Yes, the State Fair is here, and its musical offerings are nothing to scoff at. There's a decent Grandstand lineup, as well as plenty of fine-to-excellent free shows scattered around the Fairgrounds. I've only listed the nighttime performances here, but there are also free acts worth checking out during the day, as you can see here. (The Strib compiled this nice cheat sheet for catching locals.)
Tuesday, August 22
Mizmor Prosaic Tour with Unreqvited and Kaldeket @ Amsterdam
Dominic Fike with Heather @ Armory
Colin Bracewell @ Bryant Square Park
International Reggae All Stars @ Bunkers
- Bettye LaVette @ Dakota—LaVette did the near-impossible in 2018—released a full album of Dylan covers that was an instant classic of its kind. When's the last time anyone managed that trick? Her latest, LaVette!, is no Things Have Changed because the songwriter she's focused on, Randall Bramblett, is, while a solid craftsman, of course no Dylan. (He's also no Dennis Walker, whose material LaVette dug into on A Woman Like Me in 2003.) But I'm quibbling—LaVette! is a solid listen, like each of the soul singer's releases since her comeback at the start of the 2000s, Now 77, at an age where even legends are seeking ways to camouflage their waning voices and stumped for good material, LaVette belts as strongly as ever and never tires of discovering new songs.
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Smell My Pillow @ Father Hennepin Bluff Park
Jessica Vines, Taylor Sackson, and Oak and the Woods @ Icehouse
Twin Cities Latin Jazz Orchestra Open Rehearsal @ Jazz Central
Dirty Shorts Brass Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
The Righteous Babes with Kate Malanaphy @ 7th St Entry
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Worker’s Playtime with Aaron Lee Kaplan @ 331 Club
August Conspiracy Series featuring Emmy Woods & The Red Pine Ramblers @ 331 Club
Cindy Lee and Freak Heat Waves @ Turf Club
Trevor McSpadden & Mary Cutrufello & Dan Lowinger @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, August 23
Hannah von der Hoff (August Residency) with Taria and the Sound @ Aster Cafe
The Resident Rogues and Damn Tall Buildings @ Cedar Cultural Center
The Paper Clips Trombone Quartet @ The Commons
Maggie's Wednesdays: Lori Dokken @ Crooners
- Jonatha Brooke @ Dakota—Local music got a ringer when established singer-songwriter Brooke relocated in Minneapolis in 2016. Since Brooke has arrived here, she's released The Sweetwater Sessions, a re-interpretation of her songbook that's as good a place to start with her as any. Tonight she'll perform a few new songs from her upcoming musical, Switched, and she'll be joined by local mainstays Aby Wolf and Linnea Mohn.
Pogo Ballet, the Favorite Things, Cerveza Muscular @ Driftwood
Jack Barrett Quartet with Toivotet @ Icehouse
Papa Bleu @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Maurice Jacox with the We Still R Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Soft and Dumb, She's Green, and Despondent @ Pilllar
Karaoke Wednesday @ ROK Music Lounge
- Kari Faux with theMIND @ 7th St Entry—If Faux’s 2021 lively breakthrough album Lowkey Superstar (Deluxe) showcased her attraction to L.A. gloss, her latest, Real B*tches Don’t Die (asterisk hers), heads back to her home state of Arkansas and gets real, real country. “Peace to the Black babies born below the Mason-Dixon,” she drawls to start the low-ridin’ “White Caprice,” but she’s throwin’ bows more than she’s making nice here—“I don’t really like y’all” is one of her more polite volleys. The 808s rattle throughout, but the rhythms vary from hype to smooth: On “Me First” (“you know I come first,” and you know what she means) the bass booms, on “Turnin’ Heads,” with an assist from Mississippi’s Big K.R.I.T., it pops. And for all Faux’s insinuating bad vibes, she’s not here just to holler; she’s content to speak softly as well, lolling vowels around her mouth and savoring every syllable.
