Bunbury Music Festival started out a little rough with line problems on Friday, but after a redeeming Saturday and an even better Sunday, no one cared about that anymore.
We got our day started off right by hitting up The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band at the River Stage, which was easily the coolest stage of the weekend. I’d never heard the Big Damn Band before but I will never miss another opportunity to see them. The energy by front man Rev. Peyton was infectious and his skills on the guitar were unreal. He’s a finger style player, so he plays all the bass lines with his thumb while playing the melody with his other fingers. I especially enjoyed when he was playing the guitar behind his head. His wife, Breezy Peyton, was killing it on the washboard as well. They have a great chemistry that made for a great show. Check out “Pot Roast and Kisses” and “Music and Friends.” You won’t be disappointed.
After Big Damn Band, I took off for Lil Dicky while my big dumb idiot friend stuck around to see Shakey Graves. According to him, Shakey Graves was fantastic. So, if you’re inclined to believe him, they were good. I saw Lil Dicky who was hilarious. He got the crowd moving by playing some DMX because that’s exactly how you get people moving. His didn’t exactly blow me away, but it didn’t suck either. It was just ok. Atmosphere came on after him and immediately jumped the level of the festival up a couple notches. I think my favorite performance was “Kanye West” or “Trying To Find A Balance.” Both were on point.
Atmosphere did a rather good job warming up the crowd for what I will call the set of the weekend by Twenty One Pilots. The energy these guys brought to the stage was intense and it was a non-stop party from start to finish. Highlights included them shooting a music video for “Lane Boy” during their set that required us all to participate in a bit of choreography. Also, they played drums on top — you read that right — of the crowd. The best part, for me at least, was when lead man Tyler Joseph climbed the sound tower to finish up “Car Radio.”
After relocating our collective faces once Twenty One Pilots called it a night, the entire crowd headed west to the Yeatman’s Cove stage to see the Sunday night headliner. Snoop Dogg was everything you would expect if you grew up in the 90’s. He looks the same as he always has and he still loves weed. He did a medley of his hits and peppered in some covers as well. Biggie’s “Hypnotize” and Bob Marley’s “Jammin” were a nice touch.
At this point in the night, my 31-year old body gave up on me. Apparently I’m getting old because I had a back spasm while standing, watching Snoop. I wasn’t even dancing my face off or anything. The Big Dumb Idiot carried my backpack as I limped like a hunchback for the mile it took to get back to the hotel.
You win this round, Bunbury. But I’ll be back…
