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Summer Set Fest lands Passion Pit, Girl Talk, Big Gigantic

The second annual outdoor music bash at Somerset Amphitheater will feature the same unusual mix of dance, jam bands and rappers.

By Chris Riemenschneider

May 7, 2013 at 9:07PM

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit can get closer to the birds he sings like during this year's Summer Set festival. / Chad Bakta, Associated Press (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

An odd yet surprisingly successful amalgamation of electronic dance acts, jam bands and rappers in its first year, the Summer Set Camping & Music Festival might be even weirder and more popular the second time around. Collegiate dance-pop whiners Passion Pit, mash-up wiz Girl Talk, sax-and-drum duo Big Gigantic and Sound Tribe Sector 9 were announced today as the headliners of the three-day outdoor groove fest, scheduled Aug. 9-11 at Somerset Amphitheater in Somerset, Wis. (less than an hour from the Twin Cities).

Other acts on the lineup include rap vets Big Boi, Common and Blackalicious, DJs/producers Diplo and Alex Metric, EDM stars Adventure Club, Beats Antique and Digital Tape Machine, reggae legends the Wailers, plus a wide array of local favorites such as Dessa and Doomtree (playing separate sets), Poliça, Pert Near Sandstone and Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles.

With pee-wee hockey on hold, Somerset's hockey rink made a cool place for DJs. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Three-day passes start at $100 and go on sale today at 10 a.m. through Clubtix.com. Attendees have to be 16 years old – and based on last year's crowd, the average age won't be much older than that.

It proved to be a cleverly produced festival, though, with the amphitheater's neighboring hockey rink making for an unnaturally cool raver hub for the EDM acts. The refurbished amphitheater grounds also provided plenty of room for dancing, and the enlarged stage allowed for plenty of hi-fi sound and production. Here's our review that ran off Day 2 last year.

The event was launched by Chicago company React Presents -- which is behind the similarly hodgepodge North Coast fest -- and local EDM promoter Sounds in Motion. Attendance was 13,000-15,000 per day, which was about three times what Somerset Amphitheater's defunct SoundTown festival drew. With the postponement of Live Nation's much more expensively produced River's Edge in St. Paul also dimming this summer's outdoor concert calendar, Summer Set could certainly be even bigger this year.

Click here for more info. Here's a rundown of the other main acts in alphabetical order:

The scene at the big stage for Umphrey's McGee during last year's inaugural Summer Set festival. / Kyndell Harkness, Star Tribune (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.