Rock the Garden – Day One at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (21 June 2014) concert review

The rain gods had decided to be benevolent… and we were all the better for it.

 

Just mid-way through June, Minnesota was already experiencing a record month of rainfall and just lived through a single-day high mark for the most rain for any day in June history, so this year’s Rock the Garden festival held at the Walker Art Center, seemed slightly in doubt.

Instead, the weekend festival, which expanded to two days for the first time this year, was not affected by any weather; grounds were dry, skies were sunny, and the event was a buoyant celebration of the soundscape of alternative, hip-hop, rock and pop music, as heard on sponsoring MPR radio station, The Current.   Here’s a full rundown of the acts:

Lizzo-

The Grrrl Prty hip-hopper considered Rock the Garden a “some day” gig and was honored to open the event.  We last saw her showing her impressive soul chops, in an encore duet with St. Paul and the Broken Bones, and she impressively followed her Rock the Garden set with a jet-setting trip across the pond, to play the fabled Glastonbury Festival.

Supporting last fall’s Lizzobangers (Totally Gross National Product), she mentioned her Houston roots before ‘Lizzie Borden’ then gave appropriate props before ‘WERK Pt. II’ to the local music scene for giving her music, its first real start.  Lizzo brought out the rest of Grrrl Prty for ‘Wegula’ and radio single, ‘Batches & Cookies’ really worked up the already warm crowd.  Her wide vocal range was on display for ‘Faded’ and proved a fine opening to the hours of music that lay ahead.

Jeremy Messersmith-

Remember Messersmith shyly playing solo on acoustic guitar, not that long ago?  That guy has completely changed—now, more confident and heartily backed by a large ten-piece band (which included the Laurel String Quartet we just saw with Dan Wilson), Messersmith charmed the crowd with selections from his much-bigger sounding, Heart Murmurs (Glassnote Records). Lead single, ‘Tourniquet’ got the crowd in his corner right away, followed by more recent single, ‘It’s Only Dancing’.

Older songs like ‘A Girl, A Boy, and a Graveyard’ went down well, but the heated festival crowd was clearly in the mood for more up-tempo numbers.  So, calling it a “No Apologies” track (in a nod to Current DJ Mary Lucia) Messersmith and band covered Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball’ in a slower but assured way with the musical impact that can only be gained by being backed by such a large ensemble.  Moving with three more back-to-back songs from his latest, ‘Bubblin’, ‘Hitman’ and ‘Ghost’, he ended with fan favorite from 2010, ‘Violet’.

Best Coast-

“You know how to do the first day of summer!” Best Coast vocalist Bethany Cosentino remarked, and their upbeat California sun-drenched songs, were the perfect soundtrack for a bright June afternoon.  Their latest, a 7-track EP called Fade Away (Jewel City Records) was well represented, with the duo (rounded out by guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno) and band playing all but the record’s last two tracks, and Cosentino did make mention of a new album coming this fall.

Though the LA-based Cosentino remarked about the heat several times (comparing it to Red Lobster), songs like ‘The Only Place’ and ‘Summer Mood’ seemed incredibly appropriate for the Arts Center’s sloped grass hill filled with sunglasses, hats, and nodding heads. Bruno kept mostly busy to himself, to Cosentino’s left and older songs like early single, ‘When I’m with You’, seemed to get the strongest response.  “Hope we Rocked your Garden”, Cosentino said, ending with ‘Each and Everyday’, from 2010 breakout album, Crazy for You.

Matt and Kim-

“Let’s get weird!”-Brooklyn indie dance-pop duo Matt and Kim dared the crowd, early into their late afternoon set. The on and off-stage couple, Matt Johnson (vocals/keyboards) and Kim Schifino (drums), more than lived up to that, in their over-caffeinated, high energy set, that was more than perfect for the burgeoning festival crowd.

Hundreds of balloons were released, confetti was thrown, both climbed all over their instruments, Schifino dared people to crowd surf from the pit to the soundboard, and she eventually walked on crowd members’ hands, all of which played true to their “Let’s Get Weird” mantra.  In the process, they became the most energetic and audience-interacting act of the weekend, that left everyone smiling after.

Leaning on their latest, 2012’s Lightning (on Fader Label) the pair also mixed in a fair amount of covers including Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’, Salt-n-Pepa’s ‘Push It’, and one “by a great American poet, Robert Kelly… you may know him as R. Kelly”, Johnson mused, before the band broke into ‘Ignition’.  They also seem to have a current obsession with DJ Snake and Lil’ Jon’s ‘Turn Down for What’, whose samples were peppered in throughout their set.

First big single, ‘Cameras’ was played surprisingly early, but the momentum kept building into a frenzied pace, that the audience didn’t seem to mind. Their energy was infectious, from the very first song to the set-ending cover of Dr. Dre/Snoop’s ‘Next Episode’ and Lightning’s ‘It’s Alright’.

De La Soul-

Long Island hip-hop trio at least knew that a lot of younger people in the Walker audience had maybe never even heard of them.  But, playing with a harder edge than on record, the group (MCs Posdnuos and Dave, and MC/DJ Maseo) made sure the audience remembered them after their night-closing performance.   Even mentioning they’d released their entire catalog online for free (a pirated-sourced version, no less), the three were backed by the ever-seasoned Los Angeles nine-piece, The Rhythm Roots All-Stars, who has backed up almost every late 80’s/early ‘90s rap act, at some point.

A mild surprise was their version of James Brown horn section group The J.B.’s, ‘Pass the Peas’ and they had the audience guessing their favorite day of the week, which on this night could only have been ‘Saturdaze’.

A slightly different version of best-known hit, ‘Me, Myself & I’ followed, somewhat lazily, but tempo ramped back up with Gorillaz hit, ‘Feel Good, inc.’, which was a crowd favorite, though could have benefitted from a recorded Damon Albarn vocal, to fill out the song better.  A verse of Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ would follow, leading into ‘Ring Ring Ring’ and the trio asking the swaying crowd, “Hey, how ya doin’?”