Preview of Thursday’s Oxbeaux Festival in Eau Claire, WI

In advance of this weekend’s Eaux Claires festival, Justin Vernon & Co are headlining a pre-festival outdoor concert at the upscale, music-focused Oxbow Hotel in downtown Eau Claire on Thursday, June 15th from 7 to 11 PM. The Oxbeax Concert and Party (adding Xes and to the end of words and faux-French spelling is the new hotness) features Vernon’s blues-rock, Phil Cook co-fronted side project, The Shouting Matches, Milwaukee-based The Field Report, the dreamy glitch pop of Minneapolis’s Dem Yuut, and local Eau Claire folk darlings Idle Empress.

Oxbeau is designed to both capitalize on the weekend’s festival (Eaux Claires proper starts Friday and runs through Saturday night), and bring people out early and spend time in the city’s burgeoning downtown area. There’ll be Surly beers and food from the Lakely.

Bon Iver’s Vernon is a collaborator with the Oxbow hotel and its on-site restaurant, so it makes sense he’s bringing people to the venue, but it’s als a nice opportunity to highlight some bands that might not be ready for a full stage set at Eaux Claires. Later that night, Alpha Consumer and Invisible Boy take the stage at The Plus for an afterparty/pre-festival show.

The Oxbeaux Festival is sold out, but tickets remain for the full festival.

— Atom Robinson, @atomrobinson