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Revelry 2015: The Best Day of My Life

  • Post Author
    by Web manager
  • Post Date
    Thu May 07 2015

aluna cropped

I LOVE music. I LOVE going to concerts. Ipso facto, I LOVE Revelry. When the lineup for this year's festival was released, it felt like so many worlds were colliding for me, especially because Chance the Rapper has been my favorite artist ever since his performance at Union South for the inaugural Revelry Music & Arts Festival. I have also watched Mick Jenkins become quite the rap star over the past several years and I could not wait to see him perform on the main stage. With the addition of a stacked bill of local artists on the terrace stage, this year's fest was sure to be the best Revelry yet.

Dolores

I began the day seeing Dolores on the terrace stage at 3pm. I had seen Dolores perform once previously at a sweaty basement show earlier in the semester. While my knowledge of Dolores' background is relatively slim, I did know that a jam band with good vibes is exactly what I needed in my life after spending a few too many hours on Mifflin Street (Although Mifflin Street Block Party doesn't technically exist anymore, the Mifflin party attitude is alive & thriving here in Madison, WI). Nonetheless, Dolores played an incredible set on the terrace on what was the most gorgeous day of the year thus far. While there was definitely a sizeable squad of Dolores fans, I have no doubt that everybody on the terrace thoroughly enjoyed the psychedelic rock group. The terrace stage was not ticketed, which meant all of the shows there were totally free, what a steal! Check out their video for “Mary”, which I'm pretty sure was filmed in the same basement as the concert mentioned above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZs7QZo-KRA

*hitmayng

My next stop was to actually enter the festival to see *hitmayng at the Silent Disco. I was really looking forward to this set because last year *hitmayng absolutely killed it at the silent disco. If you've never been to a silent disco, as you enter you are given wireless headphones that broadcast whatever music the DJ is playing. From an onlooker's perspective the silent disco can look hilarious because it looks like there are a bunch of people dancing to nothing. The disco was setup in a tent this year with the addition of lights. In my opinion, last year's disco was much better because this year's tent blocked off any visibility to people outside the disco, which made it less tempting to wile out and go crazy. If there's going to be a tent and lights, it may be more effective to have standard DJ sets so that it's more likely for people to go inside if they hear it when they walk by. Regardless, *hitmayng made the best of it (per usual) and the tent was full of fans who knew that he always throws down an awesome show. *hitmayng always has a song to play for every situation, and this year's silent disco was no exception. His set was next-level hilarious and he even included a tribute to Aaliyah (R.I.P.).

Mick Jenkins

mickjenkins

(Photo courtesy of Danny Schwartz)

As I left the silent disco, Mick Jenkins was set to perform at the main stage with The Mind and his DJ, Green Sllime. Just over a year ago, Mick Jenkins & Green Sllime played a show at Union South in The Sett for about 20-30 devoted Madison hip-hoppers. A year later, Mick is playing in front of hundreds of kids rapping the lyrics line for line. It's so amazing to see an extremely talented artist like Mick Jenkins smiling on stage, whereas a year ago his demeanor showed that he wasn't getting the respect he deserved (although this year's crowd still was not quite sufficient… blame it on Mifflin, I guess). He mostly played songs from his latest project, The Water[s], although he did play an unreleased track form his upcoming project Wave[s]. It was clear that Mick's message had gotten across in his latest project because every time he said “DRINK MORE” the crowd yelled back “WATER”. It was refreshing to finally hear tracks from The Water[s] performed live with a high-energy crowd, but my favorite track that Mick performed was “Martyrs”. This track has such an important message behind it and when combined with the video you can feel the built-up energy coming from Mick. Mick gave some insight into why he used the specific interview clips within the video for “Martyrs” and explained their relevance to the song. He stayed after his set to meet fans and take pictures, capping off an extremely successful show.

AlunaGeorge

alunageorge

(Photo courtesy of Danny Schwartz)

Before heading over to the terrace stage to see Me eN You, I stayed around the main stage to see AlunaGeorge, an electronic music duo from London. Aluna, aka bae, came out wearing a Mifflin tank top and UW-Madison shorts (pictured below). It was so cool to see artists from around the world wearing Revelry/Badger gear, because it signifies that the Madison music scene is truly thriving and how artists are proud to travel to Madison to play a show. Although I couldn't stay long, the crowd really started to fill up as the synthpop duo serenated Madtown. Also, I ended up seeing Aluna later that night at an after party and she was SO COOL!

