Girl at the Rock Shows

Happy birthday, America. Or something like that? I know that not all of us are happy about the state of everything happening in this country right now, and maybe celebrating the 4th of July felt a little weird, but here in Minneapolis, there was an event that celebrated the real America. It celebrated community, food from all over the world, and music. Good old-fashioned live music. Sure, I may not have really been in the mood to celebrate this country, but I was absolutely in the mood to celebrate the Twin Cities at Taste of Minnesota.

Although I am focusing on the music of this festival, Taste of Minnesota isn’t a music festival. Okay, it is, but it’s more of a food festival and massive block party than just a music event. I spent my time between sets taking in some amazing food (shout out to the amazing sambusas at Sambusa Samosa) and just watching people wander around with giant smiles on their faces. Some people were decked out in their best red, white, and blue outfits, others were just wearing anything they could come up with that would keep them cool under the scorching sun, but the one constant for everyone was the smiles. It didn’t matter how busy the downtown streets got or how hot the sun got; people were smiling, and that, right there, was the best way to spend my 4th of July.

Obviously, I’m a music reviewer, so, as nice as all of the other elements of this festival were, I’m going to talk about the music, and there was plenty of it on Saturday, so here goes.

Before I talk about the acts that I saw on Saturday, I want to give a huge shout out to the one and only Sophia Eris. Sophia was the DJ that played between every single set both days. She knew just what to play and when to play it and definitely made this entire event a vibe without a lot of people knowing it. Sophia is a treasure of the Twin Cities that just doesn’t seem to get the accolades she deserves and I know this little paragraph doesn’t come close to doing her justice but, seriously, thank you Sophia Eris for being the heartbeat of this entire weekend!

My Saturday kicked off with a performance from School of Rock. Just in case you’ve been living under a bit of a rock, School of Rock is a program that essentially teaches kids to be rock stars, and rock stars they were on the smaller ‘North Star Stage’ on Saturday. Their set of covers ran the gamut of styles and vibes, but one thing stayed consistent, and that was the perfection and the passion that radiated from every kid that graced the stage.

Gully Boys are definitely one of the hottest acts in the Twin Cities right now, and they proved why when they opened up the main stage on Saturday. Sonically, Gully Boys straddle a line between punk and pop, but aren’t a pop-punk band. They can give you some of the most infectious songs that will instantly get stuck in your head like any great pop song, but they can also fill you with this subtle amount of angst from the way they convey so much emotion on stage. No matter what mood you were in, Gully Boys’ set surely hit the spot.

It was back to the North Star Stage to catch a bit of New Primitives. To say that this group’s sound matched the overall theme of the day would be an understatement. Some of the beats that this group gives feel like they are from a completely different part of the world because, well, they are. New Primitives takes a million different elements and makes them into a sound that will absolutely get you moving and grooving. Whether it’s a cover that takes you a minute to figure out what the cover is because they have put such a unique spin on it, or an original composition, New Primitives had the entire audience dancing (or at least shifting from side to side, given the heat that we were all dealing with).

It has been a hot minute since I’ve seen Nur-D live, but as soon as he and his massive band took the mainstage, it was like my body and my mind knew what to do. I let go. I let go of it all and let his positive words soak deep into my soul, and his funky beats sink right into my feet. Sure, I was busy taking photos and definitely had a bit of a job to do, but Nur-D’s energy was just completely inescapable, and I found myself, more often than not, just standing there with my camera in hand, singing along rather than actually trying to get the shots I wanted. If you’re ever in a bad mood or ever just having one of those days where you are getting down on yourself for some reason or another, I highly suggest just throwing on a Nur-D record. I promise it will change everything.

Pullstring, the next band on the North Star Stage, never fails to impress me, and the short time I spent with them on Saturday was no different. This band refuses to be put into a box. Sure, they’re a rock n’ roll band, but they do a little bit of everything from classic rock vibes to alt-rock sounds, and they put it all together with an energy that would make even the most passive music listener stop and pay attention. That’s exactly what they did on Saturday. People stopped dead in their tracks to see what this band was all about, and, even if it was only for a fleeting moment, I know that this band left an imprint on everyone who gave them even a second of attention.

