The Town and The City Festival is becoming an annual musical highlight for us. Taking over downtown Lowell for the weekend, this year's festival expanded to a third night, which was a festival kickoff with Lady Lamb, Ezra Furman, and Class President. I personally try to see Ezra Furman and Lady Lamb as much as possible, so heading out to Taffeta Music Hall was a no-brainer for me.
Opening up the show was Lowell's own Class President. It had been about a year and a half since I last saw them at The Overlook (RIP Mill No. 5), and I was excited to see them again. Their version of pop focused indie rock has only improved since 2023, and I'm now officially on the bandwagon as a fan. Their songs are undeniably catchy with just enough of an edge to keep it from being pure pop, and they put on a ridiculously fun show. I might be tempted to call them pop punk, but they just barely fit into that genre and are a little too alt-rock for that. Regardless, they're a band you need to check out ASAP.
Ezra Furman played a solo set next, and there's just nothing she can't do. She's one of the most engaging performers in all of music today, and she kept the audience at Taffeta completely mesmerized for her entire set. She obviously pulled out "Love You So Bad" to the delight of the crowd, but the majority of the audience was thrilled with every single song she played. She even broke out a song she said will never be recorded that is a plea to a pop singer such as Sabrina Carpenter to record one of her songs, but the last verse is that it goes horribly wrong and everyone hates it. If you've never experienced Ezra Furman live, do your soul a favor and check out a show as soon as you can.
Lady Lamb closed out the evening playing as a trio with a drummer and bass player. The band were part of her Ripely Pine ten year anniversary twelve piece band shows, so the set was heavy on songs from that album. No complaints from me since that is a top ten of all time album for me, and the rest of the crowd seemed fine with it as well. Also an incredibly engaging performer, Aly Spaltro realized she hadn't been rehearsing "Billions of Eyes" and started off the song panicking that she didn't know it. There were a few flubs, but that added to the fun of the evening. Closing with "Crane Your Neck" is always the perfect way to end a show, and those that ventured out for night one of The Town and The City Festival went home happy.
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