Sort of a reboot of last year's unique Bayfront double-bill with Atmosphere and the previous summer's Rock the Garden lineup, Trampled by Turtles will pair up with Doomtree for another unlikely melding of bluegrassy acoustic folk-rock and spazzy electronic hip-hop at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth on June 28. Hometown favorites Low and Haley Bonar, who got her start in the Twin Ports music scene, will also perform at the outdoor show. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon for $25 via eTix.com, or in person at First Avenue outlets.
Last year's First Avenue-promoted Bayfront gig with Atmosphere and Trampled (on the same weekend as this year's) was a smash success, drawing 9,000 fans – the biggest crowd either of the Minnesota groups has played to in Duluth. By comparison, the big Americanarama bill with Bob Dylan, Wilco and My Morning Jacket that came a couple weeks later to Bayfront only drew about 7,000.
Trampled and Doomtree also performed together on the all-Minnesota-rooted Rock the Garden lineup in 2012, and fans didn't seem to suffer any sort of musical whiplash transitioning from "Bangarang" to "Wait So Long." The show will serve as a hometown release party of sorts for TBT's latest album, "Wild Animals," which arrives July 15. They're not scheduled to play in Minnesota after that until their big Palomino Festival at Canterbury Park in Shakopee on Sept. 20.
On the Doomtree front, the Bayfront show and a Moorhead gig a night earlier (also with Trampled) will be the group's first gigs since December's Blowout shows, and possibly P.O.S.' first performance since his kidney transplant in February.
Our favorite outdoor venue in Minnesota, the harborside Bayfront Park amphitheater only has one other big show confirmed on the summer calendar so far, the 26th annual Bayfront Blues Festival Aug. 8-10 with Robert Randolph & the Family Band and Los Lonely Boys.
