Sometimes inspiration strikes from the immersion of living in a faraway place. Sometimes, inspiration stems from a place that everyone can relate to, but maybe no one’s actually been. This is the music of The Hip Abduction, the vibrant St. Petersburg, FL-based collective that formed over a mutual appreciation for West African and early Jamaican reggae/dub music.
The Hip Abduction began through informal jam sessions and quickly coalesced into a sound that attracted national attention. For Gold Under the Glow, the band’s 2016 third full album release, THA engage an indie pop acumen alongside a highly emotive and roots-driven sound.
The Hip Abduction featuring David New (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Powers (bass), Dave Johnson (baritone and tenor sax), Sean Fote (keyboards), Matt Poynter (drums, vocals) and John Holt III (kamale ngoni, guitar, vocals) have shared stages with the likes of Grace Potter, Ziggy Marley, Galactic, Umphrey’s McGee, Matisyahu, Thievery Corporation, 311, Moon Taxi and more. Watch out for more festival plays in 2017 including Jam Cruise, Sweetwater 420 Fest, Summercamp, Electric Forest, FloydFest, Deep Roots Mountain Revival, Peach Fest and more as well as coast to coast dates.
Thrival Festival just continues to get better and better every year. This year we were introduced to a new venue, the Carrie Furnaces. The festival also brought it’s largest lineup yet. I’ve saved you guys the trouble of reading all the other articles and posts out there, I’ll tell you the gist.
Friday wasn’t the best, and there’s a lot of feedback on social media to verify that. There were long lines galore; for drinks, for wristbands to GET drinks; and some heavy confusion around drink tokens. Oh, and then they ran out of water. BUT ALAS, no fear, they fixed everything all up for Saturday which was amazing! It’s not very often that an event like this fixes up main complaints in time for the following year, let alone Day Two!
The music has great feedback from Friday (shout-out to Lettuce!!!) EXCEPT for one MAJOR setback. Hmm…let’s see, we have Daya performing and we have The Chainsmokers performing. Daya and Chainsmokers have the hit song “Don’t Let Me Down” and yet they definitely let everyone down by not performing that song together! Whyyyyy? Blasphemy! I seriously don’t get it, can someone explain this to me? There was a chance for some legendary shit right there. *big sigh*
But, here’s a video of them performing their brand new song, “All We Know” featuring Phoebe Ryan:
Anyway, according to festival goers, Saturday ran much smoother and they nixed whatever the hell those drink tokens were about (Thank goodness because no one has time for that when they’re going to have a good time and listen to music!)
I did not make the Music Festival for Day One. But, my main passion was Thievery Corporation who was headlining on Day Two. You know how in your car, if you have Sirius, you can set “alerts” to let you know when certain artists or songs come on, and you can set it to auto-tune to that station. Well, Thievery Corporation is one of the groups on my “alerts” list….and lemme tell you, that alerts list has maybe 3 artists on it. So, that’s how excited I was, if that puts it into perspective for you.
I would have never known the fiasco of Day One had I not read about it, because Day Two was a dream. The weather was perfect; anyone from Pittsburgh knows that’s a huge accomplishment to have good weather for an exciting event. The crowds weren’t as big as Day One, which I attribute to the Chainsmokers crowd, but I welcomed the much more relaxed flow. Especially since only a week before, I was in California for the Kaaboo Music Festival (which The Chainsmokers also performed at) and it was way oversold and overcrowded. So much so that we were forced to leave the event early. Womp Womp.
I also did not deal with any of the parking or shuttle woes thanks to Uber. Though I very much like that a shuttle service was available. So, Uber dropped us off at a designated drop-off area and we marched on down to the entrance. The entrance brought on a teensy bit of confusion, since there were different locations for general admission, will call and VIP, but nothing major. I just have a really bad sense of direction. Once inside, we were thirsty (duh) and while I’m happy with almost anything, my friend was bummed about no liquor, unless you were VIP. BUT, it was still a step up from last year because this year there was wine. Maybe next year everyone can have access to liquor, who knows. Oh, but there were, however, two Skyy Vodka gals there though giving out free shots of a watermelon vodka of some sort, so we took advantage of that (again, duh).