Me eN You

me en you

(Photo Courtesy of Cecillia Borleske)

I started to head over to the terrace stage to see the set that I was most excited for, Me eN You, which is an ensemble of ten(ish) floating members including Lord of the Fly, Otis Franklin, Coby Ashpis, Nate France, & more. The group was established just a few months ago, although they sound like they've been making music together for years. Earlier this semester, Me eN You played a 90-minute set at a show in my basement and it was incredible to see the product of incredibly talented people joining forces. Revelry was by far the biggest show that the band had played thus far and I couldn't wait to see their hard work come to life. Me eN You's set was a beautiful collage of sounds- jazz meets hip-hop meets R&B meets rap meets soul rock. Social Experiment meets The Roots? Rather than trying to classify Me eN You, listen to their first release “Drama King” and learn for yo'self:

The lead man, Otis Franklin, and his counterpart, Lord of the Fly, truly knew how to bring out the crowd's energy. From beautiful harmonies to crowd interaction between songs to spitting raps entrancingly quick, it was clear that Me eN You is a group of artists that enjoys making beautiful music for Me, and You.

LORDprez

crash

(Photo Courtesy of Kenneth La'ron)

It was a very busy evening for Lord of the Fly. Not only was he performing with Me eN You but he also had a more prominent part in LORDprez, a set featuring Lord of the Fly & CRASHprez, two artists who have worked their asses off within Madison's music scene. This year's Revelry was CRASH's final performance as an undergraduate student and it was undoubtedly a must see.

*hitmayng, the usual DJ for Lord and CRASH, introduced both artists saying that it was going to be Lord of the Fly vs. CRASHprez, a friendly rap battle of sorts. They started the show with a powerful tribute to Tony Robinson using lyrics from “40, 28”, a track from CRASHprez' recent release, more perfect. The chemistry between CRASH & Lord can only be explained by the fact that they've been rapping together for years. That said, they performed several of their collaboration tracks alongside a handful of solo tracks from each artist. Lord brought unmatchable energy on tracks like “Bitch I Go” & “Just Sane” (both produced by BoatHouse, the newest signee to Closed Sessions out in Chicago), but the real energy was shown when CRASH and Lord jumped in the crowd and started stage diving during “Thom Yorke is Black” (pictured below). During the second half of the set, they brought out Webster X and Siren, two rising artists who have been building the music scene in Milwaukee for just over a year now. The two performed their track “Doomsday” which has helped kick start a long career of making beautiful music. All in all, LORDprez' headlining set on the terrace had to have been the best way for CRASHprez to end his career as an undergraduate student.

Chance the Rapper and The Social Experiment

chance

(Photo courtesy of Danny Schwartz)

This concert was THE BEST way to end Revelry 2015 for me. I had seen Chance the Rapper perform 3 times prior to Revelry, but nothing compared to him performing on my home turf. Chance has been my favorite artist for about two years now, and having him bring along the Social Experiment to headline a stage in the heart of campus felt like a dream come true. Actually, no. You know what was a dream come true? Hanging out front and center in the press pit as Chance came on stage and yelled “MADISON!!!” with the most epic light show that I've seen at a hip-hop concert. Although this was by no means just a hip-hop concert, Chance the Rapper and the Social Experiment are so much more than just hip-hop. They're redefining genres, breaking boundaries, and making some of the most beautiful music that our generation has witnessed. Now that I've got my fan-girling out of the way…

Revelry had to have been the best Chance set of the four that I've seen. When I saw him headline Lollapalooza last year (when he brought out R. Kelly!!), the Social Experiment performed with Chance, but they were not named on the lineup. As The Social Experiment gets set to drop Surf, it was more than evident that they had been headlining various festivals and collegetowns for quite some time. Throughout the set, Chance kept saying “This is your show,” emphasizing how important his fans were in his rise to the fame and popularity that he has today.  It was apparent that Chance was happy to be back in Madison at Revelry after performing two years ago at the first (of many) Revelry festival.

Chance the Rapper and The Social Experiment played about an hour of songs from Acid Rap and various singles released in the last two years. I was particularly excited to hear them perform Action Bronson's single “Baby Blue”, a track that features Chance. It was no surprise that they performed “Sunday Candy”, their latest single that has the dopest one-take video you've ever seen. We were lucky enough to get a sneak peek of a track from Surf, titled “Paradise”, and oh man did it sound amazing. The Social Experiment is the epitome of feel-good music, and thanks to them, Madison is feeling great heading into this summer. Madison loves you chance, please come back soon!

Check out the love Chance sent out to Madison on Instagram!

– DJ Dirty Dan

For more Revelry coverage, check out our slideshow.

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