Minneapolis, MN - 2022

Roadtrip for a Concert

In June of 2020, we had tickets to a concert at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN. Like most things after March 1st of that year, it was postponed; first to July 2021 and then again to August 2022. We decided to make a long weekend out of the Sunday afternoon show so we took time between Friday 8/12 and Monday 8/15 to visit the Twin Cities area.




Friday, 08/12/2022 – Traveling North

We slept in and did some miscellaneous things around the house Friday morning before heading out around 11a. As is our custom, we stopped in Ames for lunch. While standing in line to order a couple slices at Great Plains Sauce and Dough Company, James realized it would have been 30 years, almost to the week, since he first had their pizza. It made him feel old.

We got to the hotel in downtown Minneapolis around 4p. After getting our stuff to our room and the car into the appropriate garage for the hotel, we decided to figure out how to get to the stadium before walking around downtown a bit and finding a place to eat. We didn’t think it would be too hard given we could see the building from the street outside the front door.




Saturday, 08/13/2022 – Shop Til You Can't Walk

Saturday we decided to have breakfast at a diner downtown one of Julie’s coworkers recommended. It was a bit of a walk and since it was cool and cloudy, we walked briskly. The food was decent, but a glass of “freshly squeezed” orange juice was $6.50. After breakfast we returned to the hotel, not quite as briskly, stopping near the stadium to get a picture before heading to the Mall of America. We wanted to stop at IKEA, L. L. Bean, and Clarks for sure. Five hours and 16,000 steps later we finished our circuits of the mall and headed back to the hotel to put our feet up for a bit. We had booked tickets to a preview of a new show at the Brave New Workshop on Hennepin Ave, so we headed back across downtown in search of food. After the show we walked back crossing the 24,000-step marker about a block from the hotel. We slept relatively well Saturday night.




Sunday, 08/14/2022 – Rock Out

Knowing we had the morning open, since the concert didn’t start until 4:30p, we had booked a time at Café Meow to visit the cats. Café Meow is a “cat café” where you can spend time with cats that are up for adoption from local shelters. We enjoyed our time there and the cats, as they usually do, provided entertainment even when they were being somewhat aloof. After lunch near the café, we returned to the hotel to rest and get ready for the concert.

The concert, in case you didn’t pick it up in the picture from Saturday morning, advertised 4 acts: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Poison, Mötley Crüe, and Def Leppard. All the information said the first act would start promptly at 4:30p with gates opening at 3p. Since we were only a 10-minute walk from US Bank Stadium, we watched a movie in our room that ended at 3:30p, did the things you do before leaving a hotel room, and walked the 3 blocks (one east and 2 south) to the stadium. Once through the metal detectors under tents outside, we made our way through the doors and ticket takers to discover we had entered the building at about the farthest point from our seats we could. We had plenty of time, so we weren’t in a big hurry. We realized as we were walking around the concourse, dodging the lines for beer and the other lines for concert merchandise, there was someone playing live music on the stage. There was a 5th unadvertised act that was opening for the openers. They were young and energetic, but we weren’t going to buy their album. We found our seats right at 4p. James had forgotten the southern half of the roof of the stadium was transparent and and we wish we had brought our sunglasses. We dealt with the sun shining down on us for the first two acts.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts were first up, and they did a solid 45-minute set with songs we knew well enough to sing along (most of the time). There was a 30-minute break while instruments and amps/speakers were moved around between acts. We took this opportunity to get something to eat and drink. The prices were, well, very expensive and the offerings were divided up so if you wanted a mix of foods/snacks, you had to stand in line at multiple locations. We decided to stick with chicken strips and fries, a small (maybe 2 cup) container of cheese curds, a large Sierra Mist, and a bottle of water; this cost us over $50.

We got back to our seats just in time to get settled before Poison took the stage. We’ve seen them open for Def Leppard a couple of times and always enjoy their portion of the show. They have a great stage presence and bring a ton of energy which always gets the crowd involved. They performed for about an hour and then there was another break as the stage was reconfigured.

By the time Mötley Crüe took the stage, the sun had gone behind the buildings downtown, so it wasn’t bothering us anymore. MC had the most physical elements to their stage set as well as three dancers who sometimes acted as back-up singers for those high notes Vince can’t hit anymore. This was also the first time the less than stellar acoustics of an enclosed stadium made it hard to hear some of the music. We still recognized most of the songs and could sing along (or shout depending on what the song called for). They played for a solid 90 minutes before the final stage change.

I’m not going to say Def Leppard had completely sold out to commercialism, but during the last stage change there were ads for Def Leppard makeup, a Def Leppard game available in Google Play or the App Store, and to pre-order the book about their story being released spring of 2023. Their stage setup relies more on coordinated video displays which made it rather simple once all of MC’s stuff was out of the way. Once they hit the stage though, they were as solid and as enjoyable as ever. There was a substantial reverb issue with the deep heavy base that is common in many of their songs though. They had recently released a new album and they sang a couple songs from it, but otherwise the show included all the classics people expect and sing along with. They walked off the stage right at 11p. This meant after 7 hours of concert, probably 45-50,000 fans who, for the most part had been drinking consistently, all tumbled out of the stadium late on a Sunday evening. We were very happy with our decision to get a hotel just a few blocks away. We still got to deal with a few people who had drunk enough to not really be aware of what was going on, but we made it to our hotel room and turned the lights out a few minutes before midnight.




Monday, 08/15/2022 – Traveling South

We didn’t want to leave too early on Monday since we were in downtown Minneapolis. We slept until around 8a, went through our morning routines, and finished packing our stuff. We left the hotel around 9:45a heading back south. We had to stop for gas about half-way to the Iowa-Minnesota border. We made it to Mason City, IA in time to have lunch with Julie’s uncle Bob. After a good meal and conversation, we finished our trip home arriving a little before 4p.