Soul Asylum / Corey Glover @ Universal Preservation Hall, 4/26/2026
Written by chadfromalbany on April 27, 2026
By Chad from Albany.
Gen X was alive and well this Sunday night as alt-rock legends Soul Asylum performed an acoustic set at Universal Preservation Hall in downtown Saratoga Springs, with Living Colour frontman Corey Glover in tow as support.
This show was particularly special for long-time Soul Asylum fans like myself, especially those of us who remember the long-unavailable (and recently re-released) MTV Unplugged from 1993, which, according to legend, was the show where Dave Pirner met his famous, soon-to-be girlfriend Winona Ryder. And the nostalgia of the performance continued as their setlist was heavy on their two classic albums of the era, 1992’s “Grave Dancers Union” and 1995’s “Let Your Dim Light Shine,” where the Unplugged performance occurred right in the middle of those two immensely successful releases.
Appropriately, they began the show with their breakout single, “Somebody to Shove”, immediately showing frontman Dave Pirner’s look, sound, and voice haven’t changed much since Kennedy was playing the video on “Alternative Nation.” Pirner’s hair whipped in the warm former church as they plowed through early deep cuts “Bittersweetheart,” “Without a Trace,” and “To My Own Devices” before hitting their stride during “Let Your Dim Light Shine’s” complex “String of Pearls,” which tells a wonderfully connective story, with the title also acting as a metaphor for the context of the lyrics, while switching from ¾ to 4/4 time signatures, highlighting his undeniable songwriting.
Part of Pirner’s charm is his maintenance of the ’90s aesthetic. Not embracing the technological world that this country has morphed into, finding joy in his tried-and-true songs, and apparently, the skill of “dad jokes,” which were sprinkled in throughout the evening. The star joke of the night was about the wedding of two TV antennas, and how the wedding wasn’t great, but the reception was fantastic. To me, the true humor of the joke is that it’s 2026, and he’s making a joke about TV antennas, which again plays into his charm.
Soul Asylum was rounded out with bass guitarist Jeremy Tappero and lead guitarist Ryan Smith, who, as impressive as his playing was, shone most brightly with a foot-controlled tambourine taking the place of a proper drummer. They backed Pirner up wonderfully with Byrds-esque three-part harmony and impressive musicianship as their sounds filled the church on this Sunday evening.
After “String of Pearls,” two cuts from 2025’s phenomenal album “Slowly But Shirley” were played, including “The High Road” and “Freak Accident,” before launching into the classic “Misery,” which was even parodied by Weird Al on 1996’s “Bad Hair Day” and titled “Syndicated, Inc.” And speaking of covers, they then went into a pair of songs from 2006’s “The Silver Lining”- “Stand Up and Be Strong”, which was covered by fellow Minnesotan Prince (and in true Prince fashion, his cover was titled Stand Up and B Strong”), and the anathematic “Lately.” They ended their set with another classic, 1992’s “Black Gold”. That was not the only Prince connection with Soul Asylum, as their long-time touring and now just studio drummer, Michael Bland, was Prince’s powerhouse drummer from 1989 and deep into the ’90s in the New Power Generation, helping bring the sounds of New Jack Swing to the masses.
Of course, an encore followed with a bit of an improvised ditty between the band, before launching into their iconic “Runaway Train.” And calling it a night with the appropriate “Get On Out” from “Let Your Dim Light Shine,” ending a fantastic performance with the only flaw being my selfish want of something from the criminally underrated album “Hurry Up and Wait” from 2020. Pirner’s humble charm lit the former church up like a beacon of light, and you can tell that his gratitude for the audience and their reception was warm and genuine.
And speaking of underrated, the legendary Corey Glover started the night out with a too-short seven-song set. Glover, most notable as the legendary, untouchable voice of the groundbreaking Living Colour, filled UPH with that voice, accompanied only by the fantastic Mike Ciro on guitar.
After opening the show with the uproarious “What Must I Do Now?”, he transitioned into Bill Withers classic “Use Me,” in which he attempted to get the crowd to clap in unison to the solo guitar. Key word: “attempted.” Saratoga’s rhythmic abilities were not in attendance at Sunday’s performance. Soon after, he launched into what he said was “… a Living Colour song, but not THAT Living Colour song”, humorously referencing their iconic “Cult of Personality.” Instead, he didn’t disappoint by playing “Love Rears Its Ugly Head” from 1990’s “Time’s Up,” which was much better suited for the format he was working with than the aforementioned hit.
Glover seemingly felt both enamored with and at home in the old church, as he fittingly performed a pair of cuts from his 1998 album “Hymns”- “Little Girl” and April Rain.” Between those, he garnered audience participation with a cover of George Harrison’s Beatles’ classic “Here Comes The Sun,” before ending the night with a cover of “The Cross,” from “Sign o’ the Times,” the 1987 masterpiece record from Prince, whose spirit seemed to fill the hallowed halls tonight, less than a week shy of the ten-year anniversary of his death.
Tonight’s show marked the final night of this unique tour. As much as I love their full-band shows, this acoustic performance sparked memories of a better time, and we are fortunate enough to have a legend of the era still looking and sounding great. If you were not around when they had their great MTV Unplugged set, or if you haven’t heard it since, go check it out, as it is now available to stream.
And as for Corey Glover. Incredible. And Living Colour deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I posted the setlists from the night on setlist.fm. Check them out here.
Photos of Soul Asylum by Chad from Albany
Photos of Corey Glover by Chad from Albany
Read Jason Irwin’s XPerience interview with Dave Pirner here:
https://radioradiox.com/2026/04/01/dave-pirner-an-xperience-interview/
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