With last year’s installment flaunting probably Soundset’s most star-studded lineup yet – Big Boi, Curren$y, Mac Miller, De La Soul, and others, in addition to regulars like Atmosphere and Brother Ali – 2012 had a lot to live up to. Fortunately, this year’s lineup was very arguably even better – take the artists mentioned in the first paragraph, plus add Big K.R.I.T., Lupe Fiasco, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Danny Brown, Kendrick Lamar, DJ Premier, Action Bronson, and more. In fact, instead of last year’s one big-, one small-stage layout, the event’s assemblers made room for two big stages this year, in addition to a few smaller settings, to accommodate demand.

Just as gates opened, at 11 a.m., Minneapolis DJ Stage One spun a set that included everything from “Seven Nation Army” to “Rack City” and sonically memorialized Heavy D, MCA, Guru, Chuck Brown. Then, it was off to the races with Rhymesayers journeyman I Self Devine, who came on around 11:30 a.m.. An undesirable temperature of 90-plus wafted over the festival almost all day, which turned out to be an invitation for much of the crowd to strip down to the barest threads possible. Later on, in the penultimate set of the day, Lupe Fiasco asked everybody to pray “to God or Allah or Jesus” for some much-needed rain.

Which worked, it seemed, but in a way that nobody was hoping for. In an incredibly abrupt turn of events, the entire audience was forced to evacuate festival grounds at roughly 7:30 p.m. due to a Tornado Watch. At the time, Fiasco was in what was likely the final third of his set, possibly even minutes away from clearing the stage for the headlining fan favorites and hometown heroes Atmosphere. Initially, much of the audience did not take the Watch seriously, only to find a member of the security team cop the microphone to explain how real the storm threats really were. In mere minutes, clear skies turned into monstrous ones, sending everybody to the parking lots and to be pelted by vicious rain on the way there. (According to the City Pages, dark clouds began rolling in at 7:26 p.m. and nearly everyone was cleared out by 7:33 p.m..)

Nevertheless, the day was undoubtedly a success overall, with little to no technicalities or delays. Admittedly, I spent most of my time around the main stages, so I can’t divulge much about the other festivities. However, as far as I could tell, the cancellation of Atmosphere’s set was the only real devastation all day, and almost no one let the crowd down. What follows are details on sets from some of the day’s notables.

Photography by Joe Runge.

Action Bronson

This year’s host Brother Ali introduced New York’s Action Bronson to the stage by talking about how guys like Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller played Soundset just before they blew up, and how Bronson might be next. Since he doesn’t really have any pop instincts, it’s hard to believe that, but Bronson did prove himself to be one of the most capable MCs to take the stage Sunday, plowing through some of the best cuts off his Party Supplies-assisted Blue Chips mixtape. Possibly the greatest quote of the day, from Bronson: “I’m 320 pounds. It’s 90 degrees out here. That shit does not equate.”

Prof

Maybe the funniest rapper working today, Minneapolis resident Prof was also one of the best showmen at his Soundset debut. The self-described “gampo” tore through rave-ups from his King Gampo project (most enjoyably “Gampo” and “Whiskey”), of which he was giving free copies to anyone who wanted it. The hype machine has been evading him thus far, but hopefully that trend will end soon. The man is worth your attention.

Big K.R.I.T.

The only Southern MC to take the main stage Sunday, Big K.R.I.T. brought some of the most exciting tracks from his mixtapes K.R.I.T. Wuz Here (“Hometown Hero”, “Glass House”), Return of 4Eva (“Sookie Now”, “The Vent”, “Rotation”), and 4evaNaDay (“1986”, “4evaNa Day”). Surprisingly, K.R.I.T. said very little about his Live from the Underground debut LP, which is due out next week. Nevertheless, there’s really no denying that Krizzle remains the Third Coast’s next great hope.

Kendrick Lamar

Despite his ever-apparent talent, Compton’s versatile Kendrick Lamar had a hard time connecting with Sunday’s audience, even as he was performing some of the best from his Section.80 album (“A.D.H.D.”, “Chapter Six”, “HiiiPoWeR”). Dude came across as a little enervated, and he was clearly having problems with his voice, despite the energy that inherently comes with his songs.

P.O.S.

