Being a fan of live music, I love music festivals. It's a great way to see a bunch of bands all at once, from long time favorites I've seen multiple times to bands I've never gotten around to seeing to bands I've never heard of. Unfortunately, I live in New England, and music festivals tend to only happen a few months out of the year. When Run for Cover and The Bowery Presents announced Something in the Way, I immediately wanted to go. An all day, indoor, multiple stage festival happening right when winter starts sucking fully? Sign us up. Here are my highlights for the Sunday edition of Something in the Way!
Mini Trees
One thing I liked about the Sunday edition of Something in the Way was how it seemed to focus on hardcore/punk bands and shoegaze. I walked in towards the end of Portrayal of Guilt's set, which was quite heavy and screamy. The first full set I saw was Mini Trees, who are a self-described "sad dream pop" band. Mini Trees music is gorgeous. It lands more on the pop side of dream pop, with these lush and stunning songs that won over everyone. It quickly went from me making sure I check them out to make sure I give everyone playing a chance to becoming completely enamored with their sound. This is another band challenging my anti-pop stance, and winning.
They Are Gutting a Body of Water
No other band balanced on the line between hardcore and shoegaze quite like They Are Gutting a Body of Water, aka TAGABOW. The Philadelphia band play heavy shoegaze like no other, with a slow and plodding style that both washed over the crowd with the warmth of shoegaze while pummeling them at the same time. The band formed a circle while playing, so that no one but the drummer was facing the crowd and somehow still had some of the best stage presence of the day. Playing the second stage without a barricade and with a quite liberal policy to stage divers, somehow the near constant stage divers added to the entire vibe of their set. TAGABOW are a band I didn't expect to absolutely love, but that's the beauty of a music festival.
Glare
Hailing from Texas, Glare are a more traditionally shoegaze band. I watched them from the back of the room so I could plant myself in a good spot for Weakened Friends' last minute set, but I wish I could have seen them from a better spot. They played a highly engaging set with constant drone and expert loud/quiet/loud songs. Shoegaze doesn't usually have pop hooks as tight at Glare, but they made it work. It's a genre where lyrics and vocals tend to take a backseat to vibe and instruments, but that doesn't appear to be the case with Glare. They're the rare shoegaze band where you want to hear more of the vocals.
Weakened Friends
No offense to Sadurn, but I was thrilled that Weakened Friends were added last minute when they dropped out. I've seen them more than a few times over the past ten or so years, and Sunday night's show might have been my favorite of all of those times. I was a bit concerned that the crowd might not be familiar with them being a last minute addition and all, but they were pumped to see Weakened Friends with a good segment of the audience screaming along with virtually every song. The energy of the crowd seemed to pump the band up, and they projected it right back tenfold. Personally, I watch Sonic Youth's "Dirty Boots" video with an intense sense of nostalgia, and the constant pogoing, slight pushing in the pit, and ridiculous amounts of stage diving just added to the entire experience for me. A highlight of the set was when singer/guitarist Sonia Sturino asked the crowd to hard for their next song and then busted out their cover of Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn." Obviously, the crowd complied, and a legendary performance was made even more so.
Mannequin Pussy
Mannequin Pussy took the stage like full on rock stars and absolutely destroyed it, even with a shorter festival setlist. They have this unique style and sound that combines hardcore with pop music, and as good as they are on an album, their live show blows that away. To show off the power they have on stage, singer Marisa Dabice whispers most of her in between song talking, and you can hear every single word. The crowd is completely hushed to hear her speak. Plus, not many bands can play festivals and play deeper cuts, but Mannequin Pussy can skip a well known song like "Drunk II" in favor of "Pigs is Pigs" and not have a single complaint. This is one of those bands that has been consistently blowing up and getting bigger and bigger with every single release and live show, and deservedly so. Be prepared for them to be headlining Roadrunner in the very near future.
Slowdive
Slowdive are shoegaze gods, and they proved why Sunday night. Following a string of much heavier bands, they held an entire audience rapt with their set. I had been towards the front of the stage during Mannequin Pussy and expected most of that crowd to move towards the second stage for Fiddlehead, but not a single person moved. Everyone stayed packed in for a mesmerizing set from Slowdive that spanned their entire career, with songs from 2023's Everything is Alive standing right up there with 1992's classic Souvlaki. Slowdive's set was the perfect way to chill everyone out after an entire day of punishing music without truly taking down the energy for anyone involved.
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