Photos + Review: Alkaline Trio @ The Fillmore (Minneapolis, MN)

Alkaline Trio (Chicago, IL)
March 18th, 2024
The Fillmore in Minneapolis, MN 

I did not get sick from Matt Skiba, just got to experience a sick show.

Alkaline Trio stopped into town this past week, and the second time for me seeing them proved to be wholly on another level from the last time.

I already have been considering myself a Skiba fanboy, starting with his days in Blink 182, but given a couple extra years worth of time since my first show in 2021, I’ve come to a whole new appreciation of the band as a whole. Paired with a new album that I would consider one of their best, I would put this year’s edition of live Alkaline Trio as a favorite.

Despite the fact that Matt Skiba was sick, admitted by him about halfway through their set, he and the band sounded fantastic. I purposely spent more time this time around on bassist Dan Andriano’s side to appease the bassist in me. Like Matt Skiba in Blink 182 drawing me to Alkaline Trio, Dan’s time in The Damned Things also drew me in to Alk. Never overstaying it’s welcome, Dan’s bass lines are so good and so interesting throughout the whole night. There’s a reason why I almost always gravitate to Alkaline Trio songs when practicing my bass playing.

My favorite parts of shows are almost always the moments of highest crowd interaction, so I got a lot of joy out of being a part of the crowd yelling out Chicago when the “I could’ve walked back to Chicago” part of during “Mercy Me” came up. Chicago has become a second home of sorts for me over the last handful of years, so I’m happy to support that city and the bands that come from there in any way I can. Heartwarming that other people were just as enthusiastic.

New drummer Atom Willard was another bright spot of the night. The amount of energy that guy has in unreal, and it really extends itself to the rest of the band. I know him well from his numerous other bands (The Offspring mostly), so to finally have a chance to see him live and take in all of his tasty licks in a band I’ve grown to like so much over the last few years was a treat. 

God bless this catastrophe.