In a bid for post-rap-rock relevance, LinkinPark
downplayed the role of rapper Mike Shinoda on their most recent album. A year
later, however, Denver
upstarts Flobots stormed modern-rock radio playlists by doing just the
opposite, delivering “Handlebars,” a single built around monotone,
Shinoda-esque raps. Nobody will mistake the Flobots emcees as the next coming
of Rakim—if anything, their launch-pad-flat verses evoke Cake’s John McCrea—but
unlike so many alternative-rock bands that play hip-hop for novelty, at least
they seem to have a genuine love for the genre to complement their incisive
hooks. Flobots headline the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage at 10 p.m. tonight.
Perenial Summerfest headliners Rusted Root—part of a crop of
positive, feel-good jam bands to crossover to mainstream radio in the ’90s,
when the current jam scene was just beginning to emerge—return to the Big Gig
tonight to play the Miller Lite Oasis at 10 p.m.
Sevendust, a hard-rock band with a string of hot singles
(most recently “Driven”) headline the Zippo Rock Stage at 10 p.m.
Not to be confused with the British Pink Floyd tribute band
of the same name, America’s
nine-piece Think Floyd aims to recreate the experience of a classic Pink Floyd
concert, so they make ample use of lasers and light shows. Their shows can
clock in at nearly three hours, but they keep their set lists a mystery.
Sometimes they cover entire albums, sometimes they cull relative rarities from
the Floyd vault. They headline the M&I Classic Rock Stage at 10 p.m.
tonight.
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