The second annual Evolution Festival drew 25,000 people to Forest Park this weekend for two big days of music across three stages in Langenberg Field. Heavy rain from Helene on Friday had turned much of the festival grounds into a mudpit, but the rain held off for a pleasant weather weekend as attendees drank craft beer, dined on local culinary fare, strolled through a Chuck Berry exhibit (that included the legend’s Cadillac), and shopped at the fest’s marketplace. But the main draw, of course, was the music, and we covered it all. Here are the 28 best songs of Evolution 2024, one for every act on the lineup.
SATURDAY
Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears: It was a three-piece chicken pickin’ lunch filled with Sean Thompsons’ Telecaster twang. There’s nothing particularly weird about the overalls-clad Sean Thompson’s ears, unless we’re talking about his ear for cracked country jams, which is quite acute, as on the ‘70s-style ripper “Roll On Buddy,” and things got psychedelically jammy later in the set.
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Nite Sprites: One of the few local bands on this year’s lineup was Nite Sprites, who broke the bubbly on the festival’s second stage. Sounding like the second coming of Thin Lizzy, the Sprites played accessible indie-rock boogie with twin Teles, swirling keys, and lead singer Ray Kannenberg’s mile-high vocal range, best heard on the choogling “I Ain’t Your Man.”
Tré Burt: The laid-back California songwriter peeled off breezy tunes, like the Desire-era Dylanesque folk-rocker “Told Ya Then,” complete with Burt’s spry guitar parts and his keyboard player padding along in overall shorts and a tankini. As the first act on the main stage, Burt shouted out The Grove’s HandleBar, where he partied the night before and mentioned that his mom’s boyfriend is from St. Louis: “I hate his fucking guts. But he’s not indicative of you all.”
The Asteroid No. 4: With their gauzy muckboot-gazing, San Francisco’s The Asteroid No. 4 washed the beer-tent crowd with a half-hour of dreamy guitar drone, exemplified by “Tones of the Sparrow.” It all paired nicely with the Evolution Wheat Ale, as the band transmitted hazy vocal harmonies and fuzz tones both beautiful and ominous, heavy on the root chords, cymbal shimmers, and floaty noise-pop.
Chaparelle: One of the day’s best surprises was this cool country duet of Zella Day and Jesse Woods, who channeled Gram and Emmylou channeling George and Tammy on “Bleeding Hearts.” Day is quite a singer and flirty stage presence, throwing out charming choreography on both Americana firecrackers and on a slow-burn cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Want to Dance with Somebody.”
Deeper: When the sun came out on Saturday, yes, there was heat, some of it coming from “This Heat” on the main stage in the form of the Chicago-based Deeper. (I think they’re named after their town’s pizza.) Singer Nic Gohl looked at home in the mud with his camo hat, but his goth-wave vocals provided a hypnotic effect over the crowd, who zoned out to Deeper’s motorik beats and monochromatic post-punk chug.
Billy Tibbals: Here’s a British kid who still knows how to deliver a theatrical, glammy rock ‘n’ roll show. Tiballs and his four-pack of L.A.–based musicians dressed like they were in five different bands, and his shifting time-signatures and song arrangements are likewise delightfully chaotic. Tibbals, a relentlessly preening ham, was the beer-tent bash of the day. Pick hit: the baroque-pop ballad “Dream Away.”
S.G. Goodman: “All My Love is Coming Back to Me” was Goodman at her twangy, chimey best, but “Space and Time” was also top-shelf, featuring Goodman’s most controlled, elegiac vocals. It was a set of stellar indie-Americana, and Goodman was in a chatty mood, talking about playing Cicero’s when she was 18 and extolling her love of pop music, even singing a snippet of Missouri girl Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.”
Pete Yorn: Yorn said he wasn’t sure he deserved a spot on the main stage, but after his pleasant set of approachable singer-songwriter folk-rock, the audience was all on board. He drew heavily from 2001’s musicforthemorningafter, including “Life on a Chain,” “Strange Condition,” and “Murray,” but also made room for covers of New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.”
