Bridgeport’s Sound on Sound Festival Builds Foundation With Stevie Nicks, Lumineers, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, The National (FESTIVAL REVIEW/PHOTOS)

A new festival popped up this year to help close out the northeast states festival season – Sound on Sound in Bridgeport, Connecticut on September 24-25. The lineup was solid and a mix of proven draws, currently hot bands, and up-and-coming acts. The twelve daily musical acts alternated between two side-by-side stages so it was possible to catch all the music. The stages were a bit too far apart to really see both acts from one location and the sound echo made it hard to hear from some locations but the huge jumbotrons helped. The festival was spread over the huge acreage of Seaside Park, a peninsula of land stretching into the Long Island Sound, and seemed to have all the elements of good festivals today. 4Unfortunately the festival was plagued with operational problems, especially on Saturday. Luckily for those fans that returned, many were addressed by Sunday with quick responses from the festival planners.

Saturday’s headliners, Stevie Nicks, and The Lumineers, both put on quite the show. The Lumineers set up a huge walkway from the stage that reached through the deep VIP area that fronted the stage almost to the GA crowd and every band member made full use of it! They opened with “Brightside”, the title track from their latest album, crooned by lead singer Wesley Schultz and with all six band members starting on stage. But it wasn’t long before each was out on the walkway with their instruments including a white tropical-themed drum kit that rose from below for Jeremiah Fraites and bassist Byron Issacs dragging his stand-up bass out.

Running through an exuberant 20-song set they included all their hits – “Ho Hey”, “Ophelia”, “Cleopatra”, “Big Parade” – plus four other songs from their newest release. They worked the extended stage, swapped instruments and threw a huge party for the adoring and fully packed crowd. They made time to introduce the songs, and they varied the presentation of each song, some with images on the backdrop, varying the lighting, switching up stage positions. Piano player Stelth Ulvang was irrepressible – he was always in motion, whether jumping off his piano, doing a headstand on it, or playing with his feet.

During the closer, “Stubborn Love”, he could contain himself no longer; he grabbed a guitar, leapt off the stage into the crowd, ran through VIP and jumped up to the rail lining the front of the GA crowd and with their assistance walked a good 40 feet along the fence before tearing back though VIP to the stage in time for the end of the song. Their 90-minute set satisfied the audience. Yet even once they were done, they stuck around a bit handing out set lists to the fans.  What a show! This band just gets better and better.

Stevie Nicks closed the festival Saturday with a strong performance. With 85 minutes, she couldn’t get to all her hits but she got to most of them, and her voice was strong and she seemed more comfortable performing than the weekend before, despite claiming her voice was impacted by the cold weather of a show earlier in the week. She introduced each song and her stories felt genuine and fresh. Noting The Lumineers’ extended stage she quipped “Three years ago I would have walked down the catwalk like Gisele Bundchen but today something told me not to.”  Her 12-minute rendition of “Gold Dust Woman” including a frenzied dance as the guitars wailed was incredible. She’s playing a few more dates in October, so catch her if you can.

Sandwiched in between these two acts and on the smaller Sunset stage was Father John Misty. He too put on an excellent show opening with “I Love You, Honey Bear”, but did not have an enviable position. Luckily he had a sizeable following and kept the interest of those who were exiting after The Lumineers (because the Stevie Nicks crowd was not leaving their position).

Most of the early bands had only 45-minute slots (or half-hour) which hardly seemed long enough to get to know the music or for the band to establish their vibe. This was especially noted by this reviewer when her fave band The Revivalists hit mid-afternoon. They got a mere eight songs in, the first two ruined by sound problems. The vocals were low and the bass and drums were unbearable and the crowd was screaming to turn it down. Lead David Shaw switched between his mics but to no avail. The sound issue seemed to resolve and Shaw shed his shoes and socks and got down to business dancing around all corners of the stage with his usual energy, jumping down to the photo pit and climbing up into the crowd.

As soon as Michael Giradot hit the opening notes of “Soulfight” the crowd roared for this gem and Shaw gave it good. For a band with seven other members, they all get showcased and have a chance to put their touch on the songs – whether it’s the exuberance of PJ Howard on percussion, Giradot grabbing his trumpet and moving front and center or Ed Williams tipping his pedal steel and ripping a solo. While it’s hard to take your eyes off Shaw, there are always at least three others musicians trying to grab your attention.

Trampled by Turtles also deserved more than 45 minutes. From the moment they entered the stage, established their line of six musicians across the front of the stage in front of a soothing southwestern-themed backdrop, and hit with a dreamy “It’s So Hard To Hold On” they held the crowd in a trance.  As the show progressed, they got increasingly upbeat and got the crowd moving with their bluegrass-influenced folk. Late in the set, they asked members of Caamp to join them and closed with an excellent Alone” trading licks and lead vocal.

Sound problems plagued Zach Bryan as well. In fact, Bryan and his band walked off stage a few lines into their first song, seemingly piqued, but this finally allowed the techs to address the issue completely.  Bryan returned, his vocals and guitar were properly leveled but the bass and drums continued to be too high. Frustrated, Bryan took things into his own hands and just quit the song and jumped into something less bottom-driven and when the drums kicked in again during the third song, they seemed fixed. But his brand of hard country needs the heavy, and he finally gave up and finished his set a full 10 minutes early, much to the disappointment of his many many fans.