As signs advertised throughout the festival grounds, hardcore-punk-influenced Rhymesayers star P.O.S. will drop his follow-up to 2009’s Never Better sometime this fall. It’s hard to gauge unfamiliar songs in a live setting, but from P.O.S.’s set, which included a handful of unheard tracks, the new LP should at least be more aggressive, and possibly better, than its predecessors. That said, the man born Stefon Alexander also made Never Better cuts like “Optimist (We Are Not for Them)”, “Purexed”, “Drumroll (We’re All Thirsty)” sound as vital as ever.

Ghostface Killah and Raekwon

The Wu’s two finest individual members were in full force Sunday, performing everything from Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… classic “Ice Cream” to Ghostface’s Fishscale banger “Be Easy”, not to mention Wu-Tang’s 36 Chambers joints “Protect Ya Neck”, “C.R.E.A.M.”, and “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta Fuck Wit”. It was almost devastating how little of the audience seemed to know the songs being performed, but Ghost and Chef didn’t have much of a problem showing the chemistry they’ve been building for roughly 20 years. Maybe the highlight of the day: When Ghost and Rae reached to the unsuspecting audience for someone to perform Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s verse on “Protect Ya Neck”, eventually to find an eager North Dakota kid willing to give it a shot. It was a little messy (his voice cracked, hard, once), but not a soul in sight didn’t get a kick out of it.

Lupe Fiasco

Dressed in a Bob Marley T-shirt, Lupe Fiasco was backed by a live band, was the only act to work a mic stand, and played a dichotomous set that featured both his (overly) poppy Lasers works and the smoother sounds of his first albums Food and Liquor and The Cool. Unfortunately, as aforementioned, it was during Fiasco’s set that Soundset was shut down for the night, bringing everything to a close just as the Chicago MC was about to tear into his hit, the Modest Mouse-sampling “The Show Goes On”.

Gallery

Photographer: Joe Runge

Coachella Music Festival:
Considering the current state of Amy Winehouse, it’s probably safe to say Coachella has upgraded its 2009 lineup after naming its replacement for the British diva. The Grammy nominated new mother better known as M.I.A. is now set to make her first post-birth live appearance in Indio on April 18th. I guess this means her “retirement” is over…

Rites of Spring:
Rites of Spring, everyone’s favorite college music festival, is back with another round of additions to ensure that we all remain supremely jealous. K’Naan, Stardeath and White Dwarves, Sara Watkins, and Erick Baker are now confirmed to join The Flaming Lips, Okkervil River, N.E.R.D., Santigold, and a slew of others at Vanderbilt University during the weekend of April 17-18.

Detroit Electronic Music Festival:
Movement, more commonly known as the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, will return May 23-25 for another gathering of one of the elctro world’s biggest collection of international, national, and local talent. Carl Cox, Flying Lotus, Z-Trip, and Bassnectar head the recently revealed 2009 initial bill, while RJD2, Bad Boy Bill, Tiefschwarz, Tiga, and Guy Gerber make up some of the other notables currently tapped to perform. Tickets will go on sale beginning Tuesday, March 24th via wantickets.com.

Soundset Festival:
If hip-hop is more your thing, then perhaps it would be privy of you to head out to Shakopee, Minnesota on May 24th for this year’s Soundset Festival. Atmosphere, Brother Ali, MF Doom, P.O.S., Sage Francis, Abstract Doom, and El P highlight the second annual edition of the festival, which goes down at Canterbury Park. Get your tickets now.

Electric Daisy Carnival:
Hot on the heels of DEMF’s announcement, the Los Angeles based Electric Daisy Carnival has unearthed its own lineup for 2009. Included on the initial bill? ATB, Benny Benassi, David Guetta, Eddie Halliwell, Fatboy Slim, Paul Oakenfold, and Paul van Dyk with nearly a hundred more still to come. Tickets go on sale beginning Tuesday, April 21st.

Austin City Limits:
Q. “Who are the headliners of the Austin City Limits Music Fest in October, according to a loose-lipped C3 insider, overheard at the “Rock the Rabbit” party?
A: “Pearl Jam. Beastie Boys. Dave Matthews Band. Kings of Leon. Ghostland Observatory.”

At least that’s what Austin 360.com is saying. We’d normally believe what they report, but a “loose-lipped C3 Insider,” who probably had a bit too many drinks is probably not the only source you want to have on this one. So we’ll check in on it…

As always, be sure to check out CoS’ FestivalOutlook.com for all your latest festival news and rumors. And if you’ve got a friend overseas, be sure to let them know that the Outlook just ain’t for Americans. We’ve spent a good deal of time over the last month adding all your favorite European festivals to the docket!