Taste Of Randolph Piles On The Sonic Flavor

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 17, 2011 3:30PM

The Taste of Randolph was one of the earliest street festivals to break out of booking lame-o cover bands and local crowd-pleasers in favor of bringing in world class talent. We remember seeing Spoon play there in the early aughts with a handful of other folks who were into them and a whole bunch of yuppies scratching their heads. A couple years later My Morning Jacket played to a sightly larger if no more comprehending crowd. Last year Superchunk played and gave one of the best performances we've ever seen from them.

While most street festivals now book the hip, the young and the indie bands, Taste of Randolph still has the power to surprise. Friday sees and appearance by British soul powerhouse The Heavy, a band we've long been a fan of, and who's recently started to break through to mainstream recognition via soundtracking a commercial starring a sock monkey. Saturday night is headlined by Swervedriver, one of the forefathers of that genre we call shoegaze, and a sure bet to fill the summer sky with sweet washes of fuzzed out, tripped out, glorious noise. And Sunday is closed out by The Reverend Horton Heat, who at this point we must admit is a bit of a nostalgia act but still puts on a fiery show worth seeing.

While the headliner show the fest's broad strokes some of the real pleasures are within the details of the daily music schedules. Local political agit-arena-rockers The Statutes of Liberty will probably initially confuse the crowd with their seventy kajillion members occupying the stage and running through the crowd, but we predict the bros and the punks will be fist-pumping side-by-side along to the group's anthem by set's end.

Sunday sees Mr. Russia in an afternoon slot and while their songs can be thuddig and moody in the confines of sweaty club walls we actually think they'll transition well and betray they pop underpinnings when exposed to the summer air. Later that day The 1900s make a rare local appearance, and while we were skeptical of the band in their earlier days, the group has finally started to grow into their potential leading both their songs and their shows to be truly satisfying affairs.

Amidst all this are a bunch of other bands, none of whom are "traditional" street fest fare, so you'll be well served to wander around and sample various sounds throughout the day. We will warn you ahead of time, while most fest's ask for a $5 donation at the gate, The Taste of Randolph is suggesting patrons fork over $10. While we admit that seems a little steep, we also know that we'd be willing to fork over ten bones for a show featuring any one of the featured acts over the weekend, so we're just going to view it as a bargain of a concert package deal.

The Taste of Randolph is June 17-19, on Randolph Street between Peoria Street and Racine Avenue, Friday 5 p.m. - 10 p.m., Saturday 12 p.m. - 10 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. - 10 p.m., $10 suggested donation