The performers were talented, just about every band performed on time, and the weather was bearable considering that it was an August weekend in St. Louis. In a word: the first annual LouFest was a success.
More prominent national acts such as Jeff Tweedy, Broken Social Scene, She & Him, and Built to Spill performed to large, excited crowds on both evenings. However, there were plenty of talented local and lesser-known performers to catch in the early afternoons of the festival as well.
Senior Cole Weiche attended both days of the festival, but the highlight of the festival for him was seeing his longtime favorite, singer-songwriter and Wilco member Jeff Tweedy.
“I’ve been admiring him since I was little,” Weiche said. “It was really cool to see him play. I’ve been listening to him for a long time, so it was fun to have memories kind of rush back.”
Senior Kuang Zong’s favorite performance of the festival was New Jersey band Titus Andronicus’s raucous Saturday morning punk set.
“I loved Titus Andronicus’s set,” Zong said. “I didn’t know what to expect since I hadn’t listened to them before LouFest, but they blew me away with their energy and excitement.”
St. Louis singer-songwriter and LouFest performer Adam Reichmann enjoyed soaking in other sets after his own performance at the beginning of the festival.
“I really liked this band called Fruit Bats,” Reichmann said. “I think they’re just phenomenal. They just had this very mellow sound, the voice is great and just technically excellent.”
Reichmann was also happy to have the opportunity to perform at the festival and enjoyed the unique scenery that the outdoor venue provided.
“It’s just unusual to play in such a gorgeous park and it doesn’t get used really in that way,” Reichmann said. “It’s nice to be part of the first time that they did something like that there.”
Weiche was also thankful for the mere existence of an all-ages, high-profile outdoor musical festival in St. Louis.
“It was really cool to actually live in a city where there’s a music festival,” Weiche said. “I’ve never had that before… This was an all-ages event and it was really neat to experience it.”
Reichmann noticed that, although the festival was quiet during the early afternoons, it quickly became more crowded as the day progressed.
“We were kind of early in the day, so I think people were kind of still getting there,” Reichmann said. “I mean, you could tell that, as soon as the sun went down, people started showing up… [Our performance] was definitely part of the warm-up act in more ways than one.”
After an enjoyable, smoothly run weekend of live music and socializing, Weiche compares his LouFest experience favorably to his experiences at festivals such as Austin City Limits.
“I thought it was very well-run, I thought it was very well-organized, and it reminded me of some of the other really big-name festivals like Austin City Limits,” Weiche said. “I would definitely go back again.”