With final shows coming at Fargo Theatre, The Blenders face 'bittersweet' future

The group announced it was ending its annual holiday tours and has no plans going forward.

The Blenders, from left, include Ryan Lance, Darren Rust, Allan Rust and Tim Kasper.  Alyssa Goelzer / Forum file photo

FARGO — As The Blenders prepare to wrap up their traditional Christmas concerts, each member uses the same word to describe the feeling. Bittersweet. The group announced earlier this year that this would be the last holiday tour. As the year draws to a close, the quartet doesn’t have any future shows on the books. The vocal act, which started in Fargo, returns to The Fargo Theatre for its Farewell Holiday Soul Tour, from Wednesday, Dec. 17 through Sunday, Dec. 21.

The Blenders announced earlier this year that this will be their final Christmas tour. Contribute / The Blenders

“It’s hard to say goodbye. We’ve been doing it for 35 years,” said Allan Rust. “It’s a sad farewell, for sure.”

“All good things come to an end,” said his older brother Darren. “We’re not breaking up. We’re just retiring the Christmas show, but the emotions will hit us.” He said the group started talking in 2024 about what the next five years of the Christmas show would look like, but no one had a persuasive vision going forward. “It’s been a long run. It’s become a little more difficult year after year with everyone’s schedules,” Darren said. “Something needed to change in a big way, but it didn’t seem like there was motivation or commitment to do so.” When that happened, the consensus feeling was it was time to put a bow on the holiday tour.

The Blenders have shows set for Dec. 17 through Dec. 21 at the Fargo Theatre. Alyssa Goelzer / Forum file photo

“Let’s go out with a bang while we still can do the show we want to do,” Darren said. “There was a concern that the quality of the show may start to suffer. We want to preserve the brand and legacy of The Blenders.”

The group has been taking the holiday tour on the road for more than 25 years and the dates are often the only times fans can catch the act. The tour kicks off with three shows at the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis before bringing the show to Fargo. “There’s a lot of risk for us doing the tour. There’s a lot of stress in putting on the show,” said Tim Kasper, the only member who doesn’t live in the Twin Cities area. He flew in at the beginning of the month for rehearsals.

Kasper, Ryan Lance and Darren formed the group with Paul Dunkirk in Fargo in 1989 as an a cappella act. The group quickly made a name for itself nationally with an appearance on “The Arsenio Hall Show” the following year, though the band’s name was never mentioned. The Blenders would go on to share stages with acts like Jay Leno, Howie Mandel and others. Dunkirk left in ’95 and was replaced by Allan that year, a lineup that has remained since.

In 1990, The Blenders (Tim Kasper, Ryan Lance, Paul Dunkirk and Darren Rust) landed opening gigs with Jay Leno and Howie Mandel, center.  Contributed / The Blenders

The group has released over a dozen records including six holiday albums. This past summer it was inducted into the North Dakota Music Hall of Fame. In 2015 it was inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame. Fargo has been a staple since the group started its holiday tours, and it routinely sells out the six or seven shows booked for the Fargo Theatre every year.

The Christmas tours started in 1997, took a year off in 2001 and then carried on annually until COVID derailed the tradition in ’20 and ’21.

With months to get ready for these final shows, the bandmates are still unsure how they’ll feel in front of fans for the last time.

The Blenders formed in Fargo and began offering a Christmas show in 1997.  Alyssa Goelzer / Forum file photo

“It probably won’t settle in until we hit the stage,” Ryan Lance said. “I think it will get emotional.”

“It’ll be mixed emotions,” Kasper said. “It’ll be a great sense of accomplishment to survive another year with the fantastic support we have.”

“Once we get onstage, it will be hard to ignore that we won’t be doing it again,” Allan said.

Some of the songs will have some extra emotional weight this year, particularly the 2019 original, “One Last Song,” which Darren Rust wrote for the band’s 30th anniversary.

“It was written to be a goodbye song. That will be an emotional goodbye,” Darren said. “It’s the one we’ll probably struggle with.”

“That’ll get caught in our throats for sure,” Allan said.

After doing the show for more than 25 years, the act will quickly find its rhythm performing fan favorites from over the years. There will also be a handful of surprises, Kasper said.

One sure-fire hit will be Lance’s fan-favorite interpretive dance as the rest of the band sings “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

“We’d get into a lot of trouble if we didn’t do that,” Kasper said.

“It definitely doesn’t get any easier,” Lance said. “I’ve got to start limbering up. I can’t go out there cold.”

The Blenders, from left, include Darren Rust, Tim Kasper, Ryan Lance and Allan Rust. Alyssa Goelzer / Forum file photo

The Fargo Theatre itself holds a special place for the quartet as they were raised in Fargo and West Fargo. Though they’ve been holding the Christmas concerts there for over 20 years, it’s an earlier gig that is the most memorable for members.

“The Big Show,” Darren said. “We just signed a record deal and we wanted to show the label we were a high caliber act and we could put on a big show. It’s kind of laughable how over our heads we were.”

Previously an a cappella act, for the first time it played with a backing band, the Minneapolis-based Wallace Hartley and the Titanics, which had a full horn section. To make the sound even bigger, The Blenders suspended subwoofers under the stage to get a bigger sound.

“We all blew our voices out trying to compete with the band,” Allan said.

The Blenders open their series of holiday song concerts Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, at the Fargo Theatre.  Forum file photo

That wasn’t the only mishap with that show. Allan was dancing and jumping around the stage and at one point his leg went through the temporary stage over the orchestra pit, landing on one of those subwoofers.

“I still remember it as a great show,” Darren said.

And then there was the night the fire alarm went off mid-show in 2011.

“We were always trying to create a better show,” Darren said. “The light guy was using so much smoke to make the lights show up better, but after that we said, ‘Man, that’s the end of that.’”

“That was really frustrating,” Allan said. “But that’s where we shine the most. We know how to overcome something like that and we handle ourselves well under pressure.”

The Blenders celebrated their 25th anniversary with their annual holiday tour at the Fargo Theatre in 2014.  Forum file photo

“When something goes wrong, we either just roll with it or point it out and laugh at it,” Lance said. “Performing at the Fargo Theatre is always the tops.”

Without a Christmas tour in 2026, the members’ December calendar opens up to do other things. Kasper said he’ll golf more, while Allan said he would like to take a family vacation, maybe go snowboarding out west. Lance has no plans, other than to enjoy a “normal” holiday season. Darren wants to work on his own music and produce more bands. He’s also been offered a performing gig for a different Christmas tour next year.

While they won’t miss the behind-the-scenes work in putting the tour together, the one thing they’ll miss most is each other.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s a nice paycheck at the end of the year,” Darren said. “But I’ll really miss the camaraderie. It’s something we look forward to. We really don’t see each other that often, so it’s great to catch up with each other and their families.”

“We really do get along well. We have a lot of fun. They’re like brothers to me,” Lance said.