4onthefloor turns on giant Lite-Brite at First Ave

They weren't the first local band this year to sell out First Avenue. Poliça accomplished that back in February. Pert Near Sandstone also packed the place a week earlier.

The 4onthefloor's debut had something that those other bands didn't, though: A vintage, Jumbotron-like light-bulb backdrop, which dwarfed the band onstage. The furry-faced foursome somehow crammed a giant Lite-Brite-like screen onto the stage behind them. Throughout Friday's 90-minute set, the backdrop flashed different patterns and images, part '70s roller-rink and part Madonna half-time show.

Fun stuff, but the really impressive display was at the front of the stage, where 4onthefloor's members played an unusually tight set with great purpose. You could tell this moment was big to them. After spending much of the winter and spring on tour, the band was ready for this one, a chance to show hometown fans the positive effects of hard touring. "I'm planning a homecoming show the day we get home from our next tour," frontman Gabriel Douglas promised the crowd. "I'm not gonna sit around Minnesota for two weeks waiting for this. I need this."

A sell-out is one thing, but keeping a packed crowd intensely involved for an entire show is another. They had the crowd singing/howling along to "Lionhearted" and "Junkie" at the start of the set as loudly as they did for "On Tuesdays" and "Undertow" near the end, and it was the rare rock show where folks actually danced on the dance floor.

Perhaps a subtle jab at Howler frontman Jordan Gatesmith (who claimed that our scene has been in a lull for the last 20 years in the same interview where he trashed 4otf), the band threw in two excellently chosen Minnesotan songs from the past decade: Retribution Gospel Choir's "Working Hard," followed later by Cloud Cult's "That Man Jumped Out a Window." The latter showed off more of a melodic, anthemic side that might be interesting to hear the band explore more in the future. It was still no match for the guttural, bluesy, slide-guitar throttling of "Workin' Man Zombie," though. Things got a little too bro-rock in the encore jam through Chicago's haze-dazed "I'm a Man," but by then the show only felt like a victory lap, anyway.

Chris Riemenschneider

Fun. drops Rubio reference

Apparently, fun. singer Nate Ruess meant what he said about last Friday's Twin Cities tour stop having been "circled on our calendar for months." For one thing, he told the sold-out crowd at Myth he's a big fan of Timberwolves star Ricky Rubio. "Who's Rick Rubio?" guitarist Jack Antonoff asked. Ruess rolled both his eyes and his R's as he responded with full Spanish inflection, "You mean Ricky Rubio!" Also, thanks to the capacity troubles at the Brick, the show at the more spacious Myth by default became the biggest concert on the "We Are Young" hitmakers' current tour. It was a big enough deal for Ruess' and Antonoff's dads to fly in for it. The musicians asked for the lights to be turned up so they could spot their pops from the stage. When they couldn't find them, Ruess quipped, "They probably stepped outside to smoke. Is it weird that my dad smokes weed and I don't?" Not weird at all in this case.

Chris Riemenschneider

Rock the Garden goes local

For this year's Rock the Garden concert, instead of one token Twin Cities band warming up for a bunch of out-of-towners, there will be four locally rooted groups and only one from points beyond. Announced Wednesday by the Current, the June 16 party outside Walker Art Center will feature (in order of appearance): Howler, tUnE-yArDs, Doomtree, Trampled by Turtles and the Hold Steady. It's the first year the event has expanded to five acts and featured a bona-fide hip-hop act. But the localness of it is really what's surprising.

The Hold Steady's New York zip code technically disqualifies them from being a Twin Cities band, but four of its five members put in time here, and two grew up here. Frontman Craig Finn actually attended last year's RTG as a fan and told us later that he had a blast (seed planted?). The band has been finishing off their next album, which they will undoubtedly preview in June.

Doomtree and Trampled were sort of no-brainers, especially for anyone who caught the palpable excitement at their recent sold-out First Ave gigs. Howler was another obvious option as the brand-new local band to pick, and the young lads' spitfire 30-minute set will be a good way to kick off the day.

