The Cool Kids

The Cool Kids
noon at Millennium Park; free
Over the past three years The Cool Kids have been leading figureheads in the party-rap movement. Their rise to fame has been pretty astounding, but now that a little time has passed it's time to see if they have the creative chops to establish longevity (after all, they did call themselves "the new black version of the Beastie Boys"). If they're looking to test run some new material, midday at Millennium Park would be the perfect place to gauge reactions. It's not completely clear whether it'll be a DJ set only or a full performance, but either way you'll likely get at least some indication of where The Cool Kids are going during the hour-long set.

Tony Allen
6:30 p.m. at Millennium Park; free
You'll have time to grab some more picnic food (or, you know, work a little) before heading back to the park for the evening show, featuring pioneering Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. Although Fela Kuti receives much of the accolades for the sound, it was Allen who served as the engineer, laying down the marathon-long percussive blueprints. To put it into perspective: if Fela is the James Brown of Afrobeat then Tony Allen is Clyde Stubblefield.

Collision Theory
7:30 p.m. at Links Hall; $10-$12
Curated by Links Hall Artistic Associates,Rachel Damon and Dan Mohr, this show offers musicians and dancers colliding in improvised performance. This final installment includes a video retrospective of the show's run, plus collaborations between Adriana Durant and Charles Rumback and Frank Rosaly and Zachary Whittenburg.