The Post In Which I Write About What My Ears Heard at the Summer Well Music Festival [Day 1]

So after English Camp (and a family vacation to the mountains of Austria) I went to Summer Well...

Basically it was a music festival with maybe 4 bands that I knew, and 6 that I was introduced too.

In order of performance:
(names that are in bold are the bands I knew before the festival)

Day 1:

PRIDES
Chloe Howl
The 1975
John Newman
Bastille

Day 2:

Reptile Youth
Tom Odell
Miles Kane
The National
Placebo

When I bought my ticket in April (I've been waiting for a while) I looked up Tom Odell and really liked his style. But more on that later!

Prides (stylized PR/DES), a trio from Glasgow, Scotland, started off the Festival with some really awesome music. Like I really enjoyed their set. I would classify them as synth-pop and would rank them with the likes of CHVRCHES and maybe Passion Pit with less twee. But after the festival I made a point to find more of their music.

Prides - "The Seeds You Sow"

So after Prides was Chloe Howl. Thought her voice was really good, but I didn't get into any of her songs that much. Just a typical pop singer. I will say that since she is from the UK that instantly puts her above most of the pop music from the States. I don't know why, but I enjoy British pop more than American pop.. so this festival was the place for me (almost all the bands were from the UK!)

Following Chloe Howl was The 1975, a band I had listened to before. After the festival my opinion of them was the same.. if not worse. hahaha I think there are four songs of theirs that I like.. many of them sound similar so during the concert I was unsure of which song they were actually playing. They simply sound very similar and I'm not a die-hard fan. (Like my sister and hundreds of the other screaming girls at Summer Well. Rebekah caught a sweaty towel the drummer threw out and wrestled it away from another girl that claimed "he threw it to me")

The reason I didn't like them much after the concert was because the lead singer seemed like such a jerk.. and he started the concert acting like he didn't even want to be there. Maybe he was trying to do the whole "I'm-a-rock-star-and-I-don't-care-about-anything-except-my-hair-and-my-self." I don't know.. but here is one song of theirs that I do quite like.. and the guitar part in the beginning is so recognizable they started playing it mid way through the concert.. then stopped abruptly and said, "Just kidding" then they started another song! LOL

The 1975 - "Robbers"

John Newman was highly anticipated in the crowd. I could tell because right after The 1975 left the stage, the crowds pressed in closer. People wanted to be as close as they could to the stage for Mr. Newman. And he gave a show! Goodness me. The kid could dance and sing, and he had two back up singers who added just a bit of a "gospel" sound to the set. It was, as Brits would say, brilliant. As Romanains would say.. a fost genial. And it was. I knew most of his songs, so it was quite fun to sing along and groove to his music!

from my device.

John Newman - "Love Me Again" (Such a fun song)

(the whole band during "a completely inappropriately titled" song "Overjoyed." Its quite slow and somber..)  

(I was quite close)

BASTILLE was the show of the night for me (and lots of other people in the crowd. I actually ran into two of the teens from English Camp. They loved Bastille as much as I did, and during the concert we were singing the loudest right next to each other).

 Not only are they one of my favorite bands (only Mumford & Sons and Coldplay rank higher on my list). Also Bastille is a relatively new band (only one album, but loads of songs) so they are fresh for me. All of their songs are in my top played list on iTunes. So I like them quite a bit. 

Their show was so cool for so many reasons. I hope I remember all the points. 

1. For a four-piece band (and the help of some audio tracks) they sound amazing live. The lead singer is able to hit all of the notes he hits on the studio recorded versions and it was just such a wonderfully performed set. All of the songs sounded perfect. I can't think of anything that didn't sound awesome. 

2. The lead singer said "Multumesc" after one of their songs that received extra loud applause, and everyone went crazy. In stark contrast to The 1975, Bastille was so respectful. Not only did they keep saying how excited they were to be here, but when they played their slow, piano-driven song "Oblivion" and the audience all pulled out lighters of telephones and swung them over their heads to the beat the lead singer paused for a moment and looked at and murmured (just loud enough for us to hear) "Wow...." then he continued on. It was so cool to see how excited and truly grateful they were to be doing what they love - play good music - for a living. I didn't feel this from any of the other bands. All the other groups (except Prides actually) had this air of importance. Prides and Bastille were the only only bands that seemed genuinely pleased. I know I may be reading too much into things (like I do) but (not like it bothered me) but Prides and Bastille were also the only two groups that didn't cuss and request, "Make some F***ing noise!" I respect this, Bastille played their music and were thrilled that thousands of people knew their tunes. . 

3. They played almost all of their songs. Since they were headlining the first day, they had the largest time slot and were able to play many of their songs. They played slow ones, and fast ones, and had us crouching down,  only to get up during the chorus and jump up and down ("the only dance move I know how to do" - Dan Smith, lead singer). And THEY PLAYED AN UNRELEASED SONG. It was called "Blame" and was super, super awesome. I can't even describe it. I keep saying cool and awesome.

4. Near the end of the concert the lead singer said, "So we have one more song..." and knowing that the song was "Pompeii" because they hadn't played it yet I started singing loudly, "Eh eh oh eh oh eh eh oh eh oh" (just like the start of the song) and soon everyone in the audience had joined me. With a smile of humbled joy the lead singer shook his head and said, "Oh.. you know us too well." And then they started the song.

Bastille - "Pompeii" (this is pretty much exactly the same performance. Except at Summer Well the lead singer took a fan-made poster from the crowd and held it up during this song. It read "How Am I Gonna Be An Octopus About This" which is a possible mondegreen of the real lyrics "how am I gonna be an optimist about this!" Also: So cool how there are drums set up all of the stage so the singer can move around and hit them too!) 

Thank you BASTILLE for such a wonderful time and great show. It was certainly a once in a lifetime experience for me. 

Also.. thank you for attempting to say "La revedere." You said "multumesc" better! 

And now my favorite Bastille song (even though it is impossible to choose one).

Bastille - "Laughter Lines" (un-official video, but sorta fits the mood)