I love that this festival has two stages with only one band playing at a time. This way, there’s no conflicts of interest and you can hear the band playing from anywhere on the festival grounds. And there’s no long waits in between the bands because the next one is already setting up on the other stage. Ty Dolla $ign was supposed to perform, but sadly had to cancel due to a death in his immediate family. But, there was lots to check out besides the music. There were vendors set up selling different items including clothing and coveted flower crowns. Rivers of Steel Arts created live iron pours. The Wheel Mill Stunt BMX team put on a show. There was even a tent with a virtual reality simulator to check out.
Metric put on a fantastic set and wowed us with some of their best songs. Here’s a video of “Breathing Underwater” from Shawn Glass on YouTube:
When it was getting to be that time (Thievery Corporation), the place was noticeably and expectedly even more crowded. I can’t even express how excited I was to see this group that’s been together for over 20 years and yet this was their very first time performing here in Pittsburgh! Their set exceeded mostly everyone’s wildest expectations and hopefully it doesn’t take them that long to come back! They were the most perfect close-out for a sensational Thrival Festival.
After their set, everyone wafted around seemingly walking on clouds. And then suddenly…something more happened. Over yonder, music started playing. The strange but cool artsy thing that everyone had been looking at all weekend sprung to life. It was the Squonk Opera! And what…pray tell, is that?
Squonk Opera is a group of interdisciplinary performing artists from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Led by artistic directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn, Squonk Opera’s shows consist of music, visual art, and acting elements in an attempt to make a form of opera accessible to all people. The group “like to think of ourselves as a wacky, provincial opera company,” says Dempsey, who named the group “Squonk” after a description of a jazz saxophonist’s playing as a “squonk-fest”, rather than the legendary creature of the same name. — From Wikipedia
Check out this little tidbit video of Squonk Opera performing from their Pneumatica show:
I’m so glad that Pittsburgh keeps moving up that cultural ladder and bringing more and more awesomeness, especially in the music department. There’s always going to be little hiccups but this festival was overall a huge success and I can’t wait to see what next year brings!
(P.S. I’m sure I’ll think of more suggestions, but I’d love to see Lotus come perform next year! — Here’s a video of them performing “Anti-Gravity” at the Summerdance Festival in Ohio this year!)
Pittsburgh’s thriving culture of innovation and some of the most cutting-edge tech and art from around the country will be showcased across 100,000-square-feet of free exhibits, demos, and interactive experiences during the fourth annual Thrival Innovation + Music Festival, from September 20-24, 2016.
In just three short weeks, the Thrival Innovation + Music Festival will welcome its most ambitious lineup to date for its two-day live outdoor music experience — headlined by Billboard #1 artist The Chainsmokers, as well as CHVRCHES, Thievery Corporation, Ty Dolla $ign, Metric, Lettuce, and more. Set times below.
The Chainsmokers and CHVRCHES will co-headline Friday night, with the Scottish electro-pop group hitting the stage at 9:00 PM and the meteoric rising DJ duo will close out the night, beginning at 10:30 PM. Festival mainstay funk outfit Lettuce, summertime scion Sir the Baptist, and Pittsburgh-native (and Chainsmokers collaborator) Daya will also perform, with notable local acts Meeting of Important People and the Bastard Bearded Irishmen opening the festival.
