Rock the Garden was an annual summer music festival organized by the Walker Art Center and Minnesota Public Radio held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that ran from 1998 - 2022. Launched by the Walker in 1998, the event was cosponsored by 89.3 The Current and Minnesota Public Radio after 2008, becoming more of an indie rock festival. Since its founding, Rock the Garden has highlighted national artists such as Wilco, Sonic Youth, David Byrne, MGMT, De La Soul, My Morning Jacket, Spoon, Bon Iver, and The Decemberists, and featured a diverse range of local bands like Low, Doomtree, Fog, Iffy, Cloud Cult, Howler, and Trampled By Turtles.
Lineups 1998 Hot Head Swing Band The Jayhawks
2000 Sunship Sextet Stereolab Sonic Youth
2002 Iffy Marc Ribot and Los Cubanos Postizos Medeski Martin & Wood
2003 Fog The Bad Plus Wilco
2004 Barbara Cohen Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra David Byrne
2008 Rock the Garden 2008 was held on June 21. Bon Iver Cloud Cult The New Pornographers Andrew Bird
2009 Rock the Garden 2009 was held on June 19 and featured a new stage location facing the hill instead of the street. Solid Gold Yeasayer Calexico The Decemberists
2010 Rock the Garden 2010 was held on June 19. Retribution Gospel Choir OK Go Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings MGMT
2011 Rock the Garden 2011 was held on June 18. Tapes 'n Tapes Booker T. Jones Neko Case My Morning Jacket
2012 Rock the Garden 2012 was held on June 16. Howler Tune-Yards Doomtree Trampled by Turtles The Hold Steady
2013 Rock the Garden 2013 was held on June 15. Dan Deacon Low Bob Mould Silversun Pickups Metric
2014
Rock the Garden 2014 was held on June 21 and June 22.
Saturday Lizzo Jeremy Messersmith Best Coast Matt & Kim De La Soul
Sunday Valerie June Kurt Vile and The Violators Dessa Guided By Voices Spoon
2015 Rock the Garden 2015 was held on June 20 and June 21.
Saturday thestand4rd Lucius Courtney Barnett Conor Oberst Belle and Sebastian
Sunday The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger JD McPherson Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 Babes in Toyland Modest Mouse
2016 Rock the Garden 2016 was held June 18 at Boom Island Park (due to construction on the Walker Art Center campus). Plague Vendor GRRRL PRTY Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats Hippo Campus M. Ward Poliça Chance the Rapper The Flaming Lips
2017 Rock the Garden 2017 was held July 22 in the newly renovated Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Bon Iver The Revolution Benjamin Booker Car Seat Headrest Margaret Glaspy Dead Man Winter Bruise Violet Dwynell Roland
2018 Rock the Garden 2018 was held on June 16. Father John Misty Low Cut Connie Chastity Brown U.S. Girls Nikki Lane Kamasi Washington P.O.S (rapper) Feist (singer)
2019 Rock the Garden 2019 was held on June 29.
The National Courtney Barnett X Heart Bones (Sabrina Ellis and Har Mar Superstar) Bad Bad Hats Dem Atlas Adia Victoria The Beths
2020 Rock the Garden 2020 and 2021 have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022 Rock the Garden 2022 was held on June 11.
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats Sleater-Kinney LOW DāM-FunK Divide and Dissolve Beabadoobee Bombino
References
External links Walker Art Center homepage "Summers of Rock: A Definitive History of Rock the Garden", Walker Art Center homepage, July 20, 2017 "The Official Rock the Garden 2016 Lineup", Walker Art Center, April 5, 2016 "A history of Rock the Garden (old and Current)", Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 16, 2011 "Crowd, sun push Rock the Garden to full bloom" , Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 20, 2009 "Rock the Garden: 10,000 Decemberists fans can't be wrong", Twin Cities Daily Planet, June 22, 2009 "Is Rock the Garden too Current?", Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 19, 2008