Firefly Festival, June 20, 2015

Saturday started off with Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, a singer-songwriter, on the main stage. I don’t really care for his music, but he was a great performer. He stood on the piano, entered the crowd, sent parachutes into the crowd, and used charges to pop giant helium balloons that dumped confetti on the crowd. As Dana pointed out, nothing original or expensive, but still tons more entertaining tham 98% of all acts. Dana loves his song “Cecilia and the Satellite.”

Next act was Griswolds – and I’m feeling déjà vu as I type this. I honestly don’t remember anything about them, but my notes make them sound almost exactly like Grizfolk from Thursday: too many f-bombs, endorcing drunkenness, same stage, name in big letters on the screen behind them. The only difference: Griswolds are from Australia.

Next up: Phoebe Ryan (again.) She has green hair and is famous for a cover mashup of R. Kelly’s “Ignition” and Miguel’s “Do You.” I’ve never heard either of those originals, and hadn’t heard her cover until Dana emailed me the link. (Where does she get all the pop? Eek! Bleh!) I thought she was an entirely average female pop singer. It was in the coffee house, but not acoustic. At least there was shade. It was packed, so I sat almost under a table and read.

Gary Clark Jr. is a black dude who does Texas blues rock with extremely fuzzy guitar. I hate his sound, but if you like that kind of music, he’s talented. I could not see the stage from where I was, so I have no idea how he performed.

Night Terrors of 1927 were an unexpected joy to watch. I’m not a huge fan of their music. They are good enough, but I don’t know any of their songs well enough to butcher in the shower. The lead singer has a big, soaring voice, but it was his entertaining banter that endeared him to me and the rest of the crowd. At one point he threw away the line “It would be an honor to have my heart broken by you” to introduce a song. Another time, he offered the HUG ME sign hairy dude a big hug after the show, then commented on how the sweat would make a slurping noise as they pulled apart. A little funny, a little wry, altogether endearing. Also loved the smile on the keyboardist.

Betty Who was another winner. I went for Dana, who is a huge fan. Betty was vivacious and engaging. She has big girl curves and a Marilyn Monroe face with platinum blond hair. She invited the crowd to dance with her and we all did – her energy was contagious. At one point, she took her shirt off and just wore her black bra. Pretty voice with great range, but uninspired lyrics. A fun, dancy pop show with a lot of gay men in the audience.

Matt and Kim were on the main stage, and I was WAY far in the back, but I could still see their 1,000 watt smiles. They have the exact same act as always, but it’s still not old. They curse and saw outrageously sexual things while looking disparately wholesome. Kim does the booty dance. They send confetti into the crowd and run around on platforms on stage like hyped-up monkeys. (Bonus – they were high enough to see!)



I caught a bit of Alison Wonderland, who is just another loud DJ. Her set continued FOREVER.

Foster the People had no personality, as usual, but my friends were excited to see them and got some good photos. The lead singer always looks like a deer caught in headlights to me. I found them boring and left quickly.

I caught the folk trip Wind and Wave next. I thought they were average, and the crowd was tiny. I did love their retro-sounding song “Raising Hands Raising Hell Raise 'Em High.”

I ended up in the Coffee House again, mostly to have an easy place to meet up with my friends, and I’m pretty sure the Milo Greene show I stumbled into was a late addition to the schedule. I texted that I was alone in the coffee house with my twelve friends – it really was rather empty. (There was some confusion-at first I thought I was seeing Echosmith because I looked at the wrong day’s schedule.) The set was beautiful and entirely acoustic vocals and guitars. I videotaped one song.

Trish came to meet me to go to Kid Cudi together. We were both hugely disappointed.  I happen to love Kid Cudi, but I didn’t realize he can’t sing. He missed SO many notes – so sad. He did have quite a light show, though.

We were evacuated during our traverse to see Kings of Leon. We joined a flood of people headed to the parking lot. I particularly liked the lightening and the spontaneous sing-alongs. We got back to the car and waited to confirm that Dana had found her way to our car or Jill’s. She eventually found us just as it started to pour rain, with a 17 year old in tow who was deathly afraid of lightening and needed to find her dad to get a ride home. Trish did some fancy Frogger-style driving to bypass most of the line out of the parking lot, then we took our teen refugee to the meeting place and waited for her dad to arrive. We still beat Jill home. She was more polite and waited her turn in the car line.