Frontier Ruckus

Frontier Ruckus will play at the International Champions Celebration Street Party on Friday in downtown Ann Arbor.

(Courtesy photo)

Before Manchester United and Real Madrid take the field at Michigan Stadium on Saturday for a sold-out International Champions Cup soccer game, fans, visitors and locals may want to get their groove on on Friday at a big downtown street party, presented by the Ann Arbor Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Inspired in part by the successful "The Puck Drops Here" event in downtown Ann Arbor on New Year's Eve, which preceded the Winter Classic (wherein the Detroit Red Wings played the Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium), the International Champions Celebration Street Party will offer more than a dozen live music acts on 2 stages: a Main Stage on Main, between Washington and Huron, will feature live music from 3 to 11 p.m.; and a Second Stage at Liberty and Ashley will showcase DJs and electronic dance music from 5:30-11 p.m.

“For the Main Stage, I was looking for a lot of different types of music, with a lot of energy, and a lot of strong, local Michigan ties,” said music and stage coordinator Matt Altruda. “I wanted to really showcase local talent.”

PREVIEW

International Champions Celebration Street Party

What: In anticipation of the International Champions Cup game between Real Madrid and Manchester United in Michigan Stadium, the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is throwing a 2-stage street party, with headliners Frontier Ruckus and Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers, plus a fun photo booth.

Where: The Main Stage will be on Ann Arbor’s Main St., between Washington and Huron, while the Second Stage will at Liberty and Ashley.

When: On Friday, August 1, the Main Stage will offer a variety of live music from 3-11 p.m.; the Second Stage will offer live DJs and electronic dance music from 5:30-11 p.m.

How much: Free. For more information, visit http://www.visitannarbor.org.

To this end, the Main Stage lineup includes: The Euphorics at 3 p.m.; Chris Good Music at 4 p.m.; Bennett at 5 p.m.; The Fever Tongues at 6 p.m.; Max Frost at 7 p.m.; Flint Eastwood at 8 p.m.; Frontier Ruckus at 8:45 p.m.; and Joe Hertler and the Rainbow Seekers at 10 p.m. (Special guest DJs Nick Ayer and Ross Federman, of Tally Hall, will spin music between artists.)

The Second Stage will feature DJs and electronic dance music.

“Electronic music is so huge overseas,” said Altruda. “Plus Ann Arbor and particularly Detroit have a long history with electronic music. It seemed like it would make a great second stage. Plus, we have really quality DJs involved.”

The Second Stage lineup includes Ross Federman at 5:30 p.m.; Pat in the Hat at 7 p.m.; Nightfall at 8 p.m.; Asher Perkins at 9 p.m., and DJ Holographic at 10 p.m.

Plus, there will be a photo booth set up on Main Street, near William, where fans can take photos with various ICC-inspired backdrops from 6-10 p.m. Fans will get a copy of their image as a souvenir, and the images will be shared on the Visit Ann Arbor Facebook page.

The Street Party planning team started meeting to plan this event a few months ago, but when a big sponsor did not appear, the event hung in the balance.

“We didn’t get anyone to jump at it right away, and with something like this, if you’re not going to do it properly, it’s not worth trying to do,” said Altruda. “There’s nothing worse than a street party that’s done with 1/8 of the money needed to do it right. But we want to showcase Ann Arbor as a place that can do things like this.”

Altruda also worried about bands being booked for music festivals happening this weekend, or being on vacation, but as he started making calls, things began to fall into place.

And given the Street Party’s large time frame, Altruda hopes that visiting fans as well as locals will come hang out and listen to some live music downtown.

“With so many people in town looking for stuff to do,” Altruda said, “it just makes sense for this thing to go all day.”

AAACVB also recently announced ticket giveaways for Saturday's sold out game at Michigan Stadium.

The first method for winning tickets is to post photos from the Friday event to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook with the hashtags #VisitAnnArbor and #ICC2014. The first post after a pre-determined (and undisclosed) time will win tickets. Also, photo booth images will be shared on the Visit Ann Arbor Facebook page, and fans can then tag themselves to be entered to win tickets.

The second method will be a social media scavenger hunt. Clues will be posted on the Visit Ann Arbor Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AnnArborFans), starting at 5 p.m. on Friday. In total, there will be 10 pairs of tickets available throughout the event. Complete details for both ticket giveaways are available at www.visitannarbor.org/icc.

Jenn McKee is an entertainment reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at jennmckee@mlive.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.