The Birthday Massacre – The Fine Line – Minneapolis MN – April 2nd 2025

THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE – THE FINE LINE – MINNEAPOLIS MN – APRIL 2 2025

Review and photos by Legion Ratfell

When I saw that The Birthday Massacre was coming through the cities, I had that reminder and question of “Oh, they’re still making music?” There’s so much music in the world that sometimes I’ll go months or even years without listening to a certain band, but I listened to TBM since I was in middle and high school, returning to them here and there throughout the years. They were one of the first bands that got me into a darker, gothier side of things, so for pure nostalgia reasons I had to go, and I was not in the least disappointed. 

Magic Wands opened the night with some dark dreamwave. It was very dark, the lights were very blue, and the two musicians were in shadow the whole time. It was a very gentle way to start the night; the music was pretty bumping and danceable, but the performers’ energy was a little mellow for my tastes. 

The energy kicked up almost immediately when Essenger took the stage. I am a huge fan of metal-influenced EDM and electronic music, and am constantly looking for the heavier side of synthwave. I found Essenger through his collab with The Midnight, an excellent synthwave band, and loved his entirely unique sound, so I was excited to see what that looked like in a live setting. Predominantly electronic musicians can go multiple ways performing live, and it can be hard to captivate an audience all by yourself. By the gods did Essenger deliver though. His songs hit hard and heavy, and he was feeling it, so I did too. He also incorporated a LOT of live instruments; his versatility and ability was impressive. He was doing synth solos, playing bass, playing guitar, singing and screaming and rocking out. He had programmed lights to every song so it was a complete and captivating performance. I loved the mix of genres and his energy was infectious. This is more of what I want to see in the electronic scene in general in the Twin Cities.

The second TBM’s intro music started playing, I had this wave of emotions rush over me. I didn’t know it was going to affect me so much, but hearing music live for the first time that had such an impact on me in the start of my music journey was intense. The Birthday Massacre has a lot of music, and it’s stayed pretty consistent in style for pretty much that whole time, because it works. You can dance to it, you can sing along to it, you can head-bang to it; whatever flavor you feel like doing. It’s gothic, cinematic, synth-heavy and romantic; it takes you to a magical dark and dreamy wonderland. The music and lyrics are dark, but the energy and vibes of the band and the people in the room was overwhelmingly positive. The lead singer, Chibi, was adorable and scary at the same time, and the way she interacted with fans, most of whom had also been listening to them for ages, was amazing. There were so many hand-holds, hearts, smiles and tears. With a band that’s been around this long, it’s not surprising. Every single one of the six band members were giving so much energy and the audience was responding in kind. That’s the special thing about live music that I just never get tired of. It’s in the interactions, the special moments, the intimacy of a shared space, and when the whole band is having the time of their lives and you can tell they love performing, it’s a magical experience. 

The Birthday Massacre’s new album ‘Pathways’ comes out on April 11th . You can listen to the two singles ‘All Of You’ and ‘Sleep Tonight’ that are already out now. The tour just started as well, so I’d highly recommend checking out a show if you need some heartfelt gothic whimsy in your life.