As the sun sets tonight, downtown Cape Girardeau will come alive with the sound of music.

Thanks to the annual City of Roses Music Festival, we're talking lots of different kinds of music literally everywhere visitors turn tonight and Saturday.

The festival will open at 8 tonight with music by the Southeast Missouri State University Jazz Band on the Main Stage, followed by the Acme Blues Band and Mid-life Crisis, all popular, local groups.

The festival's first-ever Metalfest also will begin at 8 tonight at the Wall of Fame stage in the parking lot at the south end of downtown. And for the quieter bunch, there are acoustic musicians at the Courthouse Park gazebo beginning at 7 tonight and 2 p.m. Saturday. At $12 for all of this plus bands in downtown nightclubs, it's a musical bargain.