again / Not a Crime / Wonderlust King / My Companjera / Fire on Ice Floe / From Boyarka to Boyaca / Mystics / No Time for Idiots / Immigraniada / We Mean It, Man! / Life Is Possible Again / Mishto! / Start Wearing Purple / Pala Tute /

Encore: Boiling Point / Alcohol / Undestructable / TV Eye / Redemption Song