Thursday, August 7, 2014

Rockin' the Garden

The high mark of summer in Minneapolis is checking out the line-up at Rock the Garden, a festival sponsored by The Currect radio station and the Walker "Arts" Center. This year they stretched the one day fest into a two-dayer, June 21-22. Sadly, even with two days chalked full of diverse music, none of the bands really appealed to me. I would've chosen Sunday for Spoon and Guided by Voices, but John and I wanted to spend the annual event with our co-Garden groupies, Rachel, Jenna, and Sarah. Saturday was when they wanted to go, so be it!

Rock the Garden is nestled on the hilly green next the arts center. In case it's not obvious, the fest is all about spending hours lounging on a picnic blanket, drinking beer and listening to music. We had a perfect spot on the lawn that was graced by the shade first.

John and I used our earned adulthood to have not just one but TWO Talenti ice creams as our main meal. Sarah B. devoured an extra-long corn dog. I also enjoyed Nitch's Kitchen's New Zealand meat pie. Yum! We were in luck this year since a friend of a friend was in the VIP tent where the Summit beer flows free.

The only band I though I might like to see was Best Coast, a surfer rock band that reminds me a bit of The Breeders. Sadly, I wasn't really impressed. They played fine but it was nothing to get excited about. Jeremy Messersmith put on a good performance but it's not my thing. Lizzo and De La Soul were respectable acts that I probably would have never seen if it hadn't been for Rock the Garden. The band that did rock my socks off was Matt and Kim. Holy Mother. They were amazing! They owned that audience. Kim stood on her drums to play them. They gave out balloons to the audience to heighten the visual stimulation. They had people crowd surf backwards. Cats and dogs were living together. Mass hysteria. 

I, of course, was impressed with the recycling and composting managed by Eureka Recycling with a zero-waste goal. They work with the vendors before hand to make sure the only things served are recyclable or compostable. There were a few surprises like the Talenti ice cream wrappers and balloons that Matt&Kim threw out to the crowd.

Things to Do #10 done! 

Sarah B and her 'dog
Can't beat the view




Girls with Post-It mustaches


Matt and Kim rocking out
Free water from City of Mpls

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