CONCERTS
Winter Meltdown melts our heartsBY MEGHAN MOLONEY AND RICE VAN COUTREN ON DECEMBER 15, 2013
Three hour drive. Three hour wait in the cold. Fifty dollars. Six bands. Ten hours on your feet. One unforgettable concert.
The 96X Winter Meltdown is an annual music festival held in Norfolk, Virginia. We found out about this concert last October and have vowed to never miss it for the rest of our lives. Every year 96X picks six indie/alternative bands to perform for Winter Meltdown. Tickets are general admission so we got there three hours early to make sure we got front row. First up was MS MR. No its not m-s-m-r, it is miz mister. With bright blue hair and 6 inch heels, Lizzy Plapinger sure knew how to please a crowd. Best known for their song “Hurricane,” this duo of Plapinger and Max Hershenow put on a great opening act as a dancing duo. The 1975 was next up on the set list, but they had to cancel their show due to a delayed flight. When we heard this news it felt like we had just been shot through the heart. But nonetheless, The Last Bison, a Chesapeake band, filled in for the 1975. The Last Bison look like they jumped straight from the colonial era. The five-foot-nothing violinist, Teresa Totheroh, made the show as she danced around the stage in her billowed dress. New Politics, a Danish trio, rocked the third set with a contagious performance that got the whole crowd dancing. David Boyd, the lead singer, pumped up the crowd with his breakdancing and insanity. Boyd surprised the crowd by jumping right in the middle and having them hold him up as he walked across their hands. We all decided that New Politics was our favorite set. The energy in that mosh pit during “Harlem” and “Tonight You’re Perfect” was uncomparable and absolutely insane. The Neighbourhood was up next. Their song “Sweater Weather” has recently become popular, but they have a number of other great tracks on their album “I Love You.” Despite their amazing music, the performance just couldn’t live up to our expectations and the previous New Politics set. So The Neighbourhood was good, but not great. Capital Cities was the next set, and let’s just say it was a complete dance party. Singers of “Safe and Sound,” Capital Cities was rocking out in matching band jackets with an amazing trumpet player. The band also taught us their “Capital Cities Shuffle,” as they call it, to make sure everyone was involved in the dance party. Capital Cities probably doesn’t have the best music out of these bands, but they sure know how to put on a great show. Last, but far from least, was Fall Out Boy. After taking a break for a few years, Fall Out Boy announced their comeback in February with their album “Save Rock and Roll.” They performed an exciting closing set that ended the night perfectly. The lead singer, Patrick Stump, brought out a Fall Out Boy flag at the beginning of the set, and the next hour was complete chaos as the everyone was screaming the lyrics and a few people decided to crowd surf. After the encore, guitarist Joe Trohman threw his guitar pick into the crowd, and one of our friends caught it. We were disappointed to see the night end, but these six bands combined put on the best show we’ve ever seen, hands-down. If you love indie/alternative as much as we do, or you just want to experience front row in a mosh pit for six hours, check out Winter Meltdown in 2k14. We’ll be there. HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
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