The Clash of the Legends: Jill Sobule & Erin McKeown Take on Minneapolis

Tuesday night I met my friends Diana and Dean at the Cedar Cultural Center to see the first of 3 shows there this week. Having missed the tour posters (pictured here on the left), I was unaware that Erin McKeown and Jill Sobule were doing a whole tour together and that we'd be treated to such fabulously fun collaborations. Here's the setlist from their very enjoyable show, starting out with a poem composed that evening about Minnesota with Jill doing a dramatic reading and Erin backing her up on keyboards...

JILL SOBULE's SET (playing lots of songs from her great new album California Years):

- Minnesota Poem (w/Erin on keyboards)
- Where Is Bobbie Gentry? (w/Erin on guitar)
- A Good Life (a nice sing-along)
- Somewhere in New Mexico
- The Rapture (w/Erin on keyboards and vocals. A really catchy song inspired by an email conversation with an ex-gay minister. You can read the lyrics to this new song on The Huffington Post)
- Wendell Lee (a great accounting of some of her past relationships, going back to her high school boyfriend Wendell Lee)
- Mexican Wrestler
- Jetpack (When she asked the audience for several different song options, I yelled loudly for the song about the jetpack...I was rewarded for my efforts because this song was very fun indeed!)
- Strawberry Gloss
- Cinnamon Park (w/Erin on keyboards and vocals)

ERIN McKEOWN's SET (playing keyboards and guitar--a nice mix of old songs and some from the new Righteous Babe release Hundreds of Lions):

- The Little Cowboy
- Fast As I Can
- Paper Moon
- (Put the Fun Back In) The Funeral (love this one from her new album)
- Minneapolis (only available as a bonus track when you buy the new CD on iTunes)
- The Boats
- The Rascal (w/Jill adding some pretty amazing percussion by hitting her lap; also added some hilarious guitar bits)
- Coucou (w/Jill on xylophone)
- Santa Cruz (first of a few songs Erin did on keyboards)
- The Lions (liked this new one a lot too)
- Cosmopolitans (liked this version much better than the one on Grand)
- Rhode Island Is Famous For You
- We Are More (w/Jill on guitar--very nice version with lots of audience participation!)

ENCORE:
- America (they got a dude from the audience to come on stage and hold the lyrics to this Neil Diamond classic while the gals hilariously imitated Neil's vocals and Erin did some pretty great xylophone work)
- Single Ladies (a folkified version of Beyonce's hit, proceeded by a great introduction by Erin about how meaningful it was to discover that she and Jill shared a love for the same music)
- Survivor (Jill introduced this as an older song that has meant a lot to her, indicating this would be more of a classic folk song...and then they launched into the most awesome version of this Destiny's Child song ever!)

This show was probably the most fun I've had on a Tuesday night in months...If these gals are coming near you, go see them! You can check out their schedule and their latest videos (including one done backstage at the Cedar, featuring their cover of "America") here.