If you're a fairhead, there's plenty of live music to check out (free and very much not free) on the 'grounds. For the free stages, I only listed the headliners, so check the State Fair website for more. And if you're fair-averse, there's plenty here for you too.
Tuesday, August 20
International Reggae All-Stars @ Bunker's
Oyster World, Monsoon, Mullet, Malamiko @ Cloudland
Steve Earle with Shannon McNally @ Dakota
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Coax from Chuckanut @ Father Hennepin Bluff Park
- Built to Spill with Floating Witch’s Head and Rich Mattson and the Northstars @ First Avenue—On this tour, Boise lifer Doug Martsch and his latest rhythm section celebrate the 30th anniversary of There’s Nothing Wrong With Love, Built to Spill’s justifiably celebrated breakthrough album. It’s an album of lysergic epiphanies recalled with clear-eyed sobriety, offhand melodies casually backed into, and reedy yearning that never whines. Plus it gave us one of the greatest single lines of the late 20th century: “If I don’t die or worse I’m gonna need a nap.” You don’t necessarily go see BTS (confusing abbreviation now, huh?) for specific songs—you go to hear Doug play guitar, and these old cuts will certainly get beefed up live. After all, no indie rocker made more of their Neil Young fandom in the ’90s than Martsch. (And believe me, 30 years ago lots of indie rockers took a crack at it.) OK, maybe J Mascis. But Martsch has better tunes.
League Two (August Residency) with Beemer, Shrimp Olympics, Jest @ Green Room
Explosion Big Band @ Jazz Central
River City Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Chris Davies & The Afterparty (Single Release) with Thomas Sticha @ Parkway
Conquer Divide with ENMY and Odds of an Afterthought @ 7th St Entry
Jhené Aiko, Cot Leray, Tink, Kiana Ledé and Umi @ Target Center
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Worker’s Playtime: Dan Israel @ 331 Club
August Conspiracy Series featuring Ruby Blu & Debbie Briggs @ 331 Club
King Buzzo & Trevor Dunn with JD Pinkus @ Turf Club
Wednesday, August 21
Shady Baby's Open Mic @ Acadia
Dad Bod, Orua, Celica @ Cloudland
Gigi the Ukalady @ The Commons
Buddy Holly: Oh Boy @ Crooners
Steve Earle with Shannon McNally @ Dakota
Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Bilmuri with Driveways @ Fine Line
Old Gods of Appalachia @ Fitzgerald Theater
Open Mic with Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffeehouse
JCS Creative Collaborations @ Jazz Central
Flamenco X Ensemble @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Brass Messengers @ Loring Park
School of Rock @ Marjorie McNeely Conservatory
Hip-Hop State Fair Pre-Party @ Modist
The Ineffable Residency of Josh & Ivy @ Mortimer's
Nothin 2 Lose, Father Melissa, Uh Uh Uh @ Pilllar Forum
Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern
TWINE and Dream Of The Wild with KG4 @ 7th St Entry
Breaker's Paradise @ Terminal Bar
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Flatwound @ 331 Club
Said in Stone, Hemma + John Cushing @ 331 Club
Dilly Dally Alley (Album Release) with The Nunnery, room3, and Fend @ Turf Club
Silent Halo, Super Hecking Valid, Witch Syndicate @ Underground Music Venue
The St. Paul Mudsteppers @ White Squirrel
Handsome Traveler with Chandlers House, Ozibattler @ White Squirrel
Anvil with Olathia and Pulsifier @ Zhora Darling
Thursday, August 22
Billy Gleason, Pearl Parkway, & The Rumor @ Amsterdam
Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker's
Marsgarb, Crystal Myslajek, the Nunnery @ Cloudland
A Tribute to Bill Evans with The Phil Aaron Trio @ Crooners
Matcha Fever, In2ition, B n' the Spice Cabinet @ Day Block Brewing
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Brett Dennen with Ethan Regan @ Fine Line
Snapped: Live Band Open Mic @ Green Room
Red Hot Django Peppers @ Hook and Ladder
Ponyfolk with St. Anthony Mann & Val Son @ Icehouse
Salsa del Soul with Tropical Zone Orchestra @ Mears Park
