Sleep Theory – First Avenue – Minneapolis MN – June 12th 2025

Sleep Theory live at First Avenue with special guests Stray View, Oxymorrons and Stray View on June 12th 2025

Review and photos by Jesse McKinney

Stray View
The opener of the show is responsible for setting the tone for the night, and Stray View was a good call! At the start of their set the crowd wasn’t moving much, but by the end of it they had the entire crowd jumping and going crazy. This was my first time seeing Stray View live, but I can’t recommend seeing them enough. They put on a great show, and I highly recommend checking out their new song Vivid that they just dropped last month.

Oxymorrons
One thing I love about going to concerts is finding new bands that I might not have normally discovered otherwise, and Oxymorrons is one of those bands. Oxymorons weren’t even done with their set yet and I was already telling people to check them out. They are just a four-piece band, but they made the big stage feel small because they were all over the place with their high energy! Their energy was infectious, and they had the crowd going crazy the entire set. I already know I’m going to be annoying people all summer playing their song “Definition” over and over again.

Nevertel
This was my first time hearing Nevertel and I wish I would have heard them sooner! From the moment they took the stage they had the crowd hooked with their genre blending sound and high energy. I always enjoy seeing bands that don’t fit into a box because you never know what to expect when you see them live. At one point guitarist Raul Lopez dropped his guitar and started to rap for portions of songs. Can’t recommend Nevertel enough! Do yourself a favor and go listen to their song “everything in my mind” as soon as possible.

Sleep Theory
The first time I saw Sleep Theory live was when they opened for Beartooth back in spring of 2024 and I had a feeling that they would be coming back to Minnesota soon but as the headliners. Sleep Theory put on an even more amazing show than the first time and I’m always impressed by the range of vocalist Cullen Moore and how his live vocals sound just like the recordings. They had every single person in the sold-out crowd moving and singing along to every song. The crowd went especially crazy when Sleep Theory played a cover of *NSYNC – Bye Bye Bye. Sleep Theory released a new album last month called “Afterglow” and in my opinion it’s album of the year so far!