Thievery Corporation closes out Thrival 2016 on Saturday night with a full 20-piece ensemble to mark their first visit to the Steel City in their 20-year history. The band of “Thieves” will begin their headline set at 9:30 PM. Recent MTV Video Music Award-winner Ty Dolla $ign performs at 8:15 PM, immediately prior to alt-indie darlings, Metric, who kick-off their set at 9:15 PM. Rubblebucket and Wild Child bridge the afternoon with a marquee early evening set by DJ/producer Hudson Mohawke that starts at 7:00 PM. Wu-Tang Clan member Cappadonna and syndicate group Killarmy will perform with the WuLords and Ezekiel XI on a unique national/local collaboration. For an early afternoon dose of EDM, rising stars The Cheat Codes will get the crowd going at 2:15 PM. Brooke Annibale, Chalk Dinosaur, Beauty Slap, and Balloon Ride Fantasy round out a strong local showing for Pittsburgh.
The two-day show is hosted at the historic Carrie Furnaces, a national historic site just minutes outside of Pittsburgh. A 125-foot-tall blast furnace will serve as a dramatic backdrop between two stages, with performance times staggered so festival-goers do not miss an act.
“So often, festival-goers pay top dollar to attend these events, and they’re forced to choose between multiple acts they very much want to see but can’t due to time overlaps. As such, the experience has a built-in sacrifice for attendees, even though they are paying promoters for the full experience. It’s our approach to ensure that each performer has the stage to themselves, and the audience can celebrate the entire lineup, from beginning to end,” says Thrival Executive Producer, Dan Law.
According to Martin Potozcny, Thrival’s Creative Director and CEO of LUXE Creative, the music is only part of the experience.
“The moment you pass through the gates of a music festival you’re struck with the sensation that you’re on the cusp of a remarkable experience. Our goal is to tap into the deep emotional current that music evokes, and we have a unique opportunity to transport each and every individual to a world where all of their senses are engaged. Whether this is a concert goers’ first festival or tenth, at the forefront of our mind is creating an experience that inspires, surprises and engages — it will be a transformative experience that can only be described as the magic of being part of a growing international festival,” says Potoczny.
On the innovation side of things—- for the first time this year, the festival will transform over one hundred thousand square feet at Nova Place and Alloy 26 — a former indoor/outdoor mall and Woolworth’s five-and-dime — as its home base for its Thrival Innovation programming. A 14,000 square foot “Innovation Hall” will feature highlights from experiential electronic music collaborations through smart devices (CEEMI) to live demos by noted Pittsburgh chefs of a new hands-free cooking assistant app (Yes, Chef). This will be paired with an outdoor “Innovation Playground” that includes aesthetically graffitied demolition derby cars (PGH Art Car), adaptive sports games for people of all abilities (Find Some Flow), and a mobile office bus equipped with 3-D printing, laser engraving, and robotics (Tech Tank).
“The debut of Innovation Hall and the Innovation Playground this year will take Thrival to an exciting new level — offering festival-goers and city residents alike a chance to experience some of the most dynamic art and tech from Pittsburgh and from around the country,” says Law.
“We started with a blank slate of huge spaces on the North Side of Pittsburgh. We took on the challenge of transforming it into an alternate universe — and definitely an experience people won’t forget,” says Kenny Chen, Thrival’s Director of Innovation.
Highlights include:
Tinker with and explore how “old” synth technology is inspiring new generations of music creators with music industry stalwarts Roland, Pittsburgh Modular, and Novation while engaging with Shutterstock Music, SpaceoutVR, and OpenArc in Thrival’s interactive tech tent.
Pick up official merch through Pittsburgh-based street wear pioneers 412 partner with Thrival for the first time this year, introducing a brand new line of festival gear aimed at a new generation of culture creators, athletes, musicians, and original thinkers.
Participate in an eclectic mix of DIY projects led by Kelly Malone, founder of award-winning makerspace Workshop SF, who is returning from California’s Bay Area to reboot in Pittsburgh with Workshop PGH (tagline “Drink Beer. Make Stuff.”).
Experience awe-inspiring industrial production through live iron pours on the concert site with Rivers of Steel Arts.
Multimedia troupe Squonk unveil a first-time artistic collaboration of the group’s “Pneumatica” structure paired with the both quirky and surreal “Cycle Sonic” performance.
Musically Amusing 