RuDeGiRL @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Drums of Navarone @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Smiling Cowboys @ Minnesota Music Cafe
The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's
Quiet Winter, PRGRPHS, Not Yet All Things, The Light in the Ocean @ Pilllar Forum
Fractal Geometry 3.0 @ Red Sea
Edie Rae Band, Tiny Traces @ Schooner Tavern
Paul Spring with We Are The Willows and Adelyn Strei @ 7th St Entry
Becky G with Los Aptos @ State Fair Grandstand
The 70’s Magic Sunshine Band @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
Phil Vassar @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge Bandshell Stage
Tina Schlieske & Friends @ State Fair—Schell's Stage at Schilling Amphitheater
- Kiss the Tiger @ Surly Brewing—File this one under: neat! Doomtree’s Lazerbeak has been curating a free weekly live and local music series all summer long at Surly, and this installment features wild rock ‘n’ rollers Kiss the Tiger, who you may remember from this Racket profile. (Savvy readers may have also spotted our low-key Summer of Sound hyping each week in Freeloader Friday.) Our highbrow, Greil Marcusian critical assessment of KtT? Frontwoman Meghan Kreidler & Co. rock. The Summer of Sound series concludes next Thursday with twangy indie rockers Keep for Cheap.—Jay Boller
The Matt Arthur Contraption (Album Release) @ 331 Club
Friday, August 23
Wes Hoffman and Friends @ Acadia
Filth, Evernorth, Neck Wrung @ Amsterdam
The Gated Community + Paperbacks @ Aster Cafe
BEAU WANZER X SHARLESE X ANDREW WOOD X BANKIE PHONES @ Beast Barbecue
Some Shitty Cover Band @ Bunkers
The Stonedest, Adult Video, Can’t Cope @ Caydence Records & Coffee
Neo Neos, Hot Press, Cloud Cutter @ Cloudland
Hybrid Guitar Inventions @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Geoff Jones and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
The Confused, Tarias and the Sound, Willow @ Day Block Brewing
Miss Shannon's 4th Friday Sock Hop with the Rockin' Hep Cats @ Eagles 34
Mary Bue, Brass Duo Vecchio, the Twins of Franklin @ 50th & France
Zeta Grl, Murphy Smith, Venus Yevu, and Mira Babal @ The Garage
Late Night Take Out @ Green Room
Afropiano and Beyond with DJ K-Little and VDJ 2Much @ Hook and Ladder
AFROMATIC ft Obi Original, Mack Oc, Tolzysound, Dj Keyz @ Icehouse
Glycerin Tears @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Scott Liebers @ Minnehaha Bandstand
Funktion Junction @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Crystal Sky 2024 @ Minnesota River Valley Sanctuary
- P.O.S, Dwynell Roland, Casey Gerald @ Pilllar Forum—So, this is the first P.O.S show since before the pandemic and the Great Minneapolis Music Twitter Reckoning, is it not?
New Feral Cats @ Schooner Tavern
Colin Bracewell, Social Cig, Dial Tone, and Harlow @ 7th St Entry
- Chance the Rapper @ State Fair Grandstand—This year’s Grandstand lineup is solid if not especially remarkable. Erstwhile teenpopper Becky G put out a very nice regional Mexican album last year. Ludacris and T-Pain will make for a fun twofer. Matchbox Twenty recorded more good songs than the Goo Goo Dolls and the Counting Crows combined. Obligatory country act Blake Shelton feels even more obligatory than usual. I’m neutral on throwback balladeer Stephen Sanchez. Mötley Crüe’s retirement is long överdüe. Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman of the Turtles killed hip-hop. And then there’s Chance. Rap’s gleaming beacon became an unfair backlash target in 2019 when he released The Big Day, a sweet if sprawling album about getting married that rubbed a bunch of cynics the wrong way. And after all that, the marriage didn't work out. His latest single "3333" suggests that he's at the "taking stock" stage of his career—the number refers to how many tickets he sold for this show and lyrics include this paraphrased quote from his agent “The venue holds 14,000, at this point you should probably think of pulling out.” So, uh, I assume seats are still available.
