North Side
The Rare Occasions – performing at 11pm at the TD Community Stage at the Artsquest Center
Ranging from post-rock to classic pop/rock, these guys can go from manic energy as on “Dysphoric” to a more traditional pop sound, as on their 2013 song “Battin’ Lashes“.
South Side
The Middle Ground – performing on Main Street at 6pm
A perfect blend of alt rock, a classic Nashville sound, the likes of which launched the Kings of Leon to stardom, The Middle Ground may be a bit vanilla for some, but also could be just right for some Friday night tunes.
Karikatura – performing at Volksplatz at 7pm
With vocals that are Dispatch-like and instrumentals that are rooted in Latino/World-pop, this quintet seems like a fun set that will deliver some nice musical fusion.
Living Vines – performing at Handwerkplatz at 7:30pm
Alright, so these things are kind of weird as hell. People dressed up in leaf suits bending weird ways and wandering around…but…it looks interesting if a bit creepy. Hopefully the don’t go all Harry Potter on your ass.
Low Cut Connie – performing at Volksplatz at 9pm
I love basically everything about this band. They’re literally on President Obama’s handpicked summer playlist from last year. Jack White likes them. They’re the kind of lively raucous band that you could see burning down a place like The Funhouse. In fact, one of their songs, Boozophilia (named a top 50 song by Rolling Stone in 2012) was named after the lead singer’s love of all things dive bar. This is sure to be the most fun show of the night and the perfect way to kick off Muskiest after downing a few mugs.