Beachwood Sparks: With Pete Yorn watching from the wings, Beachwood Sparks played a satisfying set of their trademark pensive California country-rock in the beer tent, as the alt-country true-believers in the crowd attended closely. “By Your Side” was the band at the harmony-rich, Byrds-y best, but “Dolphin Dance” ruled, too, with steel player Farmer Dave Scher’s vocals riding atop the train beat.
Robert Finley: One of blues music’s great late arrivals, the 70-year-old Finley, rocking in a ten-gallon hat, was in a lustful mood, executing licentious hip thrusts and deep squats during slinky soul-blues numbers like “Medicine Woman” and “Miss Kitty.” Before “Livin’ Out a Suitcase,” Finley worked his barrel-aged voice into a lather and told the crowd, “I don’t know where the hell I am, but I’m glad to be here!”
Billy Idol: On the cusp of turning 69, Idol, uncannily, looks and sounds nearly identical as he did during his ‘80s heyday, the apparent benefits of his rock ‘n’ roll life, which he thanked the big Saturday-night crowd for. Idol gave the audience exactly what they wanted: hit after hit, advanced upper-lip musculature, rebel-yell air punches, sexagenarian shirtlessness, and the classic guitar heroics of Idol’s longtime wingman Steve Stevens. Best Billy: “Flesh For Fantasy.”
Nile Rodgers & CHIC: The biggest dance party of the weekend was at the Lindenwood stage for Rock Hall of Famer Nile Rodgers’ hit parade of CHIC classics and production biggies from Diana Ross, Madonna, David Bowie, Daft Punk, and more. Jerry Barnes supplied the Bernard Edwards bass lines, and the sensational duo of Kimberly Davis and Audrey Martells provided the soaring vocals. My exercise ring on my watch closed halfway through this set. Impossible to pick a favorite, but I’ll go with Martells’ supreme vocal on Ross’ “Upside Down.”
Beck: Of course, Beck played all the bangers—“Mixed Bizness,” “Sexx Laws,” “E-Pro”—while throwing in some local touches: The protagonist in “Debra” worked at the Galleria in this Evolution version. But the sweetest spots might have been the acoustic-based Sea Change tunes, “Lost Cause” and “Golden Age,” plus “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime,” the melancholy beauty from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was a terrific career-spanning set with excellent production and performances all around.
See more: For more of concert photographer Carrie Zukoski’s scenes from the fest, visit bit.ly/EvoFest24cz
SUNDAY
Sunny War: The guitar-frailing singer-songwriter known as Sunny War kicked off Sunday in the beer tent with songs spread across her impressively deep catalog, including the ballad “Got No Ride,” which the hard-touring singer introduced by telling us that she didn’t know how to drive. Backed by only a drummer, she also displayed some fast, spidery playing on the acoustic guitar with an unusual thumb-and-finger picking style, as on “Downtown” from 2009’s Sheep.
Nadine: It was a satisfying dose of classic St. Louis-style alt-country as a reunited Nadine dusted off songs from their rootsy ‘90s and ‘00s albums. Singer Adam Reichmann’s plaintive, bucolic vocals are still the band’s calling card, embroidered at Evolution by the steel-guitar and keyboard of Steve Rauner and the lead-guitar gallantry of Jimmy Griffin, who makes everyone sound better. “Closer” from 1999’s Downtown, Saturday was a lovely look back.
Daddy Long Legs: The greasy golden-age rock ‘n’ roll of New York–based Daddy Long Legs had the crowd jitterbugging as growly-voiced singer Brian Hurd, a native St. Louisan, brought the deep-boogie blues-abilly to the main stage. Hurd is the star—barking lyrics, honking on the harp, and breaking out the slide on a National guitar during “High Flyin’ Baby,” and they also scratched the itch of classic rock-loving St. Louis with a cover of Bob Seger’s “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man.”
The Sleeveens: A good and loud slice of punky hard rock shook the beer tent courtesy of The Sleeveens. Led by Irish-born singer Stef Murphy, these guys turn up the guitars on a relentless crunchfest of power chords without sacrificing the singsong melodies, as on the awesomely titled “Metallica Font.” Bonus: The Sleevens also rocked the lowest-slung bass of the weekend.
