It was rather appropriate to end the Tigers, Lions and Bear Tour in Lawrence Kansas. Die-hard fans packed the Granada Theatre to see Minus the Bear with As Tall As Lions and Twin Tigers.

To start off the evening, Twin Tigers took the stage with their psychedelic influences and progressive sound. Being their last night with the tour, Minus the Bear brought them shots during the set. This continued throughout the night with every band.

As Tall As Lions had myself and everyone around me dancing the whole time. With six people on the stage and their groovy percussion jams, they kept the crowd entertained.

The trumpet solos were ridiculous and showed off their talented musicians.

Securing my spot at the front, I was excited to see one of my favorite bands live for the first time.

Minus the Bear has this organic, rich sound that moves you and takes you to a completely different world. If it weren’t for all the shoving and bumping into me, I could’ve sworn that I was there by myself.

When MtB describes their sound, they’ve been known to classify it as “classic rock from the future.” They’ve got that right – it’s definitely from the future.

They started off with “Knights” from their 2007 released album, Planet of Ice, and the crowd went crazy. Boys and girls mainly aged from 16-24 bobbed their heads and swayed their hips back and forth the entire night.

Dave Knudson’s pedal board is magnificent and the pedal work was beautiful and raised the intensity in the theatre. He showed off the pedals during “White Mystery.” Honestly, I did not even know he used all those pedals in their songs, I thought it was just a synthesizer.

Jacob Snider has gained a pretty big beard, somewhat resembling Charles Manson. That doesn’t take away from his voice though. Some bands focus on lyrics and have boring background music; MtB has beautiful music with amazing lyrics to go with it.

Their bassist, Cory Murchy limped on and off stage and had to sit on a stool to play. Snider mentioned Murchy has been experiencing back problems. During breaks in songs, Murchy had someone stretching his legs out.

MtB played songs from all albums, focusing more on Planet of Ice. They also added three new songs off their new album to be released in early 2010. One was still untitled at the time of the show.

MTB Set list:
Knights
Dr. L’Ling
Memphis & 53rd
Throwin’ Shapes
Into the Mirror
White Mystery
Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!
Ice Monster
Broken China
Let’s Play Clowns
New Song (I Got Your Nights??)
The Fix
Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse
///
Spritz!! Spritz!!
Pachuca Sunrise

Minus the Bear: website | myspace

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