After singing about crossing a great divide in one of the opening songs, Dan Wilson reminded fans of the sizable chasm his old band Semisonic traversed to enter a new era Wednesday night at Icehouse in Minneapolis.
"This is maybe our fifth or sixth scheduled show since the Basilica," the Grammy-winning songwriter noted, "but it's the first one we've actually come to."
Born out of a restart in the music business, the '90s pop/rock trio of "Closing Time" hitmaking fame had been gearing up for another comeback the last time it played its hometown at the 2019 Basilica Block Party. But then came COVID-19, which spoiled plans around the September 2020 release of Semisonic's first new music in 19 years, the EP "You're Not Alone." Then came the third or fourth wave of the pandemic, which postponed a pair of First Avenue shows and more in September 2021.
Wednesday's gig at the cozy Eat Street supper club — announced just last week and an instant sellout — served as a warmup to the makeup dates now scheduled Friday and Saturday at First Ave (also long since sold out).
The 90-minute performance made it clear that Semisonic isn't just making up for lost time, though.
Starting and ending the show with a couple of deeper cuts from their catalog, "The Prize" and "El Matador," respectively, Wilson and bandmates John Munson (bass) and Jake Slichter (drums) put a fresh spin on the old heyday-era stuff.
More impressively, they also unleashed enough new material at Icehouse to suggest that a new heyday isn't out of the question.
"New," of course, is a relative perspective when it comes to the comfortingly hopeful "You're Not Alone" and another fine cut performed off that 2020 EP, the nostalgic rocker "Basement Tapes." This was the band's first chance to play those 2½-year-old songs live since their release. Based on the enthusiasm — from the audience and band alike — another track or two from it would be welcomed at this weekend's shows.
