Recap and photos: Phantogram, Lucius, Now, Now take over the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand
September 03, 2017
It's not every show performers munch on Sweet Martha's cookies onstage. Or shout out a 1500-pound hog named Rocky, or ask First Avenue for the star just over from Prince's (Lucius, Lucius, and Phantogram, if you were wondering). Only at the Minnesota State Fair. On Saturday, The Current brought upstate New York duo Phantogram, Brooklyn band Lucius, and locals Now, Now to the Grandstand for Music-On-A-Stick 2017.
Phantogram -- Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter, plus a drummer and a keyboardist live -- brought hits from all Three of their albums and their Nightlife EP, including "Mouthful of Diamonds," "Howling At The Moon," "Don't Move," and "You Don't Get Me High Anymore." If you were at their recent Palace Theatre show, you have an idea how it went, but seeing the small band on such a huge Fair stage provided a walloping sense of scale. Being booked at the Grandstand meant a lot, considering they played their first local show at the 7th St Entry, as Barthel remembered.
Lucius stole the night with music from Wildewoman (2013), Good Grief (2016), and beyond. They're arty -- check the matching velvet dusters and precise handle on dynamics for proof -- but they rock so hard that the crowd felt comfortable dancing along. Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, co-frontwomen, flung their hair as they jumped to "Genevieve"; they also brought out local duo the Cactus Blossoms to reprise their cover of the Drifters' "Save The Last Dance" from the State Capitol #MicroShow they did in town. Earlier on, their Whitney Houston interpolation -- a chorus from "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" during "Turn It Around" -- was a sweet, sweet bonus.
Indie rock band Now, Now -- drummer Brad Hale and lead vocalist/guitarist KC Dalager, joined by Jef Sundquist and Danny O'Brien live -- opened the show with a handful of older tracks and a trio of songs from their new, unreleased album (hear single "SGL" here). "I feel like I've been trying not to get emotional," Dalager said to the friends-and-family-flush crowd. "You're not making it easy."