Dessa brought her smooth voice and poignant lyrics to the main stage in a very Dessa way. It’s been years since I’ve seen Dessa perform, and, if I’m being honest, it’s not quite my thing as I always feel like her shows are lacking a sense of energy that I typically crave, but as I stood there taking it all in on Saturday, I finally got it. Dessa isn’t necessarily there to make you dance or even make you sway. She’s there to make you think, and that’s exactly what she did with her songs that featured her signature, vulnerable words and the way she truly makes everyone in the audience feel seen, heard, and more importantly, understood. I may not have gotten the burst of energy I was needing at this point in the day from Dessa, but I did get a full heart, and sometimes that’s more important.

Maygen & The Birdwatcher was the final band I caught on the North Star Stage (more on the explanation later), and they were perfect, but I knew they would be. With a psychedelic-tinged rock n’ roll sound, Maygen and the Birdwatcher gave the audience something super juicy to sink their teeth into. Like many of the other bands that performed on Saturday, there was no way you could listen to and watch this set without dancing. It was such a perfect fit for this event because of the amount of joy this band exudes and because of how accessible their sound is while remaining unique and something that will surely get stuck in your head.

I was expecting the world from Ant’s DJ set. That wasn’t fair to Ant. Any is one half of the famed Atmosphere duo, and, truthfully, I was expecting Slug to show up and turn this into an Atmosphere set. That didn’t happen. Instead, it felt like we got to see the scaffolding of Atmosphere. Okay, that sounds mean. Ant is so much more than Atmosphere and definitely showcased his talent on Saturday, but between my own hopes and the fact that there were many Atmosphere beats in Ant’s set, I just felt like I would have loved to see a bit more from Ant on Saturday.

This is when the day started to get a bit weird. Something in my gut said to stick close to the main stage after Ant’s set. There was something in the air and, all of a sudden, people on stage started moving a little faster. After a quick check in on the weather, my boyfriend realized that there was an insane line of storms headed right for the cities. He’s a sound guy who works events like this often (he actually worked this exact event a few years ago), so he was explaining the reality of what may happen to me. My heart was breaking as we watched the radar inch the storm closer to us at a rapid rate. Long story short, the final act of the night, Brother Ali, was rushed on stage fifteen minutes early because they were trying to get anything they could from him before the storm started.

Although there was something weird in the air, like the professional he is, Brother Ali (with the help of Ant on the turntables) leaped into a set that felt cool, calm, and collected. He didn’t rush his songs or even his banter between songs, which will make you feel like the most important person in the world, even though he’s talking to hundreds of people at once. Brother Ali admitted to messing with the setlist a bit because there were some songs he just felt the need to play on this specific day, so the second song in, he played “Uncle Sam Goddamn.” This is often one of the final songs he plays, so it was weird to hear him play it so early in the set, but I’m so damn glad he did because, about halfway through the song, I felt it. I felt a few drops of rain on my back. If you’ve been reading my posts for some time, you know I always go with my gut, and my gut said that after “Uncle Sam Goddamn,” it was time to put the cameras away and start making an exit. I reluctantly started walking away, and then, just like that, the skies opened up, and Mother Nature had her way with the entire crowd.

Things turned slightly chaotic in the blink of an eye as rain drenched everyone and gusts of wind blew tents and gates all over the place. Festival organizers instantly pulled the plug on everything and even gave shelter-in-place orders, asking people to stay on the grounds until the bulk of the storm passed. Somehow, my boyfriend and I had escaped just before the shelter-in-place was called, but I don’t know that that was a good thing. We blindly hustled through drenched downtown streets trying to keep our glasses clean enough to at least see traffic, and by the time we got to the car, we could wring out every piece of clothing on us. We were drenched, we were cold, but we weren’t crabby because, somehow, this just added to the magic of the event and the day.

I feel terrible for all of the vendors, musicians, and staff of this event that had to deal with the sudden extreme storm that hit. I really hope everyone is okay and that all vendors were able to stash their amazing goods somewhere before it got wild. I feel terrible that I didn’t get one last stop at the North Star Stage to see Solana & the Sunsets close it out, and I hate that I didn’t get a full Brother Ali set. That being said, and even with this storm that ended the festivities early, I loved everything about Taste of Minnesota, so to all of those people that I just said I felt terrible for, I also say thank you. Thank you for bringing so much diversity, love, amazing food, adorable goods, and fantastic music to the spotlight. Thank you for creating an event that truly shows not only how diverse the Twin Cities are but also how loving this community is.