The keynote event of the weekend is the Lincoln Invasion festival in Benson. The details/background/schedule is here. Like I said the other day, I intend to see as many bands as possible (thanks to staggered scheduling), but my don't-miss suggestions for tonight are Twiggertown, The Machete Archive, Pharmacy Spirits, Ideal Cleaners and The Show Is the Rainbow. For Saturday night, it's Columbia vs. Challenger, Domestica, Once a Pawn and Strawberry Burns.

Bands that I didn't mention are bands that I haven't seen before, and there are a lot of them. You're not going to find a better festival value than Lincoln Invasion -- $5 per night gets you into all three venues all night long.

But it's not the only thing going on tonight. Down at Slowdown Jr. it's the debut of Boy Noises with Sweet Pea, AM Revival and In the Spring. $7, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, O'Leaver's has a sweet show tonight featuring The Stay Awake, Gold and Anatomy of a Riot. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Saturday night's other hot events include Blood Cow and Black Skies at O'Leaver's, $5, 9:30 p.m.; and Shiver Shiver, Goodbye Sunday and Black Squirrels down at Slowdown Jr., $5, 9 p.m.

Then on Sunday, Chicago instrumental band Russian Circles is playing at Slowdown with Coliseum and The Answer Team. $10 adv/$12 DOS, 9 p.m.

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