Welcome to Kerfuffalo! A temporary community with a population of 12,000 that gathered at Buffalo’s Canalside Saturday afternoon for a nine and a half hour musical extravaganza. The music festival put on by Alternative Buffalo 107.7 consisted of nine different bands and the winner of the Artvoice Boom competition.
Uncle Ben’s Remedy kicked off the day with short shorts and a short set. The Artvoice Boom competition winners performed a high energy and quirky set while concertgoers flooded in to start their day.
Next up was California based band In The Valley Below, most known for their song “Peaches” released in 2013, which landed them a spot on the Billboard alternative top 20, 19 weeks in a row. Jeffrey Jacob and Angela Gail performed a cool and distant set that greatly juxtaposed the opening act. Their Lana Del Rey sound and onstage chemistry compared to that of July Talk created an atmosphere that left fans unfazed as they calmly watched the band perform.
As fans continued to trickle in Civil Twilight took the stage. The band from Cape town South Africa was amazingly humble, and immensely surprised at the size of their fan base so far from home. Civil Twilight brought an upbeat feeling into the day as they delivered a fan favorite “Holy Dove.”
The Mowgli’s may have had a member missing in action, but for those who were blissfully unaware their show wasn’t missing a thing. The band handled the absence of member Colin Dieden like professionals. While Colin was said to be with his family, his bandmates took to the stage without missing a beat, later on asking fans to send their love to the absent member. The band went above and beyond expectations given the circumstances. The differences between the recordings and the live performance were noticed and appreciated by fans especially during their more popular songs such as “San Francisco.”
Next the audience welcomed to the stage the indie rock group Saint Motel. The lively bunch joked that it was their first time in Buffalo, and they had only stopped because a band member forgot his passport on the way to Canada. However all jokes aside this band started an infectious dance party with cheery songs that featured a dynamic horn section. Saint Motel executed a performance of their hit song “My Type,” that suggested planned or unplanned Kerfuffalo natives would have embraced this band either way.
After five bands Kerfuffle fans were still going strong, up next Cold War Kids delivered a performance that received mixed reviews. Most fans either thoroughly enjoyed the set that sampled from all of the band’s past works, or they were more interested in the band’s newest releases and didn’t have much patience for anything else. Despite the controversy regarding their set, the band received praise from fellow artists The Gaslight Anthem as they advised the audience to check out Cold War Kids’ album Robbers & Cowards if they hadn’t already done so.
Natural performers New Politics came prepared to put on a show, and that they did. Celebrating drummer Louis Vecchio’s birthday the band was ready to have a party and expected the audience to do the same. They pleaded for energy and excitement from the crowd encouraging us all to “make the f***ing sky fall down.” Lead singer David Boyd was the reason to watch and not just listen to this band as he danced around stage, stood on the drumkit, and walked on top of the audience. New Politics had the full attention of the crowd, and joined us all together holding hands in the air as we were One Buffalo experiencing what life is all about.
After playing the hits that made them famous, and singles off their new album Vikings scheduled to release August 14th, 2015 Boyd broke out his old breakdancing moves and closed their show “Boyding” with a headstand.
It was a tough act to follow but someone’s gotta do it, and The Airborne Toxic Event was the perfect act to build on the lingering excitement from New Politics. The band knew how exactly to take the audience to “Hell and Back” as they were seasoned Kerfufflers, performing earlier this year at 107.7’s Kerfuffle Before Christmas. Lead singer Mikel Jollett came on stage spraying a bottle of champagne into the crowd for a treat twice as exciting as the hose water fans grew accustomed to on the 85⁰day. While delivering great performances of their hit songs.
The Airborne Toxic Event changed pace to shock the crowd with a memorable cover. They showcased their versatility as they promised “We’re going to do something we’ve never done,” which lead into an almost unrecognizable cover of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.” The band made the song their own with powerful guitar solos and giving it a general Airborne Toxic Event feel.
Nearing the end of a music filled day The Gaslight Anthem showed their respect for all the other acts throughout the day. When it came time for a performance of their own The Gaslight Anthem played to an eager crowd that bowed down to the lead singer shouting out “ I love you Brian!” The band played almost straight through their set with a sound that made your heart jump into your throat so you could feel the beat of the music every time you tried to breathe. While fans were thoroughly impressed with the New Jersey rock band, The Gaslight Anthem remained humble joking “we have a couple of songs left, then we will get out of the way.”
The Gaslight Anthem eventually gave way to the evening’s final act Cake. The band that has been in the music game for the past 24 years, put on a raw show that showcased all the reasons they have been able to stick around for so long. After years of experience the band’s signature sound, emphasizing band member Vince DiFiore’s trumpet solos, was intact. Lead singer John McCrea took his time getting audience participation during songs such as “Sick Of You,” breaking the audience into two and asking those in the middle to take the next 30 seconds to figure out who they were, and encouraged everyone to let freedom drive their singing. The old school values that many music lovers still have in regards to leaving new technology out of the show, were preached to the audience.The overall message being, a plea for a society consumed by social media to take a break for one night, for one song, to be in the moment together. Artists such as Cake can see that fans are so focused on remembering the shows forever, that they end up missing out on the actual experience of being there. In true Cake fashion, the band delivered a great deal of wisdom followed by a crack at their own unprofessionalism as they revealed that they refused to play with a set list, winging it for the last few songs.
Cake soon parted ways with their fans on the note that “We hate to leave Buffalo, but it will never be like this again.” Alternative Buffalo 107.7’s second annual Kerfuffle was a success, those who weren’t there missed out because it really will never be like this again.
Cake setlist:
Sheep Go to Heaven
Frank Sinatra
Love You Madly
Italian Leather Sofa
Wheels
Mustache Man (Wasted)
Long Time
Sick of You
I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor cover)
Never There
Encore:
Short Skirt/Long Jacket
The Distance
Photos by BackstageAxxess Correspondent Nick LoVerde.
We would like to thank Nik Rivers from Alternative Buffalo for the credentials to review the show.
