Walking onto the festival grounds on Saturday, the atmosphere was noticeably subdued, and the crowds lighter for the various opening acts in the early afternoon. On the Lawn Stage, festival goers were starting to gather for soulful Parson James, whose hymnal style set was the perfect anecdote for anyone who was still recovering from the night before.
By 4 pm, the crowd seem to wake up all at once and head to the Firefly Main Stage to see Catfish and the Bottlemen. The British Indie Rock group brought their A game to the stage, pouring energy onto the stage as they hammered out hits “Soundcheck” and “Kathleen”. Front man Ryan Evan “Van” McCann didn’t let the heat of the day stop him as he whipped around on the stage to the beat of the music, making for a very entertaining set and a great prelude to the rest of the night.
Another great band from down under, Atlas Genius, which is essentially brothers Keith Jeffries on lead vocals and guitar and Michael Jeffries on drums and touring members, opened their set with “Stockholm” from the band’s second album Intimate Objects. Highlights of the set included a great cover of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and their biggest hit “Trojans”. It is a bit of a strange sight to see people playing ping pong in the middle of a rock concert, but there were plenty of people partaking in the various yard games scattered around the festival grounds.
Canadian born and raised dance popster Coleman Hell who is best known for his hit “2 Heads” was next up on the Backyard stage. Hell brought forth a dynamic performance, playing both fast paced songs such as “Take You Up” and slowing it down with sensual piece “Heat of the Night”. Hell proved himself to be a very engaging performer as he used a makeshift platform to leap up and down with the music. He ended the set with “2 Heads” which was worth seeing live, as Hell made his way into the crowd and urged the audience to sing along with him.
Moon Taxi, an American indie-progressive rock band based in Nashville, played on the smaller Porch Stage. Slated at the same time as Chvrches, the band had a smaller but dedicated audience and garnered enthusiastic cheers as the catchy keyboard licks for the intro “Red Hot Lights” began.
Glasgow Scotland indie dream pop band Chvrches attracted a large crowd at the festival’s main stage for the captivating vocals of Lauren Mayberry that soared over atmospheric keyboards, bass and samples from band mates Iain Cook and Martin Doherty as the band launched into “Never Ending Circles” to open their set. Doherty took over lead vocals for “High Enough to Carry You”, before the band tore through a barrage of their biggest songs, ending with “The Mother We Share” for a huge finish to the set.
Alternative rockers, Death Cab For Cutie, made a pit stop at Firefly in the middle of their tour. Starting their set with “The New Year” the seasoned group is no stranger to the festival scene and they were playing for a massive audience on the Firefly Main Stage. Halfway through the performance, vocalist Ben Gibbard announced to the crowd that what this set needed was a little elegance and he introduced Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry to the stage. A highlight in the set, Mayberry did a truly elegant and enchanting performance of “Brothers on a Hotel Bed”. Throughout the performance Death Cab played many of their hits in an together satisfying set, including “Black Sun”, “I Will Possess Your Heart” and “Soul Meets Body”.
It might have been a hard choice for many music fans to tear away from watching Death Cab for Cutie’s set on the main stage to catch M83’s show on the farthest stage away, as Death Cab were really ripping it up, but those who did were treated to a great set of the visionary music of Anthony Gonzalez and his ensemble. The set was further enhanced by a spectacular light show.
Ending their American tour, Florence & The Machine was the highlight of the night, and many would say the highlight of the entire festival. Florence Welch is truly a mesmerizing performer and the festival audience were entranced from the first note of the night, the haunting first notes of “What the Water Gave Me” to the very end. Welch’s vocals stole the show, as well as her engaging commentary and theatrics. Wearing a flowing green dress, there were times when the singer appeared to float as she ran from the far corners of the stage, at one point coming out into the middle of the crowd and standing on the fence over the audience. Before one of the artist’s more tender songs and one very special to the singer, Welch asked the audience to put away all their phones and just enjoy the experience.
Jean-Philip Grobler who performs and records by the name St. Lucia performed the first of two gigantic late night shows for those who wanted to keep the party going. Another boundless and energetic performer, St. Lucia led the audience through a set that culminated with the hit “Elevate”. Joel Thomas Zimmerman otherwise known as Deadmau5 started the rave party at the main stage with his signature mouse head keeping a large crowd dancing into the wee hours of the morning.
After two exhausting late night shows on Saturday, there were very few music fans strolling the festival grounds or catching early sets scattered among the seven stages early Sunday afternoon. For those who mustered the energy to get to the concert fields for singer/songwriter Marc Scibilia early afternoon set were treated to great set of the artist’s original compositions and a fantastic cover of Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark”.
Swim Deep, an alternative rock band from England drew another small but appreciative crowd, probably also due to the mega late night rage-a-thon the night before, and the group’s set was super-solid. A highlight was “Forever Spaceman”, which was fitting, because unknown to most people, a small company not far from the Firefly festival grounds make all the spacesuits for NASA and have since the early Apollo days.
British rockers The Struts came onto the stage Sunday afternoon swinging. Surprisingly formed in 2010, listening to their performance is like stepping back in time to the 1970s. Glam-rock heavy performances such as “Could Have Been Me” and “Put Your Money On Me” are just something different enough to be a breath of fresh air, and a testament to the variety of music offered throughout the festival.
Grouplove took the main stage later on that afternoon in a perfect summertime performance. Light happy tunes such as “Tongue Tied” and “Ways to Go” filled the festival grounds as the American Indie group ripped through an engaging performance.
Troy Andrews sure plays a mean trumpet for a guy named “Trombone Shorty”; actually, playing trombone is just one of many talents of Troy Andrews, in addition to his horn chops, he is an incredible vocalist and showman. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue served up huge steamy helping of New Orleans flavored Funk Stew. On the opposite stage, singer and songwriter Elle King had a mellow performance, featuring both original songs and covers. Her original song “Jackson” was followed by Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”.
Any 90’s rock music fan headed to the main stage for Blink-182’s performance. The band will be releasing a new album this July, the first since 2011. Their set included many fan favorites including “What’s My Age Again” and “All The Small Things” as well as songs off of their new album including “Bored To Death”. At one point, early in the performance, bassist Mark Hoppus addressed the crowd, noticing a rainbow flag and asked if the owner might let him borrow it. Once the flag made its way up to the stage Hoppus took the flag and laid it over one of their amps, a silent memorial for the Orlando shooting.
Dynamic English alternative rock band The 1975 sells out shows wherever they go and is a real tough ticket to get so a festival like Firefly is a great place to see them. The band mixed songs from their new album, I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it, including, “Love Me” and “UGH”, with songs from their self-titled debut.
Final headliner Mumford & Sons took the stage a little after 9:15 pm that night. Opening with “Snake Eyes” the British rock band hammered through their many hits throughout the night including “The Cave”, “Believe” and “Little Lion Man”. Halfway through the performance the band welcomed onto the stage Baaba Maal to sing a few songs off their new album Johannesburg including “Si Tu Veux” and radio hit “There Will Be Time”. A soulful set, which ended with a 4 song encore included “I Will Wait” and “The Wolf”, was a perfect ending for most festival goers. For anyone who was ready for one last party Major Lazer, the American electronic music group was throwing an energetic end-of-the-festival dance party.
Photos by ALive Coverage
