After their in-house radio station changed from K-TWIN to Go 96.3 in January, the Twins are also switching the format of their in-house summer music festival from the two-day Skyline Music Fest to a millennial-geared one-day, five-band concert called Go Fest. The inaugural event takes place Aug. 7 at Target Field and will feature Matt and Kim, the Cold War Kids, Big Data, MS MR and Meg Myers.
Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. through Tickets.com for $9.63 to $96.30. Go 96.3 is offering a pre-sale (password GOFEST15).
As has become rather standard practice for the Go team, the inaugural Go Fest lineup looks like something poached from competitor 89.3 the Current. Hyper-chirpy synth-pop duo Matt and Kim played Rock the Garden last summer, which is co-organized by the Current. And the moody-but-groovy Cold War Kids headlined Night 2 of the Current's 10th anniversary bashes at First Ave in January (and were stellar, albeit brief).
As for the rest of the lineup, Big Data is Brooklyn electronic producer Alan Wilkis' big baby, enjoying heavy airplay on both stations with their Joywave-accompanied single "Dangerous." His act expands to a full-size band with impressive singer Liz Ryan in concert, although their set at South by Southwest in March was a bit of a hot mess. Newcomers MS MR ("miz mister") is another high-energy synth-pop duo that's been bubbling under, led by husky singer Lizzy Plapinger. Meg Myers is a rocky Tennessee-bred singer/songwriter signed to Atlantic Records.
A press release for Go Fest said that more acts will be announced -- hopefully some local bands, who unfortunately haven't found much footing in the station's on-air playlist.
Gone in the Go makeover, obviously, are older rock-radio staples such as Melissa Etheridge and Soul Asylum, who headlined the first two Skyline Music Fests. Last year -- in what now seems like a prelude to the radio station's format change -- a second night was added to the Skyline lineup, the so-called Indie Night with New Pornographers and Andrew Bird, also both former Rock the Garden acts.
