American Football’s 1999 debut landed with almost no notice and spent years quietly becoming one of emo’s most-circulated records — passed hand to hand through early message boards and file-sharing platforms, the way cult classics spread before algorithms did it for you. LP4, their first full-length since 2019’s LP3 and out May 1 on Polyvinyl Records, finds Mike Kinsella working through divorce and middle age, the band describing the record as the product of “patience, self-interrogation and the long view.” The “No Feeling World Tour” brings all of it to Asbury Hall at Babeville in Buffalo on Sunday, December 20.
About the Show
LP4 is the fourth studio album from a band that formed in 1997 when Kinsella, guitarist Steve Holmes, and drummer/trumpeter Steve Lamos were students at the University of Illinois. What they built there — a clean, melodic approach blending emo intimacy with jazz-influenced space and jangling guitar interplay — is still what defines them. After an initial breakup they reunited in 2014; this is their first major world tour since a 2024 outing celebrating the debut album. LP4 brings in guest vocalists Wisp, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates, and Caithlin De Marrais of Rainer Maria, and the band describes its range as their “darkest and most playful” yet, exploring loss, perspective, and the weight of getting older.
Opening is She’s Green, a Minneapolis-based shoegaze and dream pop five-piece: vocalist Zofia Smith, guitarists Liam Armstrong and Raines Lucas, bassist Teddy Nordvold, and drummer Kevin Seebeck. They came up fast — named one of First Avenue’s Best New Bands of 2023, received the most votes in MPR’s 2024 Scouting Report Poll for rising Minnesota artists, and were handpicked by The Current to open its 20th-anniversary celebration. Debut EP Wisteria (2023) made the case, led by the viral track “Mandy”; the 2025 follow-up EP Chrysalis confirmed it. Show up early.
Venue & Logistics
Asbury Hall at Babeville is a 1,200-capacity historic music hall at 341 Delaware Ave in Buffalo — a mid-size room on the western New York circuit where a band like American Football can breathe without losing the crowd. Show starts at 8:00 p.m.; doors at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets
General admission is $41 in advance or $46 day of show; VIP packages run $126 (limited availability). A dollar from every ticket sold goes to organizations protecting immigrant rights through PLUS1. Buy tickets