The Twin Cities' biggest summer music festival, Soundset, could get even bigger this year, thanks to a new location and a newly announced lineup loaded with some big names.
Two of the hottest names in hip-hop right now, ASAP Rocky and Future, will head up the Soundset 2016 schedule on May 29 along with two long-beloved pioneers not seen locally in years, the Roots and Common. They will join hosting hometown headliners Atmosphere and other local favorites Lizzo, Prof and Doomtree at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, where the ninth annual daylong rap marathon is moving due to redevelopment at its longtime location outside Canterbury Park.
Other acts due in town for the big show include Machine Gun Kelly, Danny Brown, Jay Rock, Post Malone, Paak & the Free Nationals and repeat Soundset players Murs, Blueprint and Aesop Rock (the latter performing in the duo Lice with Homeboy Sandman). Some of the other locals on the schedule are veteran MCs I Self Devine and Muja Messiah (performing their "9th House" album), plus rising stars Baby Shel, Finding Novyon and Lexii Alijai.
Tickets will be $68 general-admission or $150 for VIP. They go on sale Friday at 11 a.m. through www.tickets.frontgatetickets.com or in person at Fifth Element record store in Uptown. Rhymesayers Entertainment, the hosting hometown hip-hop label, will float some pre-sale offers via their promotional channels earlier this week.
It's not yet clear exactly how many fans can be accommodated at the fairgrounds, but organizers expect there to be room for at least 30,000, same as the number held in the field outside Canterbury Park. The festival sold out days in advance at that location in recent years, including last year's chilly and rainy but still rowdy go-round. There certainly seems to be enough demand to up the size.
At the fairgrounds, the stages will be set up in the fair's general Midway area. That's because the grandstand isn't big enough to hold the event. Public transportation and parental pick-up/drop-off access will also be more plentiful at the new location, as it was the inaugural year of Soundset in 2008, when it was held outside the Metrodome.
After his recent collaborations with Drake, Atlanta rapper Future (Nayvadius Wilburn) shot to No. 1 in Billboard last month with the release of his fourth album, "EVOL." Harlem native ASAP Rocky (Rakim Mayers) also landed the top spot on the album charts with each of his two full-length LPs and crossed over into the Top 40 realm last year as the featured guest on Selena Gomez's single "Good for You."
As for the older dudes, the Roots and Common each used to regularly perform in town before they up and decided to become TV professionals -- the Roots, of course, as Jimmy Fallon's late-night house band and Common as an actor on the AMC show "Hell on Wheels" (not to mention his acting stints in movies like "Selma"). The Roots, in particular, haven't performed in Minnesota since 2008.
Here's the full Soundset 2016 lineup announced today:
Atmosphere, A$AP Rocky, Future, The Roots, Common, Prof, Doomtree (P.O.S + Dessa + Sims + Cecil Otter + Mike Mictlan + Paper Tiger + Lazerbeak), Machine Gun Kelly, Danny Brown, Lizzo, Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman (Lice), Jay Rock, Post Malone, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Raury, Murs & 9th Wonder, Pharoahe Monch, Mick Jenkins, Goldlink, Pouya, Crazy Legs / Rock Steady Crew, Domo Genesis, Blueprint, DJ Marley Marl, Jazzy Joyce, A-F-R-O, I Self Devine & Muja Messiah Present 9th House, NoName Gypsy, Finding Novyon, Lexii Alijai, Skeme Richards, Baby Shel & DJ Quincy James, Reverie, Jesse De La Pena, DJ Tiiiiiiiiiip, DJ Shannon Blowtorch, DJ Just Nine
