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As has been the tradition for the last 22 years, WXRT was again welcomed to the Taste of Chicago this weekend to host the Free Fourth of July Concert. Despite the bad weather, tons of fans still showed up at Butler Field to see not one, but two, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and one of the smartest American pop bands of the past decade. With a few surprise guests thrown in, this year’s Free Fourth of July Concert was too great of a show to be dampened by a little bit of summer rain.

The show kicked off with Booker T. and the Drive-By Truckers. Having recently employed the Drive-By Truckers as the backing band on his latest album Potato Hole, Booker T. and the DBTs played well together in the live setting. The band and Booker had fun throwing solos back and forth and rocking out with a casualness that would suggest they have been playing together for much longer than the past year. Not only did their set feature songs from the new album, but classic Booker T. songs like “Green Onions” and  some fun covers, including Outkast’s “Hey Ya” and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”. The thick sounds of Booker’s Hammond B-3 coupled with the DBT’s triple-guitar attack was a strong start to the day’s show and kept people’s feet moving in the fresh mud.

Maybe the most anticipated band of the day, Guster was out in full force with their loyal audience right behind them. With a reputation largely built on their live shows, Guster typically knows how to please large crowds. Their sensible sing-along pop songs are easy to enjoy and were a good buffer between the raunchiness of Booker T. and the blues of Buddy Guy. The band played songs spanning their entire career, and after the show, they were even nice enough to meet some of the WXRT VIPs.

By the time Buddy Guy was set to take the stage, the rain had stopped for the day and the crowd had grown to the largest size it had been all day, and when the heart of Chicago blues took the stage, I doubt anyone was even thinking about the weather. As usual, Buddy Guy stole the show, but the biggest highlight was the guest appearance of Mavis Staples during “Sweet Home Chicago”. Buddy also brought out 10-year-old guitar prodigy Quinn Sullivan, who is also featured on Buddy’s latest album, to play along for a few songs. The closing combination of Buddy, Mavis, and Quinn was a powerful end to a day full of great music.