SOLD OUT: Rock the Garden 2008

After two decades as the unassailable despot of Minneapolis's board of tourism, the Walker Sculpture Garden's Spoonbridge and Cherry is about to get some long overdue bench time. Assembled for a day of musical adventuring in one of our most precious public spaces is a lineup enticing enough to keep that dadaist behemoth backgrounded and out of focus. Recall your favorite Voltron episodes. Remember how the combined skills of each pilot powered that beloved, invulnerable colossus? So it is with this year's Rock the Garden bill. Local luminaries Cloud Cult will be joined by Chicago's Andrew Bird, Wisconsin's Bon Iver, and Vancouver's the New Pornographers (pictured) in an all-day exercise of musical camaraderie potent enough to eclipse even the most perplexing Lichtenstein sculpture. Would Cloud Cult's visionary auteur Craig Minowa be a more formidable frontman for Minneapolis's postcard industry? Bring your Kodak single-use and find out.
Sat., June 21, 4 p.m., 2008