CD101 Day: Side B, like Side A, was originally sold out in the indoor LC and moved outside due to the unusually early warm weather. Side A turned out to be a little chilly, but with the sunny, breezy weather Side B was showing, it would’ve been a shame for the show to happen anywhere else but outdoors. Thousands of eclectic fans gathered for what was proclaimed by many as the “more hipster” of the two CD101 events. Regardless of which was actually more hipster, thousands of fans of the Alternative Station came out to enjoy what was sure to be an unforgettable night.
The night kicked off with new local favorites, The Regrettes; winners of the CD101 local band contest. The band’s energy and enthusiasm was impressive, as they played before the sun even started to set, what was truly impressive was the amount of fans attracted to the concert just to see their performance. Throughout the Pavilion, people of all ages donned black and white Regrettes shirts while enjoying the confident voices of the band’s two female vocalists, Lizzy Morris and Meghan Hutchinson. For a band which began performing last December, The Regrettes performed a great set and got the audience revved up for the remaining performers.
The Regrettes, LC Pavilion
Next on the bill was Reptar, a poppy group hailing from Athens, GA. Since the band opened for (now unbelievably popular) Foster the People last October, they’ve been on tour prepping for the release of their debut album, Body Faucet, out this May. They proved their versatility throughout their set, performing songs which were perfect for the spring sunshine. Despite the fact of being early on the bill, they effortlessly managed to pull the crowd in with their synth-laden, lighthearted songs. The band is bound to become indie sweethearts come summertime, with anthem, upbeat songs like “Sebastian” and “Orifice Origami”. It was clear by the end of their set that Reptar would be the band audience members would brag about having seen before they got famous.
Reptar, LC Pavilion
From the opposite side of the musical spectrum, The Features approached the stage with an almost intimidating intensity, which ensured that the crowd was eating out of the palm of their hand from the moment they began. Their guitars sounded grittier, their demeanor was more soulful, they had beards, and they were ready to rock (but not too hard… this is CD101 Day we’re talking about.) After a couple of songs, I jumped to the conclusion that if The Black Keys bought a synthesizer and Dan Aurbach suddenly became a tenor, they would be The Features. But I was quickly disproven by songs like “From Now On” and “How It Starts”, which proved that they possessed a certain Nashville charm that was distinctive to their band alone. In many ways, they were a quintessential alternative rock band that possessed the pulsating rhythms, catchy riffs, and inspired lyrics that finally got the audience pumped for the rest of the night. The night was half over, but the party had just begun.
The Features, LC Pavilion
As I meandered through the crowd before the set of hometown heroes, Walk The Moon, I was confronted by a group of my friends, a few strangers, and a tiny palette of face paints. “Do you want to get face paint? Oh no, you NEED face paint!” my friend insisted. I hesitantly agreed and was decorated with red dots, just upon my cheeks. Because the band opened for Fitz and the Tantrums last November, I knew that one of their traditions was to decorate their audience members with face paint. But this experience was different; this time, the band was reeling from their appearance on Fallon three days earlier and the crowd was impatient with excitement. I now felt as though I’d been initiated into a sort of secret society. I was ready to Walk the Moon.
Comparatively with their last Columbus performance, the band gallivanted onto the stage with a newfound confidence. They performed favorites like “Anna Sun” and “Next in Line” as though they were concert veterans. Perhaps what made the audience so excited for the band, aside from their amazing songs, was the fact that they were a band that wasn’t afraid to communicate with their audience; in fact, they possessed a peculiar comradery with most of their fan base. These guys weren’t hiding away, writing songs in their van; they were eager to become friends with their fans, and they just happened to use face paint as a sort of ice breaker. Needless to say, a little face paint and a lot of raw talent go a long way.
Walk The Moon, LC Pavilion
It was finally 9:30. In minutes, we’d be reveling in the upbeat, oscillating melodies of headliners The Naked and Famous – who hailed from far off New Zealand and have been touring nonstop since even before the release of their game-changing LP, Passive Me, Aggressive You. When the lights finally dimmed and the LED’s flickered with excitement, there was officially no turning back for the crowd. And as the beat to “All of This” began to resound through the Pavilion, there was nothing left to do but dance to the rhythm of the synths and the drums, complimented by the impeccable vocals of Alisa Xayalith. Crowd surfers blanketed the pit as the rhythms of the band made it impossible to turn away from the spectacle that was before us. Performed with almost hypnotic precision, each song packed more intensity than the last, and, although some audience members found slower-paced songs to have been an interruption to the momentum of their performance, I found songs like “The Sun” and “The Ends” to have been exemplary of their exceptional skills as performers.
The Naked and Famous, LC Pavilion
The concert kicked into overdrive in the middle of their set, when they performed “Spank”, which managed to keep the attention and energy of the crowd, even during the revamps at the end of each chorus. Each time the song took a pause, it was as though the energy returned two-fold, which made the night endlessly enjoyable for the energetic crowd.
The Naked and Famous’ encore consisted of arguably two of their best songs, “Girls Like You” and “Young Blood”. “Girls Like You”, a slightly bitter, honest ode to the encounters of guitarist and singer Thom Powers with the type of girl consumed by her own superficialities. The pointed lyrics, “Your heart is a stone/ buried underneath your pretty clothes”, brought a dark tone to an otherwise catchy and simplistic melody. But regardless of the tone of the preceding song, the intensity of the entire show could have never amounted to the outbreak of excitement from the crowd which accompanied the beginning chords of the band’s biggest hit, “Young Blood”. The lyrics were impulsively chanted throughout the venue, from beginning to end, as the last CD101 day of the year came to a close. Overall, CD101 day Side B, along with Side A, was an unforgettable inauguration for what is certain to be an even more amazing season of outdoor concerts to come.
-Shelby Williams
promowestlive 