MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis' bestselling rock band of the 1990s is about to shine new light on one of its most high-profile gigs of that era.
Dave Pirner and his modern lineup of Soul Asylum have announced a live re-creation of their "MTV Unplugged" performance at the State Theatre in Minneapolis on April 20 — ahem, 4/20 — timed to a 30th anniversary reissue of that performance on vinyl for Record Store Day that weekend.
Pirner and Co. plan to revisit the 13-song performance on stage, and they're bringing along some guests to do so: New Orleans legend Ivan Neville will step back in on keyboards, and local ensemble STRINGenius (featured on Prince's album "Art Official Age") will add the orchestral parts.
Tickets for the Thursday night concert go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. via eTix.com or promoter Sue McLean & Associates' site, suemclean.com. Jake Rudh will also DJ at the gig. VIP tickets will include a vinyl edition of that night's show to come later.
Two other key players in the original 1993 performance will not be there: Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller died of cancer in 2005, and guitarist Danny Murphy firmly quit the band in 2012. Current guitarist Ryan Smith, known locally as the frontman of the Melismatics, has been touring with Pirner — and without longtime drummer Michael Bland — in recent months playing acoustic Soul Asylum gigs.
As is still evidenced by Nirvana's landmark album from the New York TV studio, "MTV Unplugged" was a premiere gig reserved for the biggest rock acts in the early 1990s. Soul Asylum was just that in 1993 following the release of its multiplatinum album "Grave Dancers Union" and its hit single/video "Runaway Train." Theirs was widely regarded as one of the better installments of the show, too.
Besides other "Grave Dancers" tracks such as "Black Gold" and "Somebody to Shove," some of the 13 songs featured in the original "Unplugged" performance included earlier Soul Asylum favorites such as "Never Really Been," "Closer to the Stars," "Grounded" and "We 3" as well as three cover songs: Victoria Williams' "Summer of Drugs" (which the band recorded for the classic "Sweet Relief" charity album), the Faces' "Ooh La La" and Lulu's "To Sir With Love."
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