Thursday, July 18, 2013

Bunbury - Friday, Day One

We started off our first day of Bunbury listening to Beat Club in the hot hot sun. There's something about the first band to play a festival. It either promises a good weekend or leaves you bitter, but Beat Club played really really well. Their bass lines were kind of ridiculous; it felt like every song was ruled by bass in the best kind of way. They were upbeat so it made us excited for the whole rest of the day.

After Beat Club, we headed across the way to see The Features. It was actually really easy to get around Bunbury. We went to Coachella and Gov Ball this summer, too, but Bunbury was by far the easiest to get around. The walk from one stage to the next at most festivals usually destroys your feet but the walk from the main stage to one of the other biggest stages at Bunbury was literally just across a lawn. So we just walked over the grass and listened to The Features from Nashville. They had this accordion coming from their key player on the opening song which had this sound like a gypsy wedding. The vocals were clear but with this Frank Turner kind of angry energy in the middle of the soft parts. So our afternoon was already sounding beautiful.

Then we went to see American Authors, who were entirely energetic and woke us way up. Rockstar had a tent at Bunbury that was giving away free energy drinks but after a couple of these performances we decided we didn't really need them. American Authors sound and act a lot like Imagine Dragons live, with radio-ready vocals with a lot of lightning behind them. It reminded us of when we were standing at the bud light stage last year dancing and singing to Imagine Dragons and they definitely owned the Bud Light stage with their crowd interaction and their set, captivating the audience with their lyrics and then surprising them with a harmonious slow song in the end that sounded damn near perfect.

Next, we made our way to the main stage to catch Tegan and Sara who were just entirely badass. Even though we were pretty far back, you could still get a really good view and they had screens on both sides of the stage that aided in the close ups so you didn't miss any of the action. And they are a band you kind of want to SEE, because they sound and look hella good. They just know their music and how to please a crowd playing a mix of new and old songs.

Again, we headed across the lawn from the main stage to the rockstar stage to see Youngblood Hawke, who might have been our favorite performance on Friday. They just went halfway to insane on their drums. Almost all the members were playing a drumset like it was the last thing they were gonna do in life. And not only was their life in the music, The lead singer literally didn't stop moving the entire set. He was everywhere and the crowd loved it.

Walk the Moon played in their home town to what they said was one of the biggest crowds they'd played in Cinci. We're never disappointed seeing them live because they always give us an excuse to dance.

Tokyo Police Club was a great band to play as the sun set because they were upbeat enough to keep you going but not too crazy. We sat and whistled on blades of grass, watching the fireflies and just really feeling the whole music fest thing while they were playing.

The headliner Friday night was Fun. and yeah, they were, with confetti and a crazy crowd, they played a pretty good set overall. It was a really really promising first day of Bunbury and we slept like babes after all the dancing we'd done.

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