Thievery Corporation – Palace Theatre – St. Paul, MN – December 3rd, 2025
Thievery Corporation with City of the Sun – Palace Theatre – St. Paul, MN – December 3rd, 2025
Review and photos by Kate Klaus
The Palace Theatre in St. Paul was the setting for a musical journey through blended genres with atmospheric lights and reverberating tones as the pairing of City of the Sun and Thievery Corporation couldn’t have been more perfect for the theater’s ambiance.
City of the Sun opened the night with a set that felt like a slow sunrise. Their guitarists carved out melodies that rippled across the acoustically beautiful venue, and their percussionist added heartbeat rhythms that made everything feel alive. Their blend of flamenco-influenced rhythms, percussive finger-style, and twinkling melodies had the crowd locked in from the first song. Even without vocals, they told entire stories through their musicality and expression with soft gentle melodies suddenly rising into crescendos that had the crowd in awe. By their last track, the room felt warm and ready for whatever journey the night had planned.
Thievery Corporation then took the stage and amplified that journey. Their set moved effortlessly through dub, bossa nova, reggae, trip-hop, and electronic grooves, backed by a band of powerhouse musicians and a rotating cast of charismatic vocalists, each of whom brought their own flair, from hip hop to Puma Ptha’s reggae and powerful haunting vocals, turning the show into a communal celebration rather than a standard concert. Rob Garza stood center-stage, calm but locked-in, directing a band that shifted fluently through the expressive genre’s and exciting transitions, and the unique instrumentation, including Eric Hilton’s sitar artistry, brought such unique energy. The constant rotation of artists made the set feel like a living mixtape, constantly reshuffling, constantly blooming into something new and exciting.
Together, City of the Sun and Thievery Corporation created a show that felt like a passport stamp to everywhere at once with sounds that were lush, rhythmic, and worldly. It was the kind of night where the music wasn’t just heard, but felt, carrying the crowd through waves of sound and style with total ease like a live, breathing journey of electronic beats mixed with live instrumentation, global rhythms, guitar-driven soundscapes, and soulful vocals for a completely immersive experience for the passionate crowd.
You must be logged in to post a comment.