I’d never been to a music festival before, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I’d seen pictures and promo videos, but I never thought that’s what it would actually be like. So I showed up to Rock the Shores, found myself a nice spot on the grass with a perfect and close view of the stage, and waited for the whole two-day experience to come to me.
First on stage on Saturday was Willa, and her band was a lot of fun. She definitely fit the whole upbeat summer vibe and had a few die-hard fans, with signs and everything. Scott Hellman followed; he was a total charmer right from the start. Girls were literally running from all corners of the festival to get as close as possible to the stage (I even found myself gushing a bit). No Sinner brought an old-school, rockin’ biker sound to the fest with raspy vocals and a lot of attitude. The Glorious Sons were a ton of fun and they started to get people up on their feet dancing. 54-40 were great, too; not so much my style, but really cool to hear tunes I grew up listening to.
Me and my friends made our way down to stand in front of the stage and rocked out to Current Swell. It was my third time seeing them live in the past year, and they’ve killed it every show. These Victoria locals got feet stomping and fists pumping.
The Sheepdogs were so much fun; it’s amazing to listen to songs on the radio, admire them, sing them, and then get to be enveloped in them completely.
And so it went for the whole weekend; it was everything I wanted. The Black Keys were awesome. TV on the Radio, Father John Misty, and Jane’s Addiction were fun, even though I’m not super familiar with them. Jesse Roper, Kim Churchill, and Zerbin made me swoon a little just watching them sing songs that I play when I’m sad or when I feel like I need to rock out. I didn’t really know what to think of PPL MVR; I admired their unique and odd approach to things (they were dressed as Yetis) but they have a lot of room for improvement.
Among the incredibly vast amount of talent that was displayed at Rock the Shores, one group really stood out. One group had thousands of people mesmerized and smiling from ear to ear. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros took the cake, hands down. I was so close to the stage, wrapped up in the crowd, the sunset, and the songs; I don’t remember a happier moment in my life than that. As cheesy as it sounds, it was magical. My friend, who does not dance, at all, was dancing with me and everything in the world stood still, as if to listen to the band play and sing, and then we all sang, and it was beautiful.
Rock the Shores was one of the best experiences of my life. I will never forget it.