That leaves Merrill Garbus' madcap sonic-collage of a group, tUnE-yArDs, as the odd band out. Of all the acts whose singles the Current has been incessantly spinning, the "Gangsta" makers are a wise choice.

Tickets went on sale to Walker Art Center and Minnesota Public Radio members on Wednesday (members should have received an e-mail with a code). They're $49, with profits going toward the Walker and the Current. Last year's 10,000 or so RTG tickets sold out in one day, before they could go on sale to the general public. It would be impressive for the local scene if that happens again this year.

Chris Riemenschneider

Jordis Unga eliminated from 'The Voice'

After years of looking for another shot in Los Angeles, Twin Cities singer Jordis Unga was sent home "instantaneously" from NBC's "The Voice" on Monday. The Forest Lake native fell victim to a new twist on the series, the so-called "Instantaneous Elimination."

Host Carson Daly revealed the new process as if he were unlocking Al Capone's vault: One member of each team would be cut from the show by their judges before the TV-viewing public had a chance to vote. Blake Shelton chose Unga after she went out on a limb and sang a sweet, weepy version of country starlet Sara Evans' "A Little Bit Stronger." Shelton and the other coaches acted blown away by Unga's prior performance, a powerful rendition of Heart's "Alone" that was more her rocker style.

Unga made it much farther in her prior TV music competition, CBS's 2005 series "Rock Star: INXS," in which she placed fifth. In the years between, she "went through the wringer" trying to see a couple of different record deals come to fruition, to no avail. The "Team Jordis" page on Facebook noted the elimination with a note that urged fans to download her pre-recorded version of "A Little Bit Stronger" on iTunes. "This is not the end of the road for Jordis ... it's the beginning," it read.

Chris Riemenschneider

Wilde Roast adding bar

Where's the gelato counter at Wilde Roast Cafe?! Calm down, it simply moved across the entryway. In its old spot is something even better: a shiny new bar. By early May, the Wilde Roast will have a full liquor license. They're putting the finishing touches on the black granite bar, which will have eight all-local tap beers and a cocktail program. Co-owner Dean Schlaak said he's looking to hire a mixologist to put a spin on some Prohibition-era drinks. "We call them 'Wilde' versions of the classics," he said.

Schlaak is hoping to start serving from the new bar by May 8 or 9. Wilde Roast will stay open later on weekends (probably midnight). The cafe will also debut a revamped food menu, adding pastas. The full gelato counter will be up and running around that time, too.

Wild Roast moved into its new, much larger location last summer. With the new bar, will they tweak the name to Wilde Roast Cafe & Bar? "I hadn't really thought about that," Schlaak said. "But I suppose we should add something so we can get the word out."

Tom Horgen

Overheard at the film fest

Choice quotes from the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film festival kickoff party at Aster Cafe on April 12:

"We're hoping that over the next couple of years we're going to take this festival to a level it's never been at before. Hopefully if not Toronto [North America's largest], we want to make it the next best thing. We're hopeful we're going to have an organization that will match some of the better festivals in the country." -- Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, a board member of the Film Society of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

"I showed my film at the Telluride Film Festival, the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam and the Palm Springs Film Festival. I've been treated so well here. I loved 'Fargo,' but I'm not meeting those people. That must be the twin city, right?" -- Los Angeles filmmaker Shannah Laumeister, director of the documentary "Bert Stern, Original Madman."

"I'm excited that this festival has a lot of films I haven't seen yet and I've been to a lot of festivals this year and last year. I'm going to be talking about it with other filmmakers when I get back to New York. I want to be a liaison to other filmmakers who ought to bring their work here. I made a romantic drama called 'Polliwogs' here in October, a thoroughly Minnesota movie that I hope to show here for a Minnesota audience next year. Minnesotans have a sense of nationalism for the state that's not like anything you see outside of Texas." -- First-time fest visitor and Hibbing native Karl Jacob.