Chris Riemenschneider, music critic at the Star Tribune, couldn’t believe no one had written a history of First Avenue. So he wrote one. Here is Britt Aamodt on Riemenschneider’s First Avenue: Minnesota’s Mainroom.
Woodstock breakout Joe Cocker had just come off a U.S. tour and really needed a break. But his North American manager had different ideas. Britt Aamodt has the story of the first live performance at the Depot, the Minneapolis club opened in 1970 that would later become First Avenue.
Nirvana had just come from a recording studio in Madison, Wisconsin, where the group made initial steps to record songs for a second album. Now, April 9, 1990, they were playing Minneapolis’ 7th Street Entry. Britt Aamodt offers a snapshot of the Seattle band on their way up, the year before their second album, Nevermind, went supernova.
By 1986, the Replacements had played First Avenue and the Entry more times than they could count. They’d grown up—as men and as musicians—there. Now they had to let one of their own go. Britt Aamodt has the story of guitarist Bob Stinson’s last hometown gig with the band.
In 1983, The Time brought in a crew to record their concert at First Avenue. Producer Britt Aamodt takes a look at the Minneapolis R&B and funk band the year before Purple Rain made them international stars, and how one of those live First Ave recordings made it onto the fim’s soundtrack.