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By Jon Bream Not all the Pitchfork-reading, Current-listening hipsters went to SXSW in Austin, Texas, this week. About 1,000 music lovers flocked to First Avenue on Thursday to see the Big Pink, the buzzed-about British band. I think it was a blogger who referred to Big Pink as a nu-shoe band because the electro-rock duo is an updated version of the 1990s British shoe-gazing bands. If nu shoes means not every exciting (maybe even boring), that would be fitting for the Pink's performance at First Ave. Guitarist/singer Robbie Furze told the First Ave faithful that Minneapolis was best audience on this tour as well as the band's first tour of the States (when the group sold out the 7th Street Entry on Thanksgiving eve). But this was not the best performance seen at First Ave. Big Pink principals Furze and keyboardist Milo Cordell, augmented by bassist Leopold Ross and animated but rudimentary drummer Akiko Matsuura, filled the main room with a dense, grinding squall that was numbingly repetitious. Standing amid dark, hazy lights, Furze seemed to be declaiming his lyrics rather than singing them, making the music feel flat instead of emotional. He did summon emotion on "Tonight," which was almost melodic enough to feel like a pop song. And he invigorated the crowd on "Dominos," the radio hit that was clearly Big Pink's most fully realized song. It was the closing number in the encore-less, 66-minute set that featured almost all the selections on Big Pink's 2009 debut album, "A Brief History of Love," and a new number. Here is Big Pink's set list: Too Young to Love/ At War with the Sun/ Frisk/ Velvet/ Crystal Visions/ A Brief History of Love/ Count Backwards from Ten/ Twilight/ Tonight/ These Arms/ Dominos