An unrelenting drizzle, which occasionally turned more furious, put a literal damper on the day at the Beale Street Music Festival on Saturday.

Still, a small but enthusiastic cadre of fans gathered at the foot of the Sam’s Town and Cellular South stages to watch a pair of up-and-coming acts in Green River Ordinance and Jump Back Jake open the proceedings.

Photo by Mark Weber

Los Lobos singer and guitar player Cesar Rosas rocks the crowd at the Sam’s Town Stage during the Beale Street Music Festival.

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Texas outfit Green River Ordinance, touring in support of its recently released major label debut, Out of My Hands, had a rather uphill battle galvanizing the crowd, as its moody pop-rock only seemed to exaggerate the gray tenor of the afternoon.

Memphis’ Jump Back Jake, meanwhile, used its plucky horn-fueled pop-soul sound to pull the crowd from the soggy doldrums. The six-piece band ran though the bulk of its new album, Brooklyn Hustle, Memphis Muscle, before closing the set with a nod to hometown Stax Records, and a cover of Eddie Floyd’s “Big Bird.”

Mid-day brought the first of two scheduled festival appearances from Chancho En Piedra, the group representing Memphis in May’s honored country Chile. Having traveled over 5,000 miles to appear at the festival, the funk-rock combo’s enthusiasm could not be doused by the wet weather. Arriving onstage wearing cartoon animal outfits, the band proceeded to play a loud, hard charging set on the Cellular South stage taking its jazzy Latin sound into detours of hip-hop and hard rock.

East Los Angeles Chicano roots rockers Los Lobos evinced a similarly eclectic style during an evening concert on the Sam’s Town stage. The veteran group — led by guitarists/vocalists Cesar Rosas and David Hidalgo — essayed a set that included everything from Latin rocker to Cajun stompers, roadhouse blues to joyous soul.

The band got into the collaborative spirit as well, welcoming drummer Pete Thomas — of Elvis Costello’s Attractions/Impostors fame — for several numbers including an unlikely but thrilling version of the Who’s “My Generation” that found the lanky Thomas reeling off his best Keith Moon triplets. A few songs later Costello himself jumped on stage for a rave up version of the R&B classic “I Got Loaded,” which Los Lobos covered on its How Will The Wolf Survive? album.

Several more songs (and a cheeky homage to the Yardbirds' “I’m A Man”) followed before the band brought a close a performance that set the stage and raised the bar for the headliners to follow.

Costello proved to be worthy of the task. Battling an increasingly hard downpour, he led a special one-off festival band he’d dubbed The Popular Trend – featuring his longtime rhythm section of drummer Pete Thomas and bassist Davey Faragher, along with guitarist John McFee and Memphis pianist Jim Dickinson -- for an 80-minute show that made bearing the elements worthwhile.

The set list included plenty of Costello hits and favorites, a few covers, even a fitting a capella rendition of “Singing in the Rain.” He offered up a spirited take on Van Morrison’s “Wild Night” (a song McFee originally played on) and paid homage to Morrison again during “Waiting for the End of the World,” which he tagged with a coda of Them’s “Gloria.”

Costello and the band tinkered with the arrangements on familiar numbers, and the bespectacled singer toyed with the songs throughout, morphing “Alison” into a tribute to Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” and merging “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” with The Who’s “The Kids are Alright.”

Despite a long delay setting up, Al Green proved to be the perfect tonic after a long and arduous day for festival goers. Green, looking resplendent in a shimmering white suit, emerged from the wings and immediately grabbed a handful of roses, and began tossing them into the crowd.

Aided by a powerful big band, Green was in good voice as he cooed, crowed and shouted through a mix of gospel-drenched R&B songs, including his famed Hi Records hits.

Friday evening’s late night sets featured a pair of acts poised on opposite ends of the musical spectrum: reigning chart pop princess Katy Perry and classic rock institution, the Steve Miller Band.

High camp and disposable songs were the twin forces guiding Perry’s Cellular South stage set. A mini-skirt wearing Perry sauntered onto a stage festooned with giant inflatable strawberries to the strains of Queen’s “Killer Queen.” Backed by a white-clad rock band, Perry’s music parlayed new wave riffs and ice cream synths into an hour sing-along session, highlighted by inevitable versions of her radio smashes “Hot n’ Cold” and a set-capping “I Kissed A Girl.”

Meanwhile, the Steve Miller Band didn’t shy away from its familiar fare — “Abracadabra” “Swingtown” and “Dance, Dance, Dance” all got early airings — but the guitarist mixed in a few deeper catalog numbers like “Mercury Blues” and “The Stake.”

Miller also previewed bits of his forthcoming trio of blues albums, even ceding the microphone to newest band member Sonny Charles — former lead singer of revered ’60s soul group Checkmates Ltd. — before closing with a run of hits from his golden ’70s period.

— Bob Mehr: 529-2517