Recap and photos: The Minneapolis Rodeo rides into Surly Brewing
by Joel Swenson
June 08, 2026
There’s something undeniably funny about a rodeo in the middle of Minneapolis. Calf roping and bull riding aren’t exactly Twin Cities traditions, but in Saturday’s sweltering 90-degree heat, the inaugural Minneapolis Rodeo firmly planted its boots in the dirt at Surly Brewing and made a convincing case. Between live cattle roping, a mechanical bull, line dancing lessons courtesy of Hold Your Lady Tight, a vintage market, food, beer, and a full day of music across two stages, there was something for everyone.
If there was an unofficial theme to the day, it was cover songs. Nearly every musical act leaned on them at some point in their set. The other constant was the unrelenting heat. Despite that, cowboy hats, starched jeans, and cowboy boots were everywhere. Plenty of folks wisely swapped the full-length denim for jean shorts.
The unenviable task of opening the Side-Saddle stage fell on Minneapolis’ own Sam Holt and the First Rodeo (not to be confused with the former Widespread Panic guitarist of the same name and his band). Playing to a meager crowd still trickling in through the gates, Holt’s primarily downtempo, roots-driven set won over some early arrivals and included the first of the day’s many cover songs: a fantastic take on Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire.”
Local jukebox outfit A Little Too Short to Be Stormtroopers (dubbed “Doug Dimmadone and the Dimsdale Dimmadones” for this gig) drew an even thinner crowd save a few two-stepping couples. And that’s a real shame because the Dimmadones were on fire tearing through a stack of jukebox country classics from a bygone era like Vince Gill’s “One More Last Chance,” Alan Jackson’s “Chattahoochee,” Garth Brooks’ “I’m Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),” and John Anderson’s “Swingin’.” Their cover of the Brothers Osborne’s “Dead Man’s Curve” gave the entire band an opportunity to show off their chops.
Next up on the Side-Saddle stage was Miko Marks. The California-based singer and songwriter kicked things off with a honky-tonkified cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Call Me the Breeze” and immediately changed the temperature of the day. Her blend of Americana, country, and a little gospel rose above the line dancing, the vintage browsing, and the mechanical bull riding, pulling every eye toward the stage. Marks lives to perform. “This is the drug right here. I feel high as hell up here.”
In addition to “Call Me the Breeze,” she also put her own spin on the Longest Johns’ “Hard Times Come Again No More,” Willie Nelson’s “Whiskey River,” John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery,” and Patty Griffin’s “Heavenly Day.” Before each of the latter two covers, she told stories of meeting Griffin and Bonnie Raitt, whose own cover of “Angel From Montgomery” is better known than the original. Her cover songs were stunning, but she truly soared on her original songs. She recalled writing “Mama” in just 30 minutes after her mother passed away in 2005, but the loving tribute somehow spans an entire lifetime. Marks closed out her time with a bluesy new song from her upcoming album due out this fall. It was a left turn from the rest of her set, and a great addition.
The day’s scheduling did the two more indie-leaning bands no favors. Minneapolis’ Palm Friends pulled the short straw of playing right as the PRCA rodeo kicked off next door. Their jangly hooks, fuzzed-out guitars, and dreamy vocals reached a small but energetic crowd of about 20 while the rodeo stands overflowed. But that didn’t really matter. Palm Friends played and sounded just as good in front of 20 people as they would’ve in a sold-out room.
The final band on the Side-Saddle stage was Athens-based rising stars the Gringos. The band formed in a University of Georgia frat house and quickly moved from playing local gigs around campus to touring the country. Saturday’s stop at the rodeo marked their first time playing the Twin Cities, and it hopefully won’t be the last. To date, the Gringos have only released a grand total of seven songs, so their hour-long set was largely built on covers.
The Gringos opened with Modest Mouse’s “Float On,” with singer Jacob Reina’s smoky rasp perfectly standing in for Isaac Brock’s raw and manic delivery. After that, the hits kept coming. Sublime’s “Santeria,” Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie,” and Pink Floyd’s “Time” all took on a life of their own under the Gringos’ watch and fit right in with those seven originals. “In Retro,” introduced as a song about falling in love at a rodeo, was a fitting addition to the day. The rodeo wrapped up about midway through the Gringos set, so by the time they were closing things out with Backseat Lovers’ “Kilby Girl,” they were finally playing to the full crowd they deserved.
