Andra Day brought soulful and passionate singing to the stage on Friday Night. Grooving to R&B instrumentals and even some scat singing along she was a pleasure to watch. With words of inspiration, Andra Day covered Kendrick Lamar's “No Makeup” by wiping off her makeup on stage showing her vulnerability
Lead singer of X Ambassadors Sam Harris brought energy to the stage running and jumping with the rest of the band rocking out behind him. With a tribute to the recent travesties throughout the nation, they performed hit song “Unsteady”. Ending with a song to sing along to “Renegades”, fans had their hands in the air and smiles on their face.
The Cold War Kids brought a large crowd to one of the smaller stages. Singing old songs and new, including a single released just the week before, “All This Could Be Yours”. Performing mostly festivals this summer, Basilica Block Party was just one stop of many to come.
Minnesota native and lead singer of American Authors Zac Barnett brought liveliness to the stage dancing and even going to the crowd. Releasing their new album “What We Live For” just last week fans were able to dance and also sing along to old hits such as “Best Day of My Life”, which came with snow, yes snow in summer, with a machine blowing flakes in the sky.
Death Cab for Cutie closed out night one with an hour and a half set filled with the jams you rocked out to in your bedroom along with songs off their newest record “Kintsugi”. With his hair swept in front of his face lead singer Ben Gibbard gave it his all as long time fans felt the nostalgia.
Matt Nathanson was very engaging with the crowd making them laugh, sing, and dance. He called out audience members to help him out as he sang classic songs such as “Run”, “Faster”, and “Headphones”. It was hard to peel my eyes off him as well as the smile off my face as I watched him perform.
Ron Pope brought his all Minnesotan seven piece band to Basilica Block Party on night two. His band included a small brass section with a trumpet and saxophone bringing life to his funky and soulful singing with a hint of folk.
The Fray closed out the festival giving fans exactly what I think they were looking for. Starting off playing the piano and later ending up in the middle of the crowd, The Fray was exciting and fun to watch. They brought back classics the entire crowd could sing along to such as “Over My Head” and ending with “How to Save a Life”.
As you can see from this picture of Phillip Phillips, this American Idol star loves to rock out on the guitar, and that's exactly what he did. Not only did he play classics such as “Home” and “Gone, Gone, Gone”, but he also brought a smile to everyone's face with his performance and his own smile.
Milky Chance, a German Folk duo, brought themselves to Minneapolis in the middle of a world tour. Bringing along some congo drums with their classic guitar and drum set brought an extra touch. As international sensations, Minneapolis was lucky to have them.
Local Eric Mayson came out on the stage with himself and his band, but just one minute or two in, six back up singers (and honestly dancers too) came to join, bringing a spark to the stage. Plain and simple, he was fun not only to listen to but to watch. Releasing his premiere album in 2015, I'm expecting great things from him.