Musikfest 2012 Wrap-up: Part 3

by theelvee_w2oe3m

And so the last weekend of Musikfest was upon us.  Even the rain couldn’t hamper the good times that were had.

Friday we caught Lunic, an electro all-girls band that was playing the Town Square on the South Side.  Their music didn’t translate well to live performance, unfortunately.  Even moreso, the lead singer’s obnoxious requests to constantly increase and lower her monitor levels was ridiculous.  Right in the middle of songs, and probably ten times during the set, she complained about the levels. 

Lunic



Friday’s highlight, though, was Delta Rae.  This year has been huge for the band, from releasing their first full-length album to playing on Leno.  They’ve been getting great write-ups in Rolling Stone and were in the running (though unfortunately lost) to be on the cover of the magazine.  Although one of the singers, Brittany Holljes, looked terribly pissed the entire time, she and the rest of the band were absolutely perfect.  From the chain-banging “Bottom of the River”, which they played surprisingly early in their set, to the last notes, the band didn’t fail to please.  Major props to Musikfest for getting them on their way to stardom, which they’ll no doubt achieve with their popularity growing so exponentially.


Saturday we saw Wiretree from Austin, Tx at Plaza Tropical.  Maybe it was the earliness of the day but we couldn’t get into this band.  The guitar player looked positively bored as he plucked out solos and the husband and wife in the band didn’t do anything to make it better.  Following them, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds performed a far more energetic and interesting show, infusing rock and blues into a great set.

Wiretree


We stopped by the Gangstagrass set on Main Street and saw the biggest crowd for any Main Street show we’ve seen in many, many years.  The unique blend of bluegrass, country, and hip hop had everyone dancing, even the girls in front of us who were carrying around wine glasses and refilling from a bag in their backpack (seriously, what the hell?).  We’re glad they came back after last year’s cancelled show and hopefully they come around again.

It was then off to the Fighting Jamesons, just as torrent of rain came down upon the festival.  That couldn’t hamper what was going on inside Volksplatz though, as the Jamesons’ Celtic punk rock had the crowd going insane.  People (okay, one probably drunken girl) crowd surfed.  The band drank beers that were handed up from the crowd.  It was wild and awesome and a hell of a band to have on a Saturday night, weather be damned.  Dear Celtic Classic, take note.

Fighting Jamesons




Sunday it was off to Gangstagrass again, again drew a pretty damn good crowd for a Sunday afternoon.  The music was great, yet again.  The only qualm we have with the band is sometimes the music all runs together and songs aren’t terrible distinctive from one another, but otherwise they’re a damn solid act with quite the niche. 

Gangstagrass

That about wraps up our coverage of the music portion of Musikfest 2012.  Up next: the food and our final thoughts.

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1 comment

Kaitee August 30, 2012 - 6:29 pm

Thanks for the lovely photos of Lunic 🙂 In response to calling me “obnoxious” for requesting monitor levels be adjusted, there was another heavy metal band on the stage directly beside us “sound-checking” their heavy guitars and drum kit the entire time we were playing. Not sure why this happened, but that is why I had to keep asking for monitor levels to be changed. As for our music, “not translating well live,” it’s because you could hear the heavy band’s music mixed in with ours the entire time we played. It was unfortunate for us to be scheduled right next to a stage while another band was sound-checking, but that’s the card you get dealt sometimes as a small indie band at a big festival. Definitely check us out at YouTube.com/iLoveLunic as we are a solid live band. Peace & Love & better luck next time, Kaitee xox

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