We arrived at Bellwether Festival midway through the day on Friday, August 9th. Having gone to many festivals before, I generally knew what to expect as far as setup and camping rules go. What was different about this festival, however, was its location. Outside of Bonnaroo, this had to be the most remote music festival I have attended. Buried deep into rural Ohio, you really had to rely on Google Maps to not get lost. Day 1 started off quickly, so I made a point to get in the festival as quickly as I could. The event is located on the Ohio Renaissance Fair grounds so the first thing I noticed were medieval buildings and pieces of art. It set the stage for a pretty cool weekend.
Day 1
I first checked out the end of Twin Shadow and then raced over to the 2ndmain stage to see We Are Scientists. This stage was called the Shipwreck Stage and it looks exactly as it sounds – on a “wrecked ship”. Every act I saw on this stage made a remark about how unique the set up was. We Are Scientists delivered an energetic set and covered all the hits in their relatively short set time.
WE ARE SCIENTISTS
Back over at the main stage, Cold War Kids followed and later on Real Estate played a gorgeous sunset set back at the Shipwreck stage. Real Estate seemed to have a ton of passionate fans in the crowd. Their laid back, sun-drenched sound fit perfectly for this festival and the weather southwest Ohio was receiving.
COLDWAR KIDS
REAL ESTATE
Closing out the night was Cake. They were a great choice to close out the first night of Bellwether. Their carefree, sometimes silly jams matched the mood of the fun-loving crowd. The night ended with “Going the Distance”, but this definitely wasn’t the end of the fun for most campers. After Cake finished, a silent disco formed near the entrance, Wayne’s World played on a big screen for any camper to watch, and Tobacco provided a late-night DJ set. For a relatively small festival, Bellwether packed in a lot for Day One.
CAKE
Day 2
When we woke up for Day 2, we knew we wanted to experience a little more of the festival before the music started. It was going to be another hot day, so as well spend it taking every sight and sound in. The food and drinks were all reasonably priced throughout the grounds. That seemed to be a festival-wide initiative and the quality of the food was terrific. Who knew a sushi burrito would be delicious at 2 p.m. in the sweltering heat? After fueling up our bodies, we checked out a set from Black Moth Super Rainbow. While their propulsive electronic pop would have benefited from a later night set, there still seemed to be a lot of BMSR fans that stuck out the weather to take in some of their tunes. After the show, we checked the schedule and noticed that there was jousting happening a couple of minutes from then. we couldn’t pass that up. The main event was Elton John against Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top (cosplay of course). The jousting match was surprisingly believable and they capped off their battle with a sword fight. Elton John came out victorious to the crowds overwhelming delight.
Once the jousting matched ended, the marathon continued. STRFKR was about to take the stage and I’d heard from a couple friends that they aren’t an act to miss. My friends were right. To a raucous crowd, STRFKR had the most fun on stage (and off) all weekend. Their impossibly catchy tunes hit incredibly well with the devoted STRFKR fans and the new ones they made. Coupled with the music were dancing astronauts that crowdsurfed, danced with blow up dolls, and rode an inflatable pelican (I think it was supposed to be a pelican) around the crowd. It was ridiculously fun and capped off with a cover of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”. STRFKR knows how to play a crowd. We needed a bit of rest after all this because there was a ton more music happening in just a few hours.
STRFKR
After a quick nap, we ran back to the main stage to catch Guided by Voices’ set. The Dayton band was right at home at this festival and undoubtedly had the most devoted fans. Robert Pollard has aged a bit, but his voice sounds just as great as the mid-90s. They seemed like the only band that did extensive sound checks but I can see why. The power of the guitar from Bellwether’s speakers was impressive and lived up to everything I had heard about their live shows. Once FBI” rounded out the show, the whole festival seemed to be singing along.
GUIDED BY VOICES
Once again, it was a quick jog over to the shipwreck stage after this set to go check out Pinback. They’re a very underappreciated band from the mid-2000s (and current) that has an endless supply of melancholic but extremely catchy tunes. Even if a lot of fans didn’t know Pinback’s music that well, “Tripoli” was a good argument to stay.
PINBACK
Ending the weekend was the main headliner Beach House. They clearly had the most extensive stage set up of any artist. Their lights were mesmerizing and often you only saw silhouettes of the guitarist, lead singer and keyboardist, and drummer. I absolutely love Beach House but sometimes the real drums (they often use a drum machine) don’t come through with as much force on record. Their live show is another story. The drumming on songs like “Dark Spring” jumped off the speakers and into the audience’s bones. Other highlights were the psychedelic outro to “Dive”, reminiscent of a Tame Impala live show, and the crowd pleasing “Lemon Glow”. Further back into their catalog, they ripped through standouts like “10 Mile Stereo” and “Walk in the Park”. Their set ended with an encore that they weren’t sure they were even allowed to do. House music came on after their set but the lights hadn’t. About half the crowd left a little confused. It wasn’t until Victoria Legrand, Beach House’s lead singer, came back on stage and said they had 1 minute to get another song in that everyone came running back. They ended up playing “Irene”, my favorite by the band and a beautiful and bittersweet ending to an amazing weekend. It’s hard not to like what Bellwether is doing with their small festival. Get good bands, have a cool venue, and the people will come.
BEACH HOUSE
By: Andrew Ameter | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!
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