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Craig Finn, Live From St. Cloud State University

We got the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn to open up about the stories behind the songs of his old band, Lifter Puller, but Pitchfork has done us one better. They dug up a full set from the band’s appearance on St. Cloud State University’s local-access show, Monday Night Live, and it’s a hoot. It’s worth your time for the host’s almost antagonistically disinterested introduction alone, but seeing young Finn is pretty fun, too; he’s packing less weight and more hair, but he’s just as spastically intense ripping through Lifter Puller staples like “To Live and Die in LBI” and “The Bears.” Also, quick question: Were all the bands making up Minnesota’s music scene in the nineties as into the dress-shirts-tucked-into-slacks look as these guys?

Lifter Puller: Monday Night Live [Pitchfork]

Craig Finn, Live From St. Cloud State University