Big Jesus might have looked young to be serious musicians up on The Loft stage, then again Manchester Orchestra started in high school, but they delivered to a good-sized crowd that enjoyed the deliciously dark lyrics which teetered into the realm of a Pearl Jam sound. A: The Color downstairs at Vinyl created more of a Muse vibe with style and lingering high-pitched notes from singer Ethan Jack, who held onto a bright fluorescent light the entire set for effect and imagery. Guitarist Zach Beachman impressed with intense guitar riff creations heading into heavier songs. Back up at The Loft I watched Death on Two Wheels give a charged classic hard rock performance. Considering the band title and alluring badass persona they gave, I fully expected some motorcycles on stage to rev fire. The band invited Kevin Devine, whom performed later solo, on stage where he calmed the rough sounds to the melodic ominous tune “Brother’s Blood.”
Harrison Hudson took his turn on the Vinyl stage, and introduced the crowd to early Beatles sounds and cutesy lyrics dressed up in bad boy image-- think Johnny Depp’s Crybaby character without the cheesiness. Hudson offers endearing lyrics for love advice in happy-go-lucky tunes like “Cherish The One You Got” and “Every Girl” from his just released album American Thunder. All Get Out upstairs kept the crowd laughing with their jokes and even welcomed a fan all the way from Australia. The band ventured into the indie side of things while singing radio worthy “Bring It Home,” but weren’t all about pretty tunes; some songs loud and fervent kept the energy alive in the audience. Andy Hull’s solo side project Right Away, Great Captain! played an acoustic set on the small Vinyl stage, and with the intimate setting it was as close as fans could get to the bearded musician.
Center Stage finally opened to the crowd as they rushed in to gain prime spots in the mini arena-like venue for the last three main acts, The Dear Hunter, Cage the Elephant, and Manchester Orchestra. Hailing from Rhode Island rather than Atlanta, The Dear Hunter kept the crowd’s taste buds satisfied. Singer Casey Crescenzo electrified the audience with songs “He Said He Had A Story” and “Home.” The band likes a congruency between their albums such as The Color Spectrum compilation, and delivered the same to their performance. While Kevin Devine finished out as the last act for the smaller stages, Cage the Elephant sidelined once again with Manchester Orchestra in Atlanta for the third time this year. This time we saw from frontman Matt Shultz several multiple dives into the crowd, in fact within the first few songs, and audience members actually holding him up vertically before jumping into the sea of hands again. He showed us his quirky side by wearing little bows in his hair as he stood still and with eyes closed crooned “Flow,” a gem that shows the band’s softer side before taking it up a notch again. The grungy rockers played several songs from latest album Thank You, Happy Birthday including radio favorites “Shake Me Down,” “Aberdeen,” and “Wicked.”
Then there was only one band left to top us off with that last slice of musical pie to make sure we really were stuffed, Manchester Orchestra. Andy Hull has the ability to cast a spell over a crowd and taking them on a rollercoaster of rises and falls through his songs from slow simple notes with just his voice and fans murmuring lyrics with him to fevered beats and screams connecting the pieces of the whole band back together in the same tune, such as in “End of The World.” The band played songs mostly from Simple Math like “April’s Fool,” “Pensacola,” and “Pale Black Eye.” Manchester played a slowed down version of “The Only One,” without the full band having so much of a part, entrancing the audience even more. Keyboardist Chris Freeman impressed with his ability to pay attention to electronics, keyboard, and rock out on drums during the performance. For encore, I was expecting Cage the Elephant to return to the stage like they did at The Tabernacle for a duo performance. However, Kevin Devine came out and charmed us with an acoustic duet with Andy Hull for their Bad Books song “You’re A Mirror I Cannot Avoid,” before a slew of several drum sets and drum players finished out the night with “Where Have You Been.”
I am excited to see how the newbie bands under Favorite Gentlemen’s wing will progress in the competitive Atlanta music scene, but they have a good fighting chance from the talent I saw at The Stuffing event. Until next year when we come together again to fill our ears with great music! Check out pics from the photos here.
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