03 May TGIF! Here Are Three Of Our Top Picks For Tonight!

Tonight marks the third night of SunFest 2013, but the real kickoff of the weekend. TGIF right? To start things off right, tonight is also the first night all three festival stages will be open. So check out the FPL stage, where you’ll find an evening of top acoustic pop and singer-songwriter fare, capped off with a headlining set by heartthrob Ed Sheeran. (Hear the screams of his fans in the distance already?)

If you like your rock and roll a little louder, though, check out the Ford Stage, which goes upbeat rock and even a little punk. Meanwhile, the Tire Kingdom stage gets a little bluesier. Here are three acts we love who play tonight on those stages.

Yellowcard: You’ll remember these Jacksonville, Florida natives for their sugary power-pop hit "Ocean Avenue" back in the mid-’00s. The guys temporarily called it quits in 2008, but since 2010, a new, revived version of Yellowcard is back in action. The group’s eighth album, ‘Southern Air,’ came out last August to brisk sales and critics who praised it as a return to form. The band plays tonight at 8 p.m. on the Ford stage.

The Offspring: This nearly three-decade-old band barely needs an introduction, as it’s one of the groups responsible for taking the third(ish) wave of punk mainstream in the mid-’90s. You could say they’ve strayed pretty far from actual punk rock since then, but the group deserves an award for keeping its core together. Frontman Dexter Holland, bassist Greg K., and lead guitarist Noodles have all been playing together continuously since the mid-’80s. The Offspring play tonight at 9:45 p.m. on the Ford stage.

Gary Clark Jr.: This blues-rock wunderkind got his start as a self-taught axe-shredder kid sitting in on jam sessions with the greats in his native Austin, Texas. Eschewing hype and frills in favor of serious onstage guitar fury, he’s both garnered the respect of older bluesmen and lured a younger generation to the sound. He plays tonight at 7 p.m. on the Tire Kingdom stage.