The main-stage handoff to the Cactus Blossoms hit a bit of a logistical snag. The rodeo paddock wasn’t cleared by the band’s scheduled start time. Since Surly has a 10 p.m. curfew, they eventually had to just start their set, leaving brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum playing roughly 50 yards from the nearest spectator with a cattle truck parked directly in front of them. The Blossoms seemed unfazed. “Ah, this feels better,” Torrey said once the truck was moved and the crowd was finally let in. “I’m glad you all came closer. The truck was nice, but this is better.”
By the time “Downtown” hit, the paddock was a hootin’-and-hollerin’ sea of boots. Torrey and Burkum’s harmonies lifted covers of Billy Joe Shaver’s “Ain’t No God in Mexico,” and Terry Allen’s “Amarillo Highway,” while the galloping “Change Your Ways or Die” had the whole crowd stomping. Due to the delayed start, the Cactus Blossoms had the shortest set of the day at only 45 minutes, but they made every second count.
A few minutes before her set, Nikki Lane casually strolled past the rodeo pen and nonchalantly slipped backstage. Moments later, her smoky, gritty voice was singing the opening notes of “First High.” Lane has the uncanny ability to make her impressive vocal performance seem somehow effortless. She doesn’t belt her songs out, and her voice is never strained from pushing too hard. In watching her perform, she appeared to never even really project more than she would during a conversation with a friend. And yet, what came out filled the furthest corners of Surly’s grounds.
Saturday’s show was something of a personal and professional milestone for Lane. “Well I went and got knocked up,” she announced after “First High.” “This is my first show playing pregnant as shit, so this’ll be fun.” Fun is an understatement at a Nikki Lane show. Her entire set had the whole crowd dancin’, singin’, hootin’, and hollerin’. Things kept getting better as the punishing sun finally dipped below the horizon, fittingly during “Send the Sun.”
Lane kept things moving but was charming and funny between songs. Before “Man Up,” she recalled the time she ended up in a ditch while pulling a trailer through a Minnesota snowstorm (“Do you know how many men I’ve taught to drive a trailer in this business? An embarrassing amount.”) and asked, to a resounding cheer, whether Minnesota had any rednecks before “700,000 Rednecks.” She also made sure to give the Cactus Blossoms their flowers: “How about it for the Cactus Blossoms tonight? Best band up here, I swear to god.”
Towards the end of her set, Lane debuted a couple of new songs, including a sweet, twangy tribute to her husband (“I wasn’t trying to date him, but then we two-stepped together and now we’re married.”) The other one was about how great it is to go home alone when you’re single and featured an incredibly catchy chorus about being “Tennesingle.” Both songs will be on Lane’s new album due out sometime soon, but “probably not before this baby arrives.” She closed out the main set with “Denim and Diamonds” — and forgot the words to the chorus. “I can’t even remember the words to my own f***ing song right now. Good god. This is why I need my drugs.” The encore was a quick one with “Jackpot” followed by a cover of the Byrds’ “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” to send everyone off into the finally cooling night.
The first Minneapolis Rodeo wasn’t without its hiccups. The daytime music on the Side-Saddle stage too often felt like an afterthought to the rodeo, the vintage market, and even the mechanical bull. Some of the best sets of the day were played to the smallest crowds. But there were cowboy hats as far as the eye could see, a kiss cam (a bold choice in this post-Coldplay incident era), and more good music than most people stuck around to hear. If it comes back next year (and it should!), here’s hoping that the music gets a more central role.
Setlist
First High
Highway Queen
Send the Sun
Heartaches of the Road
Faded
Seein' Double
Man Up
700,000 Rednecks
Right Time
All or Nothin'
New song (title TBD)
Why You Been Gone So Long (Jessi Colter cover)
New song (title TBD but likely “Tennesingle”)
Black Widow
Woodruff City Limits
Denim and Diamonds
Encore
Jackpot
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (The Byrds cover)
