Yesterday we missed a band due to them cancelling, but discovered a great Lehigh Valley band, saw an interesting performance by Frenchy and the Punk, and heard the best voice of Musikfeset so far.
The evening started out confusing as we strolled up to Americaplatz and were hearing rock music when Ball in the House, an a capella group, was supposed to be playing. Turns out they cancelled for the evening and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes were subbing in for them.
We decided to head inside and hear Our Griffins, an LV group fronted by DJ Brown. They are currently working on releasing The Michael Boyd Album, the follow-up to their 2011 EP Conversations. Although fairly loud for the venue (Lyrikplatz), they put on a damn good show. Brown’s delicate vocals and powerful lyrics were contrasted by huge, sonic guitar riffs. Keep these guys on your radar and see them when they play in town next.
Next up was McClain Sullivan. Holy shit, guys. Her voice was astounding. She played solo, with only an f-hole guitar to quietly accompany her devastating lyrics. At one point she remarked, “This song is about drinking, although I don’t support that.” Interesting remark for her, as her voice is deep, smoky, and as heart-wrenchingly complex as a beautiful single malt scotch.
We then popped over to French and the Punk. They had a surprisingly small crowd, as it seemed their show was decently promoted and unique. Their show was, as we suspected…interesting. A mix of…what’s the European version of Americana? Europeacana? Yeah, a mix of that, gypsy rock, and percussion-only songs. They got the crowd into it for a while, but on the whole their set was rather bland and it whole thing seemed like they were trying a bit hard. That’s unfortunate, because we really wanted to like them, but just couldn’t seem to get interested. Perhaps the second half of their set fared better. Edit: After thinking more, perhaps this would have been more entertaining had it been at a different venue.
The evening ended with a bit of a bummer, as the rain seemingly cancelled the outdoor performance of Julian Fulton and the Zombie Gospel, so it was a drizzly hike back to the car at 11pm as hints of the Philly Funk Authority’s set wafted through the air. And so we enter into the final stretch…check back all weekend for photos and reviews as Musikfest rolls to a close.