A recap of the second day of the Nelsonville Music Festival, which featured performances by The Flaming Lips and Mavis Staples.
The Flaming Lips stole the second night of the Nelsonville Music Festival with its psychedelic set.
Confetti and large, multi-colored balloons flew in the air during the band’s colorful intro where the crowd went wild and a giant, pink robot made of balloons appeared during the song “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.”
Right before the band’s last song, frontman Wayne Coyne made an announcement that a child named Archie was trying to find his parents. Coyne brought Archie on stage hoping his parents would see him.
The set ended with Archie on stage while The Flaming Lips performed “Do You Realize?” When the song was over, Archie still hadn’t been picked up.
Mavis Staples, a Grammy-nominated soul and gospel artist, was also a Friday favorite on the main stage.
Staples energized the large crowd with her sassiness and big voice. She sang “Respect Yourself,” a song released in 1971 by The Staple Singers, a family R&B group formed by her father, Roebuck “Pops” Staples. “Respect Yourself” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Athens band Weird Science performed on the porch stage, in keeping with the festival’s tradition of highlighting local musicians.
The band’s fans showed up and rocked out with the local punk outfit.
“You could just tell that these guys were pumped to be playing Nelsonville,” said Anthony Longanbach, an Athens resident who is friends with Weird Science members.“They added some new elements to songs they played over the years that everyone knows.”
One of those “new elements” was a reggae breakdown in the middle of a song.
“No one was expecting that,” said Longanbach, who is also a member of Athens band Slut Castle.
Along with a day of exciting stage performances, some vendors also drew crowds at the festival.
Parked on the edge of the grounds sat a silver 1968 Avion trailer that has been converted into mobile clothing store, Ghetto Vintage. The shop is typically stationed at the Ohio State University campus but heads to music festivals when school is out for the summer.
“We camp, and we sleep in it, and we roll out in the morning and sell T-shirts,” said Josh Harden, owner of Ghetto Vintage.
This is the third year the vintage clothing shop has been a vendor at the festival.
As the second day came to a close, attendees started getting excited for the next day’s acts.
A blue lipstick-lipped Leah McMacken traveled from Columbus to see some of the performances for the third day of the festival.
“I’m excited for St. Vincent because I’ve never seen her live before,” she said. “I sing along to all her songs all the time.”
McMacken said she was also excited for the Black Lips.
“Basically, tomorrow I’ll be at the main stage for a few hours,” she said.
ko382012@ohio.edu
@KaitlinBOwens
