Great Start to the WE-eekend
Yesterday I actually got off of work about 8:00 - believe me that's a nice change from the way the rest of the week had gone - so I decided to go down to check out WE Fest. For those who don't know, and unless you live around Wilmington you probably wouldn't, WE is a 4-day festival of independent music, art, and film that's held here each Memorial Day weekend. Also it takes place about 2 blocks from my apartment, and costs $1/day to get in, so getting there required only a very small investment of time and money on my part.
I got there in time to see most of Jennifer Glass's set (her...not her). Nice singer-songwriter acoustic stuff, and good way to kick things off. But here's the beauty of the whole concept - there are 3 different floors in the building, and each has a different stage. So that means when one act ends, you can walk right over to hear another band while the first stage is setting up for the next one. Very well planned out.
After listening to a little of I Love You Airlines, I headed upstairs to catch Seems So Bright, a sort of modern-rock-with-Radiohead-esque-undertones group from NYC. Then it was back downstairs for the bluegrass trio Barnraisers. Towards the end of that set, it became quite noticeable that something HEAVY was going down in the basement (the bass/guitar/banjo combo 15 feet in front of me was being drowned out by sounds traveling up through the concrete floor). I had to see what that was all about.
Enter Study of The Sirens, a vocal-less rock/metal band that kind of reminded me of Explosions in the Sky (from the Friday Night Lights theme song). Outstanding set, and definitely a pleasant surprise, because that was one I was planning to skip in favor of Snatches of Pink. Fortunately the timing worked out that I could hear both.
Anyway, it was a great time. I've put in all the links above so you check these bands out for yourselves if you want. They're all small-label or unsigned acts, and I know they would appreciate all the support they can get. And as I got off at 1:00 today (that's not bad for a Saturday!), I'm sure I'll end up back over there at some point - there's a full slate of music right through Monday.
Rock on.
I got there in time to see most of Jennifer Glass's set (her...not her). Nice singer-songwriter acoustic stuff, and good way to kick things off. But here's the beauty of the whole concept - there are 3 different floors in the building, and each has a different stage. So that means when one act ends, you can walk right over to hear another band while the first stage is setting up for the next one. Very well planned out.
After listening to a little of I Love You Airlines, I headed upstairs to catch Seems So Bright, a sort of modern-rock-with-Radiohead-esque-undertones group from NYC. Then it was back downstairs for the bluegrass trio Barnraisers. Towards the end of that set, it became quite noticeable that something HEAVY was going down in the basement (the bass/guitar/banjo combo 15 feet in front of me was being drowned out by sounds traveling up through the concrete floor). I had to see what that was all about.
Enter Study of The Sirens, a vocal-less rock/metal band that kind of reminded me of Explosions in the Sky (from the Friday Night Lights theme song). Outstanding set, and definitely a pleasant surprise, because that was one I was planning to skip in favor of Snatches of Pink. Fortunately the timing worked out that I could hear both.
Anyway, it was a great time. I've put in all the links above so you check these bands out for yourselves if you want. They're all small-label or unsigned acts, and I know they would appreciate all the support they can get. And as I got off at 1:00 today (that's not bad for a Saturday!), I'm sure I'll end up back over there at some point - there's a full slate of music right through Monday.
Rock on.
posted by jonphiwil @ 1:35 PM
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