The first night of JumBonnaroo played like a scene from “Animal House” (1978). More specifically, it played like the scene in the film where Delta Tau Chi is getting down to the live band’s version of “Shout” (1959) by the Isley Brothers, clad in togas and flailing their limbs to the sounds of a blaring horn section. While JumBonnaroo was devoid of togas, it was not devoid of high energy and wild trumpet solos -- though it did take a while for the energy of the concert to get there.
Rollersnakes, the first band of the evening, is an indie rock outfit with a raw centrality but refined edges. Playing Weezer’s “Say it Ain’t So” (1994) and the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” (2003), the band was able to highlight the strong voices of its two vocalists, Dave Igliozzi and Harrison Kim. Kim’s gritty voice perfectly mirrored the energy of the band's harder rock anthems, while Igliozzi’s soared and dipped in synchronicity to its slower pieces. The relatively slow and small crowd that was present at the beginning of the show, however, made it harder for the band to find its footing. Without energy from the audience to feed off of for the first half of its set, the band had to provide twice the power in order to bring listeners into the concert realm. The band was up for the challenge, however, and proved its skill by closing out on a high note.
Blue Ives elevated the energy to the next level. Playing a mix of modern and classic favorites, blending soul, funk and hip-hop, the group increased the voltage on the party’s energy and then some. Travis Percy crooned to perfection while Gabe Rothman rattled off trombone solos with the ease of a dog shaking off water.
With infectious energy, the group interacted with the audience and pulled them in, encouraging everyone to move closer to the eight-member group until there was almost no space between the musicians and the listeners. The group's set, after that point, became a sort of musical collaboration with the audience, singing lyrics together and laughing as they spouted off guitar, bass and sax solos with ease, bringing the audience to a dancing frenzy. After Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” (2011), the collective played Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” (2015). As an encore, the band played “Shout” (1959), which it warned the audience its members had never played together all the way through. The warning proved unnecessary, however, as Gabe Terracciano wailed out the song with vocals comparable to Otis Day and the Knights of "Animal House." With the subset of blues bands on campus being significantly smaller than that of electronic of indie rock groups, it’s clear that Blue Ives is very capable of carving out a space for itself in the Tufts music scene -- and leaving a lasting impression at that.
While the night wouldn’t have been complete without the set by Waldo, the third act’s performance was lackluster. Despite the precision of its multi-layered chords and guitar solos, the band lacked energy and brought down the intensity after Blue Ives’ set to a soporific state. Seemingly lacking focus, the band see-sawed between '90s grunge and millenial lo-fi chillwave. Its musicality did not suffer -- indeed the band was technically strong and provided pleasant listening -- but its performance and stage presence felt empty, especially as a follow-up to the 1000-watt power of the group before it.
Alternating between genres and providing an accessibility to multiple genres for Tufts students, JumBonnaroo proved its success as a music festival for the third semester running. All proceeds from JumBonnaroo will go toward Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.
