DeLuna Fest Day 1

Bryant and Thanh here - on the beach, sun is shining, a light refreshing breeze skims through, seriously an incredible venue for a festival.

If you’ve been good this week then I definitely suggest you treat yourself to anything City and Colour! Something about them fit perfectly with the end-of-summer/beginning-of-fall beach vibe. They gave me chills until this one guy in the crowd started yelling at the lead singer, “DALLAS!!!! *%$ MY WIFE!!!” It was almost a drawback till I realized the sloppy dude would've never been able to trick a female into marrying him - then it was just entertaining.

The Gaslight Anthem was next and we almost left early to catch Band of Skulls but thank goodness we waited for their Pearl Jam cover. TGA is known for an awesome cover of “The State of Love and Trust” and this time was a special edition. "We have a little surprise for you that we hope can hold you over until later" explained Brian Fallon (lead vocals, guitar), "Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam!" Everyone geeked out at they tore it. Vedder was super nice, laid back, and I still haven’t heard one bad thing about the guy. Thanh and I have to give one additional shout-out to Fallon for his Hot Water Music t-shirt. Nice choice good sir!

I have loved Ben Folds Five since I was a tiny little nugget and their cover of Snoop Dogg (Lion?) is a guilty pleasure. At one point they were giving us some new tunes and Ben screwed up the lyrics right at the start. He composed himself, started over and flubbed it up again! In classic BFF manner, he dropped about 10 f-bombs, and chucked his stool at his piano!!! I don’t know how he’s able to make curse words so endearing but he was laughing the entire time which makes me like the guy that much more!

Got to see Trampled by Turtles for a second time! Their live shows are great and I knew this one would be no different! They went to town on their smaller strings – fiddle, mandolin, and banjo.

Pearl Jam’s 4th and last show of the year was right here at DeLuna Fest! As expected, the place was PACKED. My buddies, Randall and Jackson are die-hards and waited up front at the main stage for 7.5 hours, in the Florida sun, to make sure they got great spots. I never really understood what it meant when someone calls a performance “powerful” but I get it now. There is nothing else like that and I feel pretty honored to have seen Pearl Jam – especially at this venue. The intensity of his vocals and lyrics are second to none.

PJ was so chill and serious that 12th Planet was a perfect palate cleanser. It was like a celebration for getting to see PJ and prepped us for a night of shenanigans! Great first day - Can't wait to fill you in about Day 2 tomorrow!