Motion City Soundtrack (Minneapolis, MN), Say Anything (Los Angeles, CA), Agnes Uncaged (Minneapolis, MN)
February 14th, 2026
Palace Theater in St. Paul, MN
2026 marks a full 10 years of me doing concert photography. A stat that baffles my mind whenever I think of it. Does it feel like it’s been that long? Not even close. Add another decade onto that, you have how many years I’ve been going to shows now. For a whole glutton of reasons, local band/local heroes Motion City Soundtrack have shot up my list of bands I’ve seen the most, particularly in this recent decade.
I’ve said it a ton, probably even right here in this site, that time is a series of circles. New ones start and new ones end frequently throughout the years. I always find it fascinatingly cool when I hit those full circle moments – last Saturday seeing Motion City Soundtrack at Palace Theater being the newest occurrence. 10 years ago was the first time I ever saw Motion City Soundtrack live. 6 years ago exactly was the first Valentine’s Day my now-wife and I spent together, at a Motion City Soundtrack show. And now our first Valentines Day as a married couple was spent doing the exact same thing.
Motion City Soundtrack have been a band that has aged like fine wine…but also they’re still seem to be getting finer and finer? Every single time over at least the last five years I’ve walked away from their shows thinking it was the best one I’ve been to yet, and never sounded better. Last Saturday particularly felt that way for me, because it felt like the stars and universes aligned for a perfect show where the huge crowd met the band with an infectious spirituous energy.
If you haven’t been paying much attention (you should), it’s been an incredibly rough and stressful time for people here in Minnesota. As much as it has been that, it’s also been incredibly heartening to see the community(s) around me come together so closely. I’ve never been prouder to be a Minnesotan, and I’ve also never been prouder to be fans, and friends, of the people that make up Motion City Soundtrack. As much as this show seemed to be your typical fans enjoying a favorite band and cheering them on, it also had an underlying (and not so underlying at times) feel of a rallying cry, a 2,500 person group hug and place to let out pent up anxieties. The band knew exactly what we’ve been through over the last month+, because they’ve very literally been through it too and we as an audience also knew that too. There was an heartwarming and heartbreaking inclusivity to it all.
Touring in support of their newest album The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World, it was wonderful to see all the new songs off it played live. After almost half a year of it being out and the songs ingraining themselves a bit more into myself in that time, songs like “Your Days Are Numbered,” and especially the title track hit real hard. Speaking of the crowd, I was able to scope out a spot on the balcony, and over the years I’ve found being that removed can dampen the feel of energy some, but not this time. I got to clearly see how good the crowd was down below and also could clearly see those around me bringing it hard.
Openers Agnes Uncaged and Say Anything are great picks to get the night going. I hadn’t heard of Agnes Uncaged, but I quite enjoyed their kind of vibey-grunge. For all of my preconceived notions I may have had towards Say Anything, I think they were pretty good! I of course always love seeing Fred Mascherino in anything he does, and he was once again great!
I’ve officially lost count of how many times I’ve seen Motion City Soundtrack. When they’re as good as last weekend’s show, I will be absolutely happy to increase that number for forever.
