This week is DC's annual Cure/Smiths dance party and I am amp'd. It's always a great time and the people watching is A+. So I'll go with "Lovesong" by the Cure as the SOW, because make not mistake I am Team Cure at this event:
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Girls Just Wanna Weekend
Longtime YR readers will know my affinity for music cruises, especially when Weezer is involved. Who wouldn’t want to combine a sunny vacation with a music festival that doesn’t require camping? The other musical vacation that I’ve quietly kept my eye on in recent years (but hadn’t found a suitable lineup until now) is music festivals at all-inclusive resorts in Mexico. So when Brandi Carlile (she’s the best) organized a festival with the likes of Lucius and the Secret Sisters, I jumped all over it.
I was correct that this model was delightful – sit by the pool at an all-inclusive resort by day, walk over to the concert courtyard at night to enjoy tunes and more food and beverage…it was great. Each night there was an afternoon show at a small stage on the beach. Then after dinner the main stage started up with 3-4 hours of music.
Patty Griffin had ill-timed appendicitis and dropped out, replaced by Shawn Colvin. Colvin wasn’t that exciting, but it’s hard to complain about someone who flew to Mexico on one day’s notice to fill a hole in the lineup. Plus she did a cover of “Jolene,” so we’ll call her presence a wash. Brandi Carlile played a 1.5 hour set the first night as the headliner and she’s amazing live, so clearly this was great. As the headliner, Brandi also lead a lot of collaborative efforts – in all of her band’s sets, she brought out other artists to sing with her. She also dropped by every set by other artists to do a song together. So it was a highly collaborative affair. For this first set, she brought the Secret Sisters out for several songs and did a duet with Ruby Amanfu.
Day two featured a killer daytime Secret Sisters show at the beach and a more-entertaining-than-I-thought-it-would-be lip sync contest at the pool. KT Tunstall was up first on the main stage. I knew “Suddenly I See” from 10 years ago and in my head associated her as a one-hit wonder. Guys, I’ve been missing out on how amazingly awesome KT Tunstall is for the past 10 years. She had lots of good songs but that’s not even why I liked her so much. She just exudes fun. I was dancing, laughing, and just generally having a kickass time every time she was on stage. My favorite KT moment of the week wasn’t even during one of her performances. During the Ladies of the 80s cover set (we’ll get to that later) someone (must have been a friend of the band based on where they were side stage) came out of stage in an 80s aerobics outfit during one of the songs and was doing aerobics/dancing throughout the song. KT Tunstall comes out (dressed as Pat Benetar) stands behind the aerobics person and mimics her every move for the entire song. The next set was billed as “Brandi and Friends: Songs in the Round” which in practice meant that the Indigo Girls, Brandi, Maren Morris, Shawn Colvin, and KT took turns playing songs while sitting in a semi-circle on stage. Shawn and KT opted for crowd-pleasing covers, so gold star to them. Brandi and Maren played solo acoustic versions of songs I liked. The Indigo Girls sang their songs, which I don’t like, because they are the Indigo Girls and they are awful. The Indigo Girls headlined the night, which I had no interest in, so we went to the bar, got churros, and went to bed early.
Brandi and two members of her band hosted live band karaoke the next afternoon. Two clear highlights of the event: 1) The first act was an engaged couple, one of whom tap danced while his fiancé sang the song. I am now taking applications for people who would like to accompany my future karaoke performances with tap dancing. 2) Lucius sang “The Story” and Jess told a story about auditioning for American Idol with the song. Thank God she didn’t get on the show, otherwise we might not have Lucius. Lucius played a killer show that night on the main stage and were followed up by Maren Morris. Going into the event I thought I didn’t know any Maren Morris songs. Turns out I know several and just didn’t associate them with her (especially that “The Middle” song that I hear every time I’m in an Uber). Great night and easy to get close to the stage because the Indigo Girls super fans did not seem interested in either act.
Ruby Amanfu played the beach stage on Saturday with guest vocals from Lucius and the Secret Sisters. Mavis Staples was another last minute replacement (Margo Price dropped out) and delivered the best set of the week. She even had Jeff Tweedy in tow (or “Tweedy Deedy!” as she called him). It was the most joy I’d seen in a live show since the last time I saw Sharon Jones. I love Margo Price, but this ended up being a big upgrade. Brandi played a short set, then her band came back as an 80s cover band and most of the acts took turns singing vocals on classic 80s songs. Mostly female vocals 80s songs, obviously, but Anderson East came out as a surprise guest to sing “Livin’ on a Prayer.” This set was so much fun and (for the most part) the bands got really into it and had awesome costumes, etc. KT played Joan Jett and Pat Bentar. Lucius did a mean Heart and Whitney Houston. Ruby Amanfu rocked Madonna. The Secret Sisters did Dolly. It was all fun, except for the Indigo Girls, who (dressed normally) sang one of their songs that was released in the 80s. Come on. Totally not in the spirit of the event. Don’t invite them back next year, please.
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