Hotline TNT at Underground Music Venue 9/14

Minneapolis, MN local punk band Linus and Madison, WI band Combat Naps opened for New York indie-rock band Hotline TNT on Sunday September 14th at Underground Music Venue in Minneapolis. While this was my first time at this venue, I thought it was the perfect space for this show to happen. It felt lowkey and chill but also had a good turn out - especially since there was a Vikings game on. Linus was the first band on the bill and honestly, I’m never disappointed by a local punk band. They kicked off their set with “Andromeda” from their debut album Andromeda.

After a quick change over (and for the crowd, a quick check in on the football game), Combat Naps was up! Combat Naps is from Madison Wisconsin and currently on tour with Hotline TNT so it was cool to discover an (almost) local band that I hadn’t gotten the chance to hear yet. Their stage presence was cool, calm, and collected even though they faced some technical difficulties on stage. I always think its so cool whenever a band takes a moment out of their set to hype up the other bands on the bill and acknowledge their merch - and thats exactly what Combat Naps did. Towards the end of their set, Combat Naps played a couple songs from their new album This was the Face that was release on September 5th of this year.

Lastly, Hotline TNT took the stage and were equally cool and collected as the first two bands. While I caught the tail of their show at Turf Club last year, I was excited to see a full Hotline TNT show. This kicked of their set with an ode to the venue and how its called Underground Music Venue, yet they were playing on a comically tall stage. As the venue floor in front of the stage filled in more from the folks hanging out on the sides watching the openers (or the football game) you really could see how mixed of a crowd it was. It’s always so interesting to see what kind of bands are capable of bringing together mixed crowds like that. While their tour was in wake of their recent released album Raspberry Moon, I thought there was a really solid mix of songs from their new album and their 2023 release Cartwheel. While the Vikings may of disappointed with a 22-6 loss, Hotline TNT sure didn’t. I’m happy I got to see these guys in a small venue setting, tough dark blue lighting and all.