Preoccupations live @ 7th St. Entry, Minneapolis MN (June 1st, 2025) [complete set]

Preoccupations, formerly Viet Cong, is one of the offshoots of the late, great awesomely awesome Calgary band Women. I never did get to see Women live during their brief run (totally my fault, I used to live a couple of hours from Calgary; I didn't do nearly as much indie_music_travels back then). Then they infamously imploded mid-tour in 2010 after a show in Victoria BC. So much stuff online is absolute garbage. Some is veritable gold:    • Women au Café de la Danse (Paris) en 2010  .

Here, I'm not one to wax poetic, but...

There once was a beloved band from Calgary called Women
It disbanded amidst brotherly fisticuffs and near fraticide.
But what once burned brightly as a single object in the firmament has,
through the power of regeneration observed among starfish,
now become two, Preoccupations and Cindy Lee.

In 2013 I got to see an early incarnation of Preoccupations opening for Iceage at the Legion #1 in downtown Calgary during Sled Island Festival. Yes, the year the festival ended up getting wiped out by near biblical flooding. In any case, at first I had no idea who they were, but I thought I recognized Matt Flegel's bearded visage and then the synaptic connection was made. The band would go on to become my obsession thanks to a self-released cassette and their first proper release 'Viet Cong' in 2015.

Preoccupation's tone was at once dark and intense, with a definite post-punk influence. A heady mix of Matt's bellowing vocals, the dark pulse of his melodic basslines, the clang of dual barbed-wire guitars and propulsive steely percussion. I still remember distinctly when the siren's song of 'Continental Shelf' started haunting my dreams...Over the years, the band's sound has shifted, with the less abrasive chime of guitars and toward increased synths and atmospherics. On 'Ill at Ease', their brand new album, their sounds are a little less claustrophobic, a little more melodic, but still very much Preoccupations.

It has been a long four years since I last saw Preoccupations, whom I last saw on their tour with the mighty Metz in the Fall of 2021, a show on the cusp of the Omicron variant and replete with facemasks and paranoia, so just not an optimal situation. Then a huge regret not seeing them on their tour with Cindy Lee in 2022 amidst further pandemic disruptions.

So yeah, when their extensive 2025 tour for 'Ill at Ease' was announced, I circled June 1st on my calendar. Although Preoccupations are my fellow Canadians, I'm not gonna bust their balls for skipping Winnipeg on their way from Minnesota to Edmonton; that is indeed a long-ass haul. So, yeah, a little road trip to Minneapolis was in order for this weary traveler, a small price to pay to see old friends playing new songs. My original master plan included the previous night's show at the Empty Bottle in Chicago but tickets sold out before you could say "Pope Leo XIV is a White Sox fan???". In any case, here is Minneapolis in all its glory.

Enjoy!

#2025 #livemusic #preoccupationsband

https://preoccupations.ca/
  / pre_occupations  
  / preoccupationsband  
   / @preoccupations1624  
https://preoccupations.bandcamp.com

The Setlist

00:00:00 (an introduction)
00:00:33 (the band takes the stage)
00:01:14 Unconscious Melody
00:04:36 Silhouettes
00:08:41 Ill At Ease
00:14:40 Ricochet
00:19:33 Continental Shelf
00:23:51 March of Progress
00:30:35 Focus
00:34:38 Andromeda
00:39:34 Disarray
00:43:39 Bastards
00:49:07 Stimulation
00:53:23 Memory
01:03:43 Bunker Buster
01:10:16 Krem2
01:14:45 (end credits)