There wasn’t much to complain about at this year’s Rock the Garden. The skies gave us a go ahead by clearing up just in time for the show, the “goat path” stayed in place leading to easy movement up and down the hill, the food offerings were delicious, and the bands all seemed happy to be there and gave it their all.
Oh, and the Mayor once again proved that he knows what it takes to be awesome on Twitter.
Every garden needs a little rain.I’m ready to rock #RockTheGarden @walkerartcenter
— Mayor R.T. Rybak (@MayorRTRybak) June 16, 2012
Here’s a round-up of some of your tweets:
SEXY ASS SAX #RockTheGarden twitter.com/sparklybling/s…
— Lena Zinkl (@sparklybling) June 16, 2012
#RockTheGarden it’s @DOOMTREE watching @tuneyards with mouths open and loving it – just like we all are. twitter.com/jmcgnn/status/…
— jmcgnn (@jmcgnn) June 16, 2012
Here’s to my brain scattered across the grass of the walker after doomtree’s set. #rockthegarden
— Chris Hammerly (@Ham_aka_Jambon) June 16, 2012
Cutest baby located at @RockTheGarden#rockthegarden twitter.com/Mezzic/status/…
— Mezzic (@Mezzic) June 17, 2012
Waiting for @tbtduluth‘s hands to start on fire given their fast guitar playing. Holy balls! #rockthegarden twitter.com/danvogues/stat…
— Dan Vogel (@danvogues) June 17, 2012
My ears are living the dream! Trampled by Turtles – oh yeah. @tbtduluth #rockthegarden
— SandyBF (@its_sbf) June 17, 2012
Is it possible to be both Mayor and a roadie for @tbtduluth? #LoveTheaeGuys #RockTheGarden
— Mayor R.T. Rybak (@MayorRTRybak) June 17, 2012
As Craig Finn just said.. Nothing beats a Minneapolis summer night like this. #RockTheGarden
— Brandon Dominguez (@BADominguez) June 17, 2012
We departed from our bodies. #RockTheGarden
— Mac Wilson (@cinatyte) June 17, 2012
(More of those tweets plus photos can be found right here on Storify.)
Reviews:
“Reverence for the Twin Cities music scene was in overflowing supply during the 2012 running of Rock the Garden.” City Pages‘ Gimme Noise blog review every band and also reports on the number of mosquito bites the reporter received during the show: 3. (There were mosquitoes out?)
During the show, Local Current’s Andrea Swensson wrote a play-by-play of every band’s performance, including posting their set lists.
Rock the Garden a city unto itself: Star Tribune’s Chris Riemenschneider says that we were “daring” by changing up the formula by including so many local bands, and says this is why: “A punky hip-hop group — the first rappers ever booked at RTG — going on before a bluegrassy string band, both following an Afrobeat-influenced experimental group, with two straight-up, guitar-heavy rock bands for the opener and headliner. That’s how widely Saturday’s RTG lineup reached.”
Rose City Live admits they were watching the #rockthegarden tag all day long.
METRO finishes off their review saying, “No, Minnesota is not the center of the musical universe. But on this afternoon, at this venue, it seemed pretty close.”
Cake in 15 wants us to expand our drink selection and has a fantastic animated gif of Sims really, really moving.
Photo round-ups:
First of all, thanks to everybody who posted their photos and stories on our Rock the Garden wall! We love having them there.
City Pages‘ 1, 2, 3 punch: animated GIFs, bands, and people.
Three opportunities to find yourself in the Current’s interactive superzoom crowd photos taken from the VIP Skybox, press pit, and the top of the hill.
Rose City Live’s Stuart Wainstock’s set on Flickr.
Secrets of the City has a nice photo round-up of bands and happy concert-going couples.
Ryan Siverson has a gallery of 120 photos, including lots of shots of each band.
How Was The Show’s album showcases Craig Finn’s expressive faces.
We are still awaiting Vita.MN’s photobooth album, until then, here is their set of festival shots.
Leslie Plessner of shuttersmack‘s set of beautiful close-up shots, called out on Twitter as the “best photos I’ve seen so far from #rockthegarden” (@cleverkate.)
The Current also offers some behind-the-scenes photos from set-up before the gates opened.
KARE 11 and their photo gallery from the press pit.
Heavy Table devotes the first half of their photo set to the food, naturally.
One thing is missing from these photo sets: where are your fashion recaps? As predicted in our Rock the Garden Bingo game–
–we saw all of these, and yes, sometimes by standing in one spot. Congrats to @moonsweetie, our winner!
Are we missing something? Let us know in the comments below.
PS: Totally feel you on this one:
I can’t find a single missed connection from #RockTheGarden what is this garbage
— Hannah Burchill (@brrrchill) June 18, 2012
And also, the beautiful annual Rock the Garden time-lapse video is in, set to Trampled by Turtles’ “Alone”: