The Crane Wives Fill First Avenue with Radical Positivity
On August 15, the Crane Wives played a sold-out show at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. While the indie folk band was new to me, they were very well known and loved by the more than 1,500 loyal fans in the enraptured audience. I have to say it has been a while since I’ve had to wait in a line that stretched the length of 7th Street after doors were open. Based on conversations I overheard, not everyone who wanted a ticket was able to get one in time.
Emilee Petersmark of the Crane Wives performs at First Avenue on August 15, 2026. Photos by Todd Wardrope
Having been around in various incarnations for over 15 years, the Crane Wives (Emilee Petersmark, Kate Pillsbury, Dan Rickabus, and Ben Zito) are one of those bands that are living the “long way to the top” life of building a fan base, putting on memorable shows and putting out great work. Their early DIY efforts were lauded by the Decemberists’ Colin Meloy, and starting in the early COVID years they found a solid online audience among queer youth. Petersmark (vocals/guitar) reflected that a community developed among their fans who otherwise lacked local resources during the pandemic era.
I knew this going into the show, but I was honestly blown away by just how much the fans were a community and were engaged with the performance. From beginning to encore, the crowd sang along with the set list, to the extent that the band even seemed to have to adjust to keep up with the volume of the fan chorus. This clearly wasn’t a surprise to them, though—I spotted at least one dedicated microphone to amplify the sing-along.
While indie folk can at times come off as being too precious or the soundtrack of choice for latter-day trust fund hippies, the Crane Wives demonstrated that their aesthetic is firmly in the left field of folk music. Their stage banter addressed their working-class roots in Michigan, the fact that they were working musicians without a giant label supporting them, and how inspired they were by the local resistance to Operation Metro Surge. Near the end of the set, Pillsbury (vocals/guitar) called on everyone in the audience to channel their feminine rage for “Steady, Steady,” emphasizing that masc people could have feminine rage, too.
Despite the heavier thematic sentiments, the music itself was the sort of thing that is easy and fun to sing-along with. Stabs and bursts of searing guitar alternated with the catchy chorus bits. Wolf howls happened more than once both onstage and off. Gorgeous and at times melancholic black-and-white video of rural scenes played in the background during their entire time onstage. There was a rapturous passion and joy being celebrated even with the awareness of the struggles that have inspired the music and the audience alike.
There were many, many, “Sleeping Giants” waking on this early August evening for sure.
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About the Author
Todd Wardrope
Todd has been a passionate fan of the Twin Cities music scene since Hüsker Dü was still playing together as a band. While we are a long way off from the all-ages exuberance of the late-’80s punk scene, he is dedicated to capturing and telling the stories of the vibrant music scene of today.
