They had gone different routes with their hair, facial and on the head, but these two performers still can rock the look, bringing it to Somerset on Friday evening.
This might, also, be role reversal, but country crooner Willie Nelson is the headliner and singer Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame is the opening act, playing with Alison Krauss across the big stage. Trampled by Turtles is also on the bill.
These days, Plant has his curly locks kept as long as ever, and he can be a bit scruffy with the facial hair. Nelson by contrast, now has in most cases his beard fit and trimmed and carefully coiffed, even looking respectable. That’s a tall order for a festival calling itself the outlaw variety. My mom of all people, was told by one of her nieces that RE: The Relatively Older Willie, he could be a lookalike for her, or is it the other way around? The other older and maybe wiser niece has not chimed in. (I must say that the new look Willie’s beard is just like mine, as it is today, rather than MY outlaw days, so to speak, of a few years back.)
— For another event of this and many former seasons, with origins of almost three decades ago, see Picks of the Week. And also, marking the end to fighting another ending that too often crops up, there in a motorcycle rally on Saturday that raises funds for suicide awareness. This is announced as the last installment of this annual event. Kickstands up starting an noon, and ride the rally through 5 p.m. It starts and ends at Mel’s Downtowner in River Falls, and all vehicles are welcome to ride. Even that old Pinto. OK, this is not a joking matter, so I should not make it so. Bad (joke) Joe. Even though the ride ends its run today, donations will continue to be accepted. This series of events was spurred by a lovely young local woman who took her life a few years ago. —
The show gets underway at 3:30 p.m. and is at the “natural” amphitheater, which seems fitting. Also that way is the fact that a madcap drummer friend and fiend of mine, who had gone on world tours back in the day, saw a pop-up performance by Plant when he also went country at an intimate show up near St. Croix Falls.
Other shows were hawked, even moreso, on the local bulletin boards at various nightspots and the like. They also are a dichotomy, as they range far east and west from the St. Croix Valley. But we have you covered with our coverage as per this review. Weather remained seasonable, not much more than in the 70s and a light breeze, and the rain held off, so these mega-bills with scores of bands playing all day were well attended when the events were held last Saturday. (I deemed this too far afield for a preview, just that if you looked hard enough at places like Ziggy’s that have their own bands, there was the old 8.5-by-11 page on the bulletin board.
First up, all the way over in Marion on the other side of Wisconsin, where I used to live, there was a bill with really cool band names, Polar Alchemy, Lo-Fi Killers who just have a have a creative approach to their sound, Shovel Head, Fallen … This was dubbed the Fett Fest, and that surname is kinda big down that way, and it was BYOB, apologies to System of a Down. Hey this played well in the heart of Badger Beer Country, for obvious reasons.
Take you back the other way to St. Paul and the Payne Avenue Fest, with a full 25-band lineup, too many to list. Again the cool name, as in a main sponsor, that being Caydence Records. You could see this late-breaker announced on the door of one of the newest shops in downtown Hudson, just in the nick of time after their opening.