Firefly Music Festival: Day 3

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The third and final day of Firefly was a blast. The sun came out, glittered-up hipsters dressed liked indians danced around to anything that had a thick bass beat and the bands kicked it into high gear for a wonderful finale to the inaugural year of the east coast’s premiere music event.

The day (for us) started with probably the best opening act we saw all weekend, Penguin Prison. I knew I liked the band, but I had no idea their performance would be such a boisterously fun dance party. This was easily the biggest surprise of the festival for me.

Next up, we headed over to the smallest stage at the festival, The Porch, and saw Reptar. The keyboardist was crazy, the lead singer occasionally strutted around like Mick Jagger and the guitarist loved every solo he had. It was tough to follow such a stellar performance by Penguin Prison, but they still rocked my socks off.

Bombay Bicycle Club played an energetic set well worthy of a thumbs up. During their performance a guy passed out right next to us and then tried to use his empty beer can as a pillow. However, while mostly passed out, he was tapping his toe and bobbing his head occasionally, so you know Bombay did a good job.

Cold War Kids played the first show we saw on the main stage on Sunday. It was probably the worst I’ve ever seen the band perform. They played certain songs slower than the studio versions and the rest of the performance felt like they were phoning it in. Although, the band did play a solid mix of songs, old and new, I was mostly disappointed.

After Cold War Kids, we headed over to Fitz & the Tantrums, who apparently needed our hands for every song… They were fantastically entertaining, got the crowd into, and one of the best performers of the festival but almost every song they started by saying something along the lines of, “okay, we’re going to need your hands for this one…” My hands are no floozies but they felt like it after Fitz’s performance. Another side note about Fitz, he played the Raconteurs’ song, “Steady As She Goes,” which Jack White played Friday night. I’m not sure if that is a festival faux pas, but I thought it was a little odd. Again, Fitz did an awesome job. Don’t get too hung up on my few criticisms.

Death Cab For Cutie, was a huge surprise to me. I’ve seen them multiple times, but never outside or at a festival. It was glorious. Ben Gibbard was “really fucking sick,” but still hit the high notes, got the crowd laughing and led an awesome jam session on a secondary drum set. I couldn’t have been more pleased with their performance.

After their/his performance on Sunday, I finally understand why Girl Talk is called Girl Talk. I mean no offense when I say this, but non-stop radio friendly, recognizable hooks with danceable beats and memorable vocal/rap performances all mashed together is like a magnet to most girls, as was apparent as swarms of scantily clad Firefloozies (word synergy) raced to The Backyard stage to dance along. Of course, the boys followed and enjoyed it equally, but the most asses shaken were those of the women. It was a dynamite show.

Closing out the day and the festival, The Black Keys played a comfortable, but admirable set that equated to the best  all-around performance of their’s I have seen to date. It didn’t stray to far from their typical setlist, but the crowd’s response to nearly every song was unmatched to the few other times I have seen them – a great way to end the weekend in Delaware.

UPDATE: Firefly will be returning in 2013!