Michelle Branch / Photo by Margaret Griffis

Braving a heavy Floridian downpour, hundreds of Mini Cooper owners rallied at the Homestead Miami Speedway Saturday (June 14) to enjoy the first stop on the Mini Takes the States road tour, an annual motoring event gathering Mini Cooper owners at locations across the country, including Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. And low and behold, soon enough the sun broke through the clouds for the festivities -- including live performances from reputed national and local acts -- to get underway.

Between admiring a stunning variety of other Minis, Cooper junkies were treated to live sets courtesy of Michelle Branch and several of South Florida's up and coming local artists such as A.K.A, Tereso, and Art Official.

Tereso were the first to fire up onstage Saturday with their mid-tempo, occasionally "en Español" alt-rock. Following were power-pop trio A.K.A. who unfortunately had to call it quits early thanks to a pesky lightning bolt less than "one-Mississippi" away from the stadium.

A couple hours and one rainstorm later, Art Official presented their jazz-laced hip-hop while most of the drivers were still out circling the speedway. Finally, the much-awaited Michelle Branch capped off the day with a sunset performance, pleasing Mini enthusiasts with her radio-friendly pop-smart tunes.

Without Mother Nature's free car wash, Sunday was much drier, but the heat sent everyone scampering to the nearest shelter anyway. Monday Photo drew the heartier fans closer with their cooling, dark tunes. And little later, Modernage ended the short day with a compelling acoustic version of their unusual post-punk sound. With that, the super Cooper lovers paraded off to Boston. Vroom, vroom!

More photos from this show >>