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Lightnin' Malcolm @ 331 Club
Maybe Nebraska, The Last Jackson @ 331 Club
Rattle and Hum with Trompe le Monde @ Turf Club
Nights with Tim @ White Squirrel
Thursday, August 24
Dude Lagoon with Fever Field @ Aster Cafe
St. Paul and the Broken Bones @ Bauhaus
Jay Bee & the Routine @ Bunkers
3rd Elephant Trio: Acoustic Excellence @ Crooners
Arne Fogel Presents: The Songs Louis Armstrong Sang @ Crooners
Ginger Commodore Presents: The Music of Tina Turner @ Dakota
Zipper Merge, Luke Frees with Zipper Merge, and Scarlett Tangerines @ Driftwood
Denim & Diamonds (DJs) @ Dusty's
Karaoke with On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
The Party101 Legends Tour with DJ Matt Bennett with Disco Shrine @ First Avenue
Trioamigos: Ryan Picone, Ben Abrahamson and Daniel Vo @ Granada
Dial Tone, Covalent Blonde, Dalmatian Club, LAME @ Green Room
Los Straitjackets with Jake La Botz Trio @ Hook and Ladder
Beneath Green, the Confused, and Parachutes @ Icehouse
Flamin' Oh's with Chemistry Set and Two Harbors @ Mears Park
Chickaboom and Troglodyte @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Smiling Cowboys @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Drums of Navarone @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Curve, Short Timers, Modern Wildlife @ Mortimer's
The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's
Sassafras, Amateur Hour, Barnacle, Nothing but Nice @ Pilllar
Anti-Skip Protection: 90's & 00's @ ROK Music Lounge
James Ivy with Georell Magno @ 7th St Entry
The Black Keys with the Velveteers @ State Fair Grandstand
Jamecia Bennett @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
The Bacon Brothers @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge
Mike Hosty @ State Fair—Schell's Stage
- Carly Pearce @ Target Field—Yes, you need to buy a ticket for the game, but if you happen to be at the ballpark Thursday night (or if you're kinda in the mood to see the Twins and need an extra nudge), Pearce is absolutely worth sticking around for. She called her 2021 EP 29 because that's how old she was when she married and divorced singer Michael Ray, an event that fired up her songwriting so much that she expanded the original seven songs to a full-length, 29: Written in Stone. While similar albums from unhitched young country women Kacey Musgraves and Kelsea Ballerini are at least a little ambivalent about their busted marriages, let's just say that Ray does not come off well in Pearce's lyrics. A couple examples: a warning to the "Next Girl" he meets and "Liability," with an emphasis on the first syllable.
Preston Gunderson and Jillian Rae @ Turf Club
Empires of Delirium, Anomic, Misery of Flight, and Callus Soul @ Underground Music Venue
J-Mo On The Beat and The J-Lighters with Rachael G, Ori @ White Squirrel
Friday, August 25
Poison Ivy, Splash!, Green, Cottonwood Shivers @ Acadia
NATL PARK SRVC with Keep For Cheap, Civil Decline, & Anita Velveeta @ Amsterdam
Arctic Monkeys with Fontaines D.C. @ Armory
Jenna Graves and the Loons @ Aster Cafe
Loud Sun, Spaceport, Planet Which @ Bryant-Lake Bowl
Some Shitty Cover Band @ Bunkers
Ann Hampton Callaway Sings the 70s @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Elvis Costello Tribute Night @ Driftwood
The Skruffians, Meat Raffle Ska, Sorry Ma @ Eagles 34
- Material Gworl: A Dance Party for Baddies @ Fine Line—Are you now or have you ever been a baddie? If you hafta ask what that means, you’re almost definitely not, but we believe in educating the masses at Racket, so here’s Ice Spice breaking it down for you. (We won’t insult your intelligence by explaining that “material gworl” is a Spicy Santana reference; that’s just household knowledge.) Local luminary, Beyoncé expert, and sometime Racket contributor Gigi Berry, aka DJ OMGIGI will be hitting you with the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Doechii, and Flo Milli—you know, some of the baddest rap and dance music to hit your ears in recent years. (This playlist will give you a sample of what’s in store.) She’ll be joined by three remarkably named drag queens: Lady Cummeal Cassadine, Priscilla Es Yuicy, and Frozaen Pissás. And you don’t have to be a baddie or a material gworl to attend. However, I do hear that they are enforcing a strict “No Munches” policy.