What should have been a great festival for music lovers – solid line-up of perennial favorites and hot newcomers, two stages with continuous but never overlapping performances, a proven location (Gathering of the Vibes has operated out of this space for years), decent weather including mostly dodging predicted second-day rain, an experienced producer in Founder’s Entertainment – was marred by plethora problems, many of which could have and should have been avoided especially given the experience level of the promoter.

Wifi and cell service were down for most of the late afternoon evening which made finding your krewe tough in the dark and poorly laid out fields but probably prevented Twitter and Facebook from exploding. Food, water, beverage, and bathroom lines were long – like over an hour long – and many food items ran out early, even in VIP. When a drone show (in lieu of fireworks) hit the darkening sky just before Stevie Nicks, someone in the crowd roared “drop us some food”.  As noted earlier, sound problems plagued the secondary Sunset stage early on but the crowd lining the rail for Stevie Nicks and The Lumineers on the main Seaside stage was also in agony from the bass and decibel level from the front of the stage. Even the photographers with high-end earplugs were jostling to not have to stand in front of the speakers.

The festival’s layout did not help the issue. The two stages and music were in the middle of the long space, jamming up the center. The West entrance was a good eight-minute walk to the music with little to do til you got there, the East entrance led into a well designed nonmusic area with games, vendors, merchandise, and areas to relax and watch the music on screens, but honestly, it was hard to get there with the crowd spread before the stages with no walkways, no limit on blankets or chairs. They are honestly very lucky there was not a major emergency on Saturday. Finally, VIP was just too damn big. Stevie Nicks fans in GA had no shot at decent sight lines for her. (On the smaller stage, GA got the rail on half the stage.

But what a difference a day makes.  It was apparent from the moment you prepared for Sunday’s Sound on Sound that the festival producers had worked hard overnight to improve the experience.  An announcement was made through social media “We heard your feedback…and are reconfiguring the viewing area”. As you arrived, the parking lot had cones delineating exits and more staff, and the first thing you saw as you approached the fields before the stages were signs saying “No chairs beyond this point”. And there was a new food vendor – FireEnginePizzaCompany who seemed well equipped to push out pizza to all quickly.

The VIP area in front of the Seaside stage grew smaller (without The Lumineers’ stage extension into the crowd) but still pushed GA too far from the main stage acts. With chairs pushed back to the periphery, movement throughout the festival was easy all day and food and beverage lines seemed more manageable. Without hindrances, there was time to discover the entire other side of the festival where about half the festival grounds were devoted to games, relaxing places to eat and drink while watching the stages on screens, craft beer, a wine grove, and other non-music activities.

And as the music started with Funky Dawgz brass band’s “Ain’t Nothin’ Like a New Orleans Party” you could feel yesterday’s stank wash away. Next up was the 3-part harmonies of Trousdale and then the fun party band that is The Main Squeeze.  As they hit the stage, the first few drops of rain threatened, but luckily never materialized until late in the festival day. 

90’s fave Spin Doctors put on quite the show, not only does lead singer Chris Barron still have a good voice, he still has the moves including multiple kicks over his head! There were many in the crowd who knew every song and looked the right age to have seen these guys as they worked the NYC club scene in the late 80s/early 90s before making it with their album “Pocket Full of Kryptonite”. They played all their hits including “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”, a clever and fun “Boombox” noting that all women should retain agency of their cassette players, and closing with “Two Princes”.

Noah Kahan was the draw for many of the younger fans, including the ones who brought N-O-A-H balloons and lined the rail screaming their devotion. Kahan played an engaging set with his self-deprecating humor and clever banter as he strummed his way through his seven-song set with a solid backing band. Gary Clark Jr. was spectacular with his heavy electric blues. Starting with a psychedelic intro, he extended “Bright Lights” to a full ten minutes to open the set. Mid-set “Next Door Neighbor Blues” and his best Isaac Hayes voice on “Feed the Babies” were fantastic. 

As The National hit the stage as the penultimate act, the winds started to whip up. Lead singer Matt Berninger jumped in with his deep and distinctive voice and quipped “this is our last show of the year, so we’re gonna mail it in.” Hardly the case as they put on quite the show. But he made good on his promise and late in the set during “Graceless” he jumped into the crowd to hand deliver himself to every fan.  Unfortunately, they were asked to cut their show a bit short in hope of making sure headliners Dave Matthew and Tim Reynolds could get in their set or most of it before the rain.

Matthews started about 15 minutes early and managed a nine-song hour-long set before lightning threatened and the skies opened up. During the set, Matthews sat on a stool with his acoustic, with Reynolds standing nearby with his guitar and they ran through a bunch of DMB songs with Matthews introducing each one. It was clear these two have played with and off each other for a few decades. And the crowd that stuck around despite the threatening weather were hardcore fans who were familiar with every song and knew every lyric.  

Early fall is spectacular in New England, and hopefully, Sound on Sound can keep up the great lineup and work out the kinks in the coming years. And a big element of festivals is the lineup. As one Stevie Nicks fan said, “it was worth not eating all day to see Stevie”. Sound on Sound has already announced they plan to return in 2023. Their quick response to Saturday’s kinks bodes well for this festival’s future.

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