Pearl Charles: Some were sparkly, sugary confections like “What I Need” that incite the disco finger; others were soft rock songs that prove that Pearl Charles is Helen Reddy when you are. She sat at the electric piano and activated her nasopharynx just enough to pull off these warm, groovy songs that toggled between Mamma Mia! and the Carpenters.
Todd Rundgren: A lifeline art-rock contrarian, Toddzilla wasn’t interested in playing the hits, only touching on his Something/Anything? era with a medley at the end of his set. Otherwise, Rundgren led a six-piece, complete with some sterling rock flute, on well-played, jazzy hard-prog, including the skittery old Utopia tune, “Secret Society” featuring a searing Rundgren solo on his classic seafoam green Strat.
The Schizophonics: The trophy for most energetic set of the fest (by far) goes to the Schizophonics, whose singer/guitarist Pat Beers is a demented, whirling maniac, half James Brown, half Iggy Pop. Speaking of Beers, the beer tent filled up nicely for this psychedelic fuzz-funk freakout, as Beers headed into the crowd during “Creature” to fling hair-sweat into the scrum of fans.
Lola Kirke: Comely singer-actress Kirke sounded like a country star during her set on the second stage. Dressed in a black leather mini-dress and cowgirl boots, she sang supple-voiced versions of songs from the new EP Country Curious (produced by Elle King, who would be on the same stage later), including the delightful set-ending “All My Exes Live in L.A.”
Killer Mike: First, he announced that the set should be billed as “Michael,” not “Killer Mike,” and that we were going to be going to church. Sure enough, the big man brought along five backup gospel singers who, like Mike, were dressed in all white to bring the sonic sanctification. But Mike also went ahead and hit his solo bangers like “Run” and “Ric Flair.” Also a nice shoutout to St. Louis as he hyped his longtime DJ, Trackstar, and local MC Tef Poe.
95 Bulls: I’m reppin’ you guys today!” said 95 Bulls singer Emily Ashenden, who wore a cropped Blues jersey for the show. The five-piece band made a righteous racket under the beer tent, and Ashenden produced a righteous squall from an overheated mic that had the kegs rattling. The band reached prime power during new single “Shady” as the rhythm section brawled with catchy punk guitars and Ashenden’s heavy aural shimmy.
Son Volt: The legendary Jay Farrar and his band drew the second stage’s largest crowd of the weekend, and the band made good with the career-spanning Son Volt set that the audience was hoping for. Jay was in excellent voice (and was unusually verbose), saving Trace classics like “Drown,” “Route,” and Windfall” for the last half of the set. Jay’s been on a Tom Petty kick lately, and he sounded just terrific on a cover of “The Waiting” before closing with his standard nod to Uncle Tupelo, “Chickamauga.”
Tom Morello: “Hello, I’m Jane’s Addiction,” Morello said early on during his blistering main-stage set, a reference to his late-breaking replacement of Jane’s at Evolution. It was an hour of lacerating guitars as Morello performed no-vocals riff medleys of Rage Against the Machine classics and a cover of MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams.” But the most moving moment was when he dedicated Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad” to Kris Kristofferson, news of whose death broke earlier in the day.
Elle King: It was two Tom Petty songs in two consecutive sets as Elle King sang “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” one of two covers (the other was Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way”) during her set. The rest was drawn from her own albums, both old and upcoming, including “Out Yonder,” “Ex’s & OH’s,” and Tyler Childers’ “Jersey Giant,” which she played while strumming an electric mandolin. King was in great vocal command throughout and was, for a change, sober for the performance. And for good reason: She announced from the stage that she’s pregnant.
The Killers: The Killers are really all about Brandon Flowers and his Donny Osmond–channeling showbiz schtick at this point, but nobody these days is better at selling anthemic classic-rock-evoking singalong anthems. And there he was—smiling, hopping up on platforms, belting out that super-high clear tone—on a run of glittery bangers like “Shot at the Night.” And you know you’ve got a deep list of them when you open the show with sports-stadium mainstay “Mr. Brightside.” (And, yes, some folks gave KU a salutation during the song, but it was drowned out by the band.) Complete with a cover of the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the Killers’ big set capped a weekend of big fun at the big-time music festival that St. Louis deserves. We’re feeling Evolved. See you next year.