JVKE with HARIZ and Maisy Kay @ First Avenue
Power Puff: A Queer Dance Party @ Granada
Samambo with Effygasm, Yhante, Kwey, and DJ Calvin @ Green Room
- Ka Lia Universe @ Lake Harriet Bandshell—Each year the Strib curates a top-notch August concert/film lineup, and, each year, it’s woefully underpublicized. Five people have RSVP’d to this installment! And that’s no fault of Ka Lia Universe, the 26-year-old local musician who has taught herself songwriting, guitar, piano, ukulele, and sound engineering since she began recording as a teen. As I wrote of her June single, “One Last Fucc,” “St. Paul's Hmong pop star gets raw on this one, cooing singsong invitations over diaphanous synths and trap beats. And yes, the video is just as sexy.” (Speaking of sex, Racket’s Jerard Fagerberg spoke with Universe in 2021 about her work on OnlyFans.) Summer lovin’ will be in ample supply with Grease, the 1978 musical about a nice Australian girl who is inspired by a friend's pregnancy scare to slut it up for a local hoodlum.
R Factor @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Luke Callen and Molly Brandt @ Palmer's
Cole Allan and Cargill Deluxe @ Palmer's
Mason Jennings (Album Release) @ Parkway Theater
Heat Waves feat. MamaSauce, Darwin Theory, Wissota, and Open Decks @ ROK Music Lounge
Tommy Bentz Band @ Schooner Tavern
Lola Kirke with Molly Martin @ 7th St Entry
- The Chicks with Wild Rivers @ State Fair Grandstand—Natalie Maines sounds plenty more pissed—and so, plenty more engaged—on the rechristened trio’s 2020 comeback, Gaslighter, than she did on Taking the Long Way in 2006, back when she, Martie Maguire, and Emily Strayer were nursing their wounds in the aftermath of a culture war against them. Thank (if that’s the right word) Maines’s ex-husband Adrian Pasdar, who was so worried by her breakup songs he wanted a court to determine if they violated the confidentiality clause in their prenup. (Good thing that never happened or we might not ever have gotten the lyric “My husband's girlfriend's husband just called me up/How messed up is that?” not to mention the very specific “Tights on My Boat.”) Sure you’ll probably show up for the oldies, but with much maligned, ubiquitous, and newly married producer Jack Antonoff contemporizing their sound, the new stuff holds its own.
Jamecia Bennett @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
The Bacon Brothers @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge
Mike Hosty @ State Fair—Schell's Stage
Bethany Larson and the Bee’s Knees, Ruben, Thieves for Kings @ 331 Club
SUSTO with The Harmed Brothers @ Turf Club
Wild Horses with Landon Pahl, Joe Downing, and Laplant Road @ Underground Music Venue
Nox Novacula with The Rope, and Stranger Gallery @ Uptown VFW
Kamelot with Battle Beasts and Xandria @ Varsity
Blue Felix and Hemlock @ White Rock Lounge
The Collaborators @ White Squirrel
Saturday, August 26
Hot Bagels, Speed Limit 5, E.T. @ Acadia
Reaping Asmodeia, The Motion Mosaic, Evernorth, Contrition, and Druid @ Amsterdam
Arcitic Monkeys with Fontaines D.C. @ Armory
A Piano in Every Home with Faith Boblett @ Aster Cafe
Demitri Rallis & Friends @ Bunkers
Wayne Anthony and the Ballare Orchestra @ Crooners
The Beatles Reimagined @ Crooners
Ann Hampton Callaway Sings The 70s @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Powderfinger (Neil Young Tribute) @ Driftwood
Velahasa and the Perv Glasses @ Driftwood
Pill Cutter and Temporal Riff @ Dusty's
All Women's Dance Party @ Eagles 34
New Rocket Union, French Irish Coalition, Supermodified @ Eagles 34
Shaun J. Wright with fluidtranquility @ Fine Line
Los Nuevos Reyes Del Reggaeton with DJ Cristian Baca @ First Avenue
Wild Lyre, Lazenlow, Aesha Minor @ Green Room
Heat Wave Summer Bash @ Icehouse
Blue Ox Jazz Quintet with Callum Schultz Quartet @ KJ’s Hideaway
Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Stoned Level X Muerte @ The Loft
REMIX with DJ JEN-E @ Palmer's
The Skatalites @ Parkway Theater
Sir Chloe with Lille Venn @ 7th St Entry
Becky Kapell @ Schooner Tavern
poptropicaslutz! with Sophie Powers, @ldrch and 6RIPS @ 7th St Entry
Keith Urban with Lindsay Ell @ State Fair Grandstand
Free & Easy @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
Naturally 7 @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge
Kiss the Tiger @ State Fair—Schell's Stage
Scott Clay, Trip Wire, Pandelion @ Terminal Bar
The Great Went, The Muatas, M.A.Y. @ 331 Club
The Body with Troller and Dead Times @ Turf Club
Joe Hysell, Joe Anderson, and Jeremy Johnson @ White Squirrel
Saturday Is Instrumental with Big Trouble @ White Squirrel
Linus with Losing Hope and Unattractive Giant Monster @ White Squirrel
Sunday, August 27
Greg Volker and the River (Video Release) @ Amsterdam
- All-American Rejects with New Found Glory, the Starting Line, and the Get Up Kids @ Armory—Sorry, but it is a pop-punk travesty that the Get Up Kids are billed fourth here. Behind the Starting Line even??