The 70’s Magic Sunshine Band @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
Phil Vassar @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge Bandshell Stage
Tina Schlieske & Friends @ State Fair—Schell's Stage at Schilling Amphitheater
JoJo Green, Red Eye Ruby, Dani Erin @ 331 Club
jjuujjuu with Good Doom and Van Glow Light Show @ Turf Club
Sheebie with Oceanographer & Cannabis Kiss @ Underground Music Venue
THE BASS FILES: CROMATIK, KAUSE, SCAFETTA @ Uptown VFW
Northern Hammer, Living Through Ghosts, Lord Hammer @ White Rock Lounge
Lords Of The Universe with Deep Fakes @ White Squirrel
Rachel Holder's 40th Birthday Extravagance @ Woman's Club of Minneapolis
Boots and Needles with Kinda Fonda Wanda and The 241s @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, August 24
Lindsey Stirling with Walk off the Earth @ Armory
Jeremy Walker Solo Piano @ Berlin
Pat Keen (Album Release) @ Berlin
MIkel Wright & the Wrongs, Stringdingers @ Bunkers
The Atomic Playboys & No Limits The B-Side Band @ Cabooze
Cannabis Kiss, Mommy Log Balls, Burrow, and Small Animal Hospital @ Can Can Wonderland
Ray Gun Youth, BIG INTO, Being a Satellite @ Caydence Records & Coffee
Bob Schneider with Fathom Lane @ Cedar Cultural Center
Billy McLaughlin & Nathan Wilson @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Geoff Jones with Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Heliocene, Dystopian Dispatch, and the Green Line Quintet @ Dusty's
OPEN, Hush Victoria, Black Widows, Couch Potato Massacre @ Eagles 34
2 Burn Vault, My Kid Banana, RudeGirl, The Saboteurs, Cretin Avenue Hop @ Eagles 34
Kachunga Presents Choices @ 56 Brewing
PFR with Matthew Perryman Jones @ Fine Line
Gimme Gimme Disco @ First Avenue
Ecphasis, Kalopsya, Prismic Eye, Touch of Malice @ The Garage
Goth Prom XVII: Resurgence @ Granada
St. George's Folly @ Green Room
kLL sMTH & Friends + a special gRLL sMTH Cookout @ Hook and Ladder
Jerryapolis: An Evening of Grateful Dead @ Icehouse
Thomas Strommen @ Jazz Central
Cyclops, Blurrd Vzn @ The Loft
The Roxxy Hall Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Loss Leader, The Slow Death, Powerdam, Couch Potato Massacre and Atomic Lights @ Palmer's
Ray Covington @ Papa Legba Lounge
We've Got You Covered @ Parkway
August DJ Dance Ride with Jen Symmetry and Jake Encinas @ Perennial Cycle
SOL, Ruman Beck, Nastradme, Brynn Battani @ Pilllar Forum
Enigma: Kema, Moreitt, Akko @ Red Sea
Mark Cameron Band @ Schooner Tavern
American Scarecrows with James Eugene Russell & His Enablers and The Evening Rig @ 7th St Entry
Tropical Zone Orchestra @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
Maggie Rose @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge Bandshell Stage
Mae Simpson @ State Fair—Schell's Stage at Schilling Amphitheater
Duck Bomb, Justin Formico, Robert Dixon @ Terminal Bar
Afflatus, Canary Room, Fairy Boat @ 331 Club
- Scrunchies (Album Release) with In Lieu and Mary Jam @ Turf Club—Scrunchies recorded their new album Colossal in Chicago with last October with Steve Albini, and it's marked by the crisp analog style that the producer defined. The latest single "Generator" builds up from an unaccompanied low end from new bassist Jeremy Walden (ex-Double Grave); throughout drummer Danielle Cusack's enthusiastic backup shouts create a dynamic tension with guitarist Laura Larson's lead vocals. Exciting stuff.
