10 Best Moments of Beale St. Music Fest: Day 1

Formed by brothers Bo and Bear Rinehart, Needtobreathe straddles the line between roots rock and arena-ready country music (they opened for Taylor Swift, so yeah, it's easy to sing-along to their songs). But the highlight of their set might have been "The Outsiders," which found Bo switching out his guitar for a banjo on this restrained, lovelorn tune.

While babies, LEGOs, pineapples and pizzas danced across the video screen behind him, Girl Talk performed his greatest hits of mashing up and reinventing other hits. The crowd was willingly propelled into a dancing frenzy.

Food isn't better than music, but it is an eventual necessity. Cue these nacho chips covered (nay, smothered!) in cheese and BBQ pork. Post-consumption remorse not pictured.

Formed by brothers Cody and Luther Dickinson (the latter of whom replaced the lead guitarist of the Black Crowes in 2007), this band has an unstoppable live show. The rootsy blues-rockers never get lost on their extended jams during their lengthy set. The best extended solo involved a wicked guitar riff that sounded like an alley cat's meow warped through an electric guitar.

The dramatic hard rock outfit was in top form. Amy Lee even sat down at the grand piano for a spell and followed it with a fist-pumping delivery of "Sick," a standout from the band's latest album. It hasn't been released as a single, but given the crowd's response to the ferocious frustration of Lee's delivery ("Sick of it all! Sick of it all!" ), perhaps it should be.

Dressed like a 1980s metalhead and arriving onstage with a high-flying jump, Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco was flanked by two hard rock guitarists while he tore through a set of tracks both upcoming and familiar. He also paid tribute to the recently-departed Adam "MCA" Yauch by dedicating his show to the Beastie Boy. Respect.

The indie rockers of country music or the country rockers of indie music? Who cares, especially when their new songs work so well in concert. Bonus draw: Watching Jim James' puffy mane of hair bounce around his head like a follicular crown while he boogies. You can't go wrong with that.

One of the cornerstone bands of thrash metal, Megadeth haven't relented any of their lean technical precision over the years. Dave Mustaine led the audience through a ear-splitting trip through the band's back catalog, including a savage take on "Skin O' My Teeth." My favorite moment was seeing two teenage boys half-seriously chest bump, followed by one of them shouting out, "I would go gay for you Dave Mustaine!" Half seriously?

The Stevie Nicks of British soul paid tribute to the King of Rock in the very city where he changed the course of music at Sun Studio and built his mansion Graceland. Florence Welch sang a verse of Elvis' first single, "That's All Right," very unexpectedly between songs to a rapt crowd. As you might expect, it sounded absolutely gorgeous.

They came, they saw, they pulled girls from the crowd to be their booty dancers. It was a Memphis hip hop free for all, and it was the highlight of the night.