The bugs had been awful earlier in the day during Cullah’s set. Now it was night and it seemed as if the rest of the swarm was out in search of a snack. Luckily for the audience, they flocked to bright lights. Unluckily for the band up on stage, Lovelytheband was practically glowing. The bright dazzling lights rotated and focused on the performers in a variety of different colors, but almost always kept them illuminated!
From the jumbo screens, we could see the bugs going right after the musicians throughout the performance. Frontman Mitch Collins, in particular, tried to discreetly swat them away, however, the camera caught the entire battle! His woes, unfortunately, did not end there as his earpiece also seemed to keep slipping out on top of the unfortunate bug situation.
Even though the band tried to keep up the energy, we got snippets that it wasn’t too fun up there. The bugs seemed to be winning. A second victory as they had, earlier in the day, made Jake and I abandon a set early.
Back to the Start of the set of Lovelytheband
Backing up a bit, the intro to the set was bold and creative. Prior to the band’s emergence, the speakers played this very personal voiceover with an underlying energy that just got stronger, building up, till the voice said Lovelytheband. The crowd roared as they came up on stage.
For someone who hasn’t really listened to Lovelytheband before, I found their sound to be a little more on the chill vibe side of indie rock. I enjoyed the raspy rock vocals and was surprised when my boyfriend seemed confused.
This was the first time seeing the group for the both of us, but Jake is familiar with them from some of their hits and was excited to go see them. Meanwhile, I was kind of just along for the ride! Yet here I was getting into the music and vibing while he seemed a bit more skeptical.
It would all click together during the car ride home when my boyfriend played the recorded versions of their music. It was like night and day. On stage, their music came off with a raspy alt-rock vibe that was simply missing from the autotuned pop hits that had taken over the radio. With that being said, the music wasn’t bad, if anything it was fantastic. The heavy lyrics and raspy tone were offset by a party-like atmosphere that had the crowd jumping. The issue for some seemed to be a mismatch between expectation and stage reality.
If you were hoping to catch lovelytheband soon, I am unfortunately the bearer of bad news. The group’s Summerfest performance was the last show of the “If we’re being honest” tour. This means you will likely be waiting until at least late 2024.
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Made me giggle! Enjoy reading your stories!