Friday was the third day of Treefort Music Fest. Early in the day there were a few Storyfort (Treefort’s literature and poetry events) activities at the quaint wine bar Ochos. Anika Jade Levy and Justin Taylor discussed the process and motivation that drove their newly published material. After the discussion finished; Mutt Readings began a series of readings from writers hailing far and wide across the United States. Zac Smith and Avee Chaudhuri were the standouts. Both of them brought fresh, sardonic, and conversational style to their pieces. Back at Julia Davis Park, the weather started to heat up. Anamanaguchi performed a set of their energetic 8-bit style music. They played a few tracks from the soundtrack they wrote for Scott Pilgrim VS. The World: The Video Game.
Over at the Shrine Social Club (the farthest venue from the main stage) Merce Lemon sang her sad indie rock songs only about a foot above the crowd. Every song was wonderfully arranged, strategically building up instrumentation and volume to make each chorus hit. Downstairs in the cozy bar and games area of the Shrine, White Hot Velvet screamed their hearts out to the retro 50’s sound they brought to the stage. As their set was about to end, the lead singer announced that this was their first show.
After a short walk, the Knitting Factory held the electronic-focused musicians for the day. Deep Heaven and Femtanyl gave great performances to wild crowds, but the house engineers couldn’t quite figure out how to give their 80’s synths or screeching samples the volume and fidelity they deserved. Magdalena Bay drew in a massive crowd at the Main Stage. Mica Tenenbaum shredded on the keytar while delivering beautiful vocals. Nearby at Boise Brewing, Utah local band future.exboyfriend played to a chill audience not unlike the bar crowd back home in Salt Lake. The night ended with a rowdy performance of early 60’s style rock from The Nude Party. At any given moment two members of the audience surfed on the waves of lifting hands, and by the end of the show even the keyboardist and guitarist of the band joined in on the surfing.
Gallery by Natalie Simpson | Beehive Photo
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