Portside Dive with Wes Hoffman + Friends @ Underground Music Venue
Nox Novacula, E.T., Cult Sequence @ Uptown VFW
Tanzklub. Vol. 1. feat. Dr. Traxuit + Skyle King @ Uptown VFW
- Zach Bryan @ U.S. Bank Stadium—I didn’t begrudge the fame this Oklahoma-born Navy vet turned self-made troubadour’s 34-track breakthrough American Heartbreak brought him, but I wasn’t exactly eager to pan for gold in what I heard as “two hours of melodically ambient and vulnerably macho country-folk.” But Bryan muscled past my reservations last year with his self-titled album, 16 songs trimmed down to less than an hour, with a full band kicking him in the ass. He’s a better storyteller and journalist than most fatalists, and aside from his thoughts on that “Oklahoma Smokeshow” whose “big dreams” will be killed by the “small town” (jeez bro, just let the girl have a few drinks and get laid, wontcha?), the women he sings about sound like real people he’d like to understand. I'm less enthused by this year's The Great American Bar Scene, Springsteen cameo/cosign or no. But Bryan projects an epic decency and non-toxic masculinity without hiding his shortcomings, and I’m looking forward to hearing how this connects with a football stadium full of believers. I’ll admit it, though—I still wish he’d lighten up some.
Laura Hickli with Silversmith @ White Squirrel
Mississippi Valley Orchestra Crewtet @ White Squirrel
The Customers with Velhasa, The Reach Outs @ White Squirrel
Little Fevers with Elour and Paul Cerar @ Zhora Darling
Prize Horse with Lockstep and Sleepwalk @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, August 25
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
TSR Time (feat. Robert Lehmann, DeCarlo Jackson, and Zak Khan) @ Berlin
1971: The Beat Goes On with Erin Schwab and Jay Fuchs @ Crooners
Lila Ammons Jazz Group @ Crooners
Obi Original’s Black Atlantics Meets Room3 @ Dakota
Drew Cagle & the Reputation @ Day Block Brewing
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
DayFunk - Day Time House Music Party : Lego! @ Eat Street Crossing
Sparky @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
St. Louis Park Community Band @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
Pete Snell Quartet @ Metronome Brewing
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer's
West Bank Social Club @ Palmer's
Esmé Patterson with Laura Hugo @ 7th St Entry
Blake Shelton with Emily Ann Roberts @ State Fair Grandstand
Tropical Zone Orchestra @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
Maggie Rose @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge Bandshell Stage
Mae Simpson @ State Fair—Schell's Stage at Schilling Amphitheater
The Real Chuck NORAD @ 331 Club
Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper @ Xcel Energy Center
Monday, August 26
T. Mychael Rambo & Kevin Kling @ Dakota
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Other Country Ensemble @ Eagles 34
deVon Gray: Jazz Implosion Mondays @ Icehouse
Necessary Diversion @ Lake Harriet Bandshell
MN Hard Bop Collective @ Metronome
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
The Pentagram String Band with Jaw Knee Vee and The Right Here @ 7th St Entry
PopROCKS @ State Fair—International Bazaar Stage
The War & Treaty @ State Fair—Leinie Lodge Bandshell Stage
L.A. Buckner with BIG HOMiE @ State Fair—Schell's Stage at Schilling Amphitheater
Oxygen Destroyer @ Underground Music Venue
The Dans with Dan Neale, Dan Schwalbe & Dan Gaarder @ White Squirrel
Lord Jeremy Presents: Wedding Brawlers with CHUB @ White Squirrel