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
The Winans: Songs We Love @ Crooners
When I’m 64: Erin & Jay Cabaret Celebrate Jay’s Big Birthday Bash! @ Crooners
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Johnny Sincerely Orchestra @ Granada
Katey Belleville and Those SOBs @ Icehouse
Cole Diamond @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Church of Cornbread: Cornbread Harris and His Band @ Palmer's
Black Widows Open Mic @ Palmer's
Of The Orchard (EP Release) with Scalise and Dial Tone @ 7th St Entry
- Boyz II Men and Chaka Khan with Nunnabove @ State Fair Grandstand—Nostalgia has a way of flattening the subtleties of history. Last long enough and you’re an oldies act, whether you’ve been around for 20 years or 50. So while a pairing of Boyz II Men and Chaka Khan might seem a little anachronistically wack—the group debuted a full 18 years after Khan’s first single with the group Rufus—the hits from each will blend into a joyful soundtrack of days gone by. Softening new jack swing with sweet harmonies, Boyz II Men made superstardom possible for the gentrifying white boy bands to follow. Ms. Khan is a queen who has proven herself equally comfortable with jazz, disco, R&B, pop, and funk, and I guess I gotta mention the local angle: Prince not only wrote her biggest hit, “I Feel for You,” but signed her to NPG Records for a bit and brought her on tour in 2000. You’ll excuse me for being corny enough to say that there ain’t nobody does it better. (You may not excuse me for perving out on main, but can we just...) Promising local newcomers Nunnabove will open.
Free & Easy @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
Naturally 7 @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge
Kiss the Tiger @ State Fair—Schell's Stage
A-Mac & The Height with the Histronic and Dred I Dread @ Turf Club
In Lieu, Disaster Artist, Popstar, and Surly Grrly @ Underground Music Venue
St. Paul Songwriter Rounds @ White Squirrel
Monday, August 28
5 Seconds of Summer with Meet Me at the Altar @ Armory
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
World Music Monday @ Eagles 34
GWAR with Crobot and 200 Stab Wounds @ First Avenue
Alex Browne (August Residency) with Rawtwhylah and LA Buckner & Big Homie @ Icehouse
Retro Soul and the Westside Horns @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
- Happy Together Tour @ State Fair Grandstand—As always, the Turtles headline this nostalgia package tour, and, as always, fuck the Turtles. Flo and Eddie, the band's litigious core duo, tried their best to kill hip-hop in 1991, suing De La Soul and Tommy Boy Records over a looped sample from "You Showed Me." De La had used four bars from that old track on “Transmitting Live From Mars,” from their undisputed classic debut 3 Feet High and Rising. “This isn’t just a financial objection,” the Turtles' lawyer said at the time. “Flo and Eddie are genuinely upset with the way De La Soul chopped up and mutilated their song.” The two parties settled out of court for a reported $1.7 million, and that price tag helped scare hip-hop artists (and, more importantly, their labels) from using unlicensed sample, effectively ending the age of sample-heavy hip-hop collage albums. Trouble clearing samples for digital release also kept De La Soul's music off streaming services until this year; when they hit the web in March, fans old and new dove in to their peerless catalog. When's the last time you deliberately listened to a Turtles song?
ABBASolutely Fab @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
Drake Mulligan @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge
Heatbox @ State Fair—Schell's Stage
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Cowaoke with Ben Moooker @ Palmer's
Wave Chapelle with BLOOD $MOKE BODY, student 1, Spider Creek @ 7th St Entry
The Roe Family Singers @ 331 Club
Matt Arthur Contraption @ 331 Club
Portrayal of Guilt with GAG, Fearing and Wanderer @ Turf Club
