Minnesota's entrant in "American Song Contest," Yam Haus, not only performed in the first episode of the new state-by-state NBC TV music competition Monday night — it went on first, period.
Watch (and vote for) Minnesota rockers Yam Haus's Snoop Dogg-dug 'Song Contest' entry
Scenes of the quartet hanging out at First Avenue and Matt's were shown to set up its performance on the new NBC TV competition.
March 22, 2022 at 2:00PM
"From the Land of 10,000 Lakes and the home to the biggest mall in the Western Hemisphere," the show's co-host Snoop Dogg enthused as he introduced the Twin Cities-based pop/rock quartet just a few minutes into the episode.
Now up for voting to go to the next round in the competition, Yam Haus likely earned the pole position in the "Eurovision"-style TV series because its song for the show is named "Ready to Go." Snoop's co-host Kelly Clarkson yelled the title in let's-get-this-party-started fashion while introducing the band.
Yam Haus then performed what must have been an abbreviated (just 2½-minute) version of the unreleased tune for the cameras, a clip now making the rounds online. Like all of the contestants, the four twentysomething musicians were joined on stage by a troupe of overexcited young dancers who made the performance look a little like a deleted scene from "High School Musical 3," but the band members themselves got plenty of screen time — as did some familiar Minnesota sites.
Their performance was preceded by a minute-long video that showed the band at home in its environment, including an interview segment filmed on the checkered dance floor at First Avenue as well as scenes of the fellas chomping on Jucy Lucy's at Matt's and playing pond hockey. Older video clips from the group's sold-out 2019 performance at First Ave were also shown.
Fulfilling singer Lars Pruitt's stated wish before heading to Los Angeles last week, Snoop Dogg showed his yippie-yo-yippie-yay approval for the band's performance: "I think that is a hit record right there," the hip-hop legend said afterward.
Yam Haus fans can now show their approval by voting online via nbc.com for the song through Wednesday morning (the cutoff is 6 a.m. Central Time). Three of the 11 acts from Monday's performance — out of 56 performers in the entire show — will move onto the next round.
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