Watch the video: Star Tribune music critics Jon Bream and Chris Riemenschneider talk about the summer concert schedule in the Twin Cities.

Festivals, schmestivals. This spring, it seemed like all the news about summer concerts was bad: Live Nation's ambitious (and expensive) River's Edge Festival was put off for a year; so was First Avenue's would-be answer to Chicago's Pitchfork Fest. It's as if last year's abrupt cancellation of Somerset's SoundTown had made "festival" a dirty word locally.

Then came tour announcements by the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Jay-Z, Mumford & Sons and Black Sabbath — all without Minnesota stops. But hey, we've got Kenny Chesney for the second consecutive year at Target Field. How's that for diverse use of our publicly subsidized mega-venues?

Still, as we combed the concert calendar through Labor Day, we were pleasantly surprised to find plenty of cool or at least fresh trends to get us excited for the season.