OUT IN THE STREETS DAY 1: CAVEMAN, PSYCHIC TWIN, CRUSH CLUB & MORE

As I walked into The Well Saturday afternoon, small clouds blanketed the sky just slightly letting the sun peak through. It was so quiet I could almost hear the nearby inhabitants of the neighborhood still getting over their Saturday morning hangovers. The back lot of The Well, where the 9th annual Out in the Streets was taking place, was walled off by large cement blocks creating a fortress – no bad vibes from the week would be able to penetrate those walls and affect what was sure to be an exciting weekend.

Out in the Streets started out as a small DIY event that took place on a Bushwick street corner – hence the name “Out in the Streets.” The musically diverse festival has since made its way to The Well which I thought made a great setting for some musical enjoyment.

Day one started off strong with friends of Pancakes and Whiskey, Surf Rock is Dead. Their beachy rock vibe was the perfect way to kick off the festival and even brought the sun out by the time they finished their set. Balún followed with dance-y Latin-infused music and a gaggle of fun instruments including an accordion, a few shakers and even a glass bottle.

SRID

SRID

SRID

SRID

SRID

SRID

Balún

Balún

Balún

Balún

Balún

Balún

Monograms rocked the stage late afternoon as the crowd picked up and started to fill out the space. They showed off the vinyl that Archie’s