7 Minute Miles

Freedy Johnston at the Aster Cafe


Last night was a cheap, fun surprise – singer Freedy Johnston at the very small Aster Cafe in St. Anthony Main in front of about 50 people for a $10 cover. This is the same Freedy Johnston that we’ve seen at First Avenue at least three times, singing a mostly acoustic solo set of his hits and interacting with his fans.

I didn’t write down the setlist, but he closed with Bad Reputation, then came back and did Western Sky. Evie’s Tears, Delores and The Mortician’s Daughter were highlights for me and he sang two songs from an upcoming album, Neon Repairman, which he said would be out soon.

We stopped and talked to him afterwards and showed him the picture of the First Avenue tickets (first show was 1994). Colleen also talked with opener Dana Thompson, who was also entertaining (and a friend of Colleen’s co-worker). Her songs reminded me of Lili Taylor’s character in Say Anything: “Joe. Joe. She’s written 65 songs…65. They’re all about you. They’re all about pain.”

This was our first time at the Aster, which had a similar music reservation policy to the Dakota. We reserved a table and the “tickets” were just added to the bill. I waited to have a late dinner and ordered a spiked hot cider and a turkey apple brie sandwich, which was great. So was the dessert special – a molten chocolate cake with berry sauce.

The setting at the Aster was very hipster, with lots of exposed brick and creaky floors (I’m guessing it’s a converted mill space). It’s right on the river and it was fun to see the Gold Medal Flour neon sign behind Freedy as he sang. The horse drawn carriage that kept going back and forth was cool too. We even found free street parking nearby, which was a nice change for a Minneapolis show.

Originally published by DK on December 14, 2012 at 10:43 am in Concerts, Food, Longform, Music


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