Ah yes, a great way to kick off a Friday. Take-A-Taco, a fest favorite.
Followed up by this monstrosity, courtesy of returning (after two years) stand Bees Knees, who are expensive but downright goddamn fantastic. This is a kim-chi tempeh reuben. Vegetarian as all hell, but undeniably delicious. This was downed in about 45 seconds.
And it was after housing that sandwich that we saw probably the best band of the entirety of Musikfest, Lucky Chops. If you’re not familiar, these guys put out crazy funky and awesome horn-fronted music that will make you dance your ass off. When we first started shooting this show there were like three people up front by the stage and by the end, well, you can see from the photos. One of the most ‘famous’ bands to hit the free stages this year, these guys tore it up. From the crazy ass baritone sax player Leo P to the equally dancaholic trombonist and tenor saxes, these guys didn’t let up. Artsquest needs to bring them back, and when they do, you need to be there.
Next up we hit Ceramic Animal on the Main Street stage, who we saw play the late night stage last year. These guys were crazy as hell, wearing suits on one of, if not the hottest night of the year. Their originals, a solid dose of psych rock, eventually gave way to an odd barrage of 50s-ish songs/covers. They played a long set, but they diverged from their sound so much it actually got boring. Things spiced up a bit when they laid into a cover of The Killers, and got a solid crowd up dancing. Following that, they veered back into the territory of their usual music, and finished out sounding great.
There was also a dino. No one knew why.
Afterwards it was off to the SouthSide to catch the tail end of Former Belle’s set, who sounded a little harder and a little livelier than we expected based on their recordings. Still sounding like a Conor Oberst clone, these guys put on a great few songs from what we saw and we hope they continue to come back to the Lehigh Valley. They would be great at venues like the Funhouse or the Alternative Gallery.
Finishing out the night were The Lawsuits, who played a great set, even if we were a little too inebriated to give it a full, proper write-up. As was the case for Ceramic Animal last year and this year, we hope these guys stick around and get a promotion to the Main Street stage next year to be heard by a bigger crowd than the sparse bunch that stuck around til the wee hours.
