Raynes – Turf Club – St Paul, MN – August 20, 2026

Raynes (with Pretty Pretty Please) at the Turf Club in St Paul, MN – Thursday, August 20, 2026

Review and Photos by Catherine Zons

I saw my first show at the Turf Club on Thursday night and I couldn’t have had a better time! Arriving shortly before the doors opened, I got a chance to look around at the Club’s inviting downstairs bar and Clown Lounge, where one can order food and drink while admiring the room’s circus-themed decor. Originally a dance hall in the 1940s, the Turf Club has a 350-person capacity that is perfect for an intimate performance experience that still brings the energy (and acoustics!) of a much larger venue.

I found a place to stand with my camera right up near the front of the stage and let the minutes tick down to showtime. Promptly at 8pm, a quartet of people wearing matching red jumpsuits took to the stage and enamored the crowd with a sound best described as vibrantly charismatic. Pretty Pretty Please is a Minneapolis-based band that formed in 2023 with founding members Ben Tarr (vocals/guitar) and Sam Walsh (drums) but have since grown to include Eric Milpointer on rhythm guitar. Their sound is youthfully bluegrass-y, alternatively folk-y, and effortlessly toe-tapping. PPP played a mix of original music and covers, with their renditions of a couple Cage the Elephant and Talking Heads songs being some of my favorites from the evening.

 “Wishin’ You Were Brand New” was an original song that I really enjoyed (and immediately added to some of my music playlists when I got home). They ended their set with “Heart N’ Soul,” a track from their 2025 album Let It Out! Which was an emotional, yet upbeat track that really allowed Ben Tarr to let loose vocally. Overall, I really loved Pretty Pretty Please’s set and consider myself a new fan–who is also waiting patiently for the brand new summer-inspired ballad they performed at the Turf Club to get added to streaming services soon. I hope that they (pretty pretty please!) perform near me again soon!

After a short break, Raynes started their set to a flurry of applause. The British-American folk pop trio began as a creative outlet for Mat Charley (keys/strings/vocals) and Joe Berger (guitar/vocals) when the two were college students in North Dakota. A few demos and a lot of late night jamming later, they decided to take the plunge and become a real band. The two began searching online for a lead singer, a months-long effort that led them to English musician Mark Race. Against all odds, Race was willing to fly to the States and Raynes has been inseparable since 2017.

It was evident from the moment they stepped on stage just how passionate Raynes was about their music and about each other. Berger was dancing and jumping anytime he wasn’t singing, Race was engaging enthusiastically with the crowd, and Charley was energetic even from his place behind the keyboard. The three were smiling for what felt like the whole time. For this tour, Raynes also enlisted Dino Iannello, an LA-based drummer whose work behind the kit made the live show impossible not to dance to.

Raynes played a variety of songs through their set, including some fan favorites like “Goldfish” and “Pulling Teeth (I Feel Like She Knows)” from their debut EP Bloom (2025). From A Ghost in the Walls (2023), we got to hear “White Dress” as well as “Drive You Back Home”–a track the band said they had taken “out of the vault” to perform for us that night. Race mentioned that they’d played it live only a handful of times ever, and so it felt like an incredible treat (plus, it’s one of my favorites, so it was especially exciting for me!) Before playing “Miami Underwater,” Race explained that the track is inspired by how he met his wife outside a bar in Miami, and how much it had meant to him that Charley, the band’s principal lyricist, put that important memory to music. It was far from the only touching moment of the show! The band also recruited the voices of the audience to sing Happy Birthday to a fan in the crowd, before dedicating the next song they played to her.

Raynes dipped into some showtunes as well, performing a short medley that included a few well known refrains (like Orpheus’ “Wait for me!” from Hadestown) before going into a full-blown cover of Dear Evan Hansen’s “Waving Through a Window.” Race’s ability to hit some tough belting notes was impressive, and his bright tenor vocal range seemed made for musical theatre. They also played “Roses All Over” and the yet-unreleased “Josephine,” a couple singles from Radio Remind Me, the full-length album they’re planning to release in October. The songs were energetic and entirely at home within their discography; hearing them live only made me more excited to listen to the album when it finally drops! Raynes ended their set with “Cast the Bronze,” one of their most popular tracks that explores the pressures of social conformity and the desire to retain one’s personal authenticity. It was a great end to a wonderful set–but not quite the end of the show.

After the house lights came back on, Raynes left the stage and relocated to the merch table, where they spent what must have been an hour or more talking to the audience, mingling and taking photos. I shook hands with the band and spoke a little about concert photography, and though I was slightly starstruck talking to one of my favorite bands of all time, the guys were both incredibly down-to-earth and so very nice. When I eventually made my way out of the Turf Club for the night, I couldn’t help but wish that every concert could be as fun, intimate, and rewarding as this one was. I suppose I’ll just have to go to another Raynes show and experience the magic again!