Stick Figure - Palace Theater - St. Paul MN - May 12th 2022

Palace Theatre Presents: Stick Figure and The Elovaters

Review and Photo by Jake Hageman

I’m going to start this review by saying I haven’t seen as many dreadlocks in one place in my entire life. Even if I didn’t know this was a reggae show, I would have known instantly right when I walked through the doors of the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lots of people were wearing Hawaiian shirts (including myself), khaki shorts, girls had sundresses on, etc. I knew this show was going to be a great summer kickoff.

The Elovaters opened the night, and the crowd caught their vibe right away. Being that reggae music is mainly in a 4/4 time signature with accents on 2 and 4, it makes it easier to dance too, and I saw that right away. Since forming in 2014, The Elovaters have 3 studio albums and 3 EP/Dub albums with Castles being their newest album (2021). According to the band’s website, the group’s monthly Spotify listeners grew 606% in 2020. This is from constant touring with bands like Stick Figure, Pepper, and Ziggy Marley.

Stick Figure was the 2^nd and final act of the night. Although I’m mainly a metalhead, I got into Stick Figure just over a year and a half ago. I’ve been going to a lot of metal shows lately, and it’s nice to finally go to a more relaxed concert. An interesting fact about Stick Figure that you may or may not know is that singer and guitar player, Scott Woodruff, actually writes, records, and produces all of his own songs. From there, he has the rest of the band play their parts when they go on tour. Another thing you may notice in the pictures is a dog. Woodruff has been bringing his dog Cocoa on tour since 2013, and the fans seem to love it. While standing in the photo pit, I saw people holding dog toys, and some even threw theirs on stage. Everyone waited in anticipation to see if Cocoa was interested or not. The dog ended up really liking one of the toys which was a small stuffed whale, and the front row was cheering wildly because of it. Another thing that makes Stick Figure stand out to me compared to other reggae bands is how bass driven their music is. As far as their setlist goes, they played a staggering 21 songs including some of my favorites like “Above the Storm”, “Fire on the Horizon”, “Smokin’ Love”, and “World on Fire”. Overall, this was another great show, and I was super happy with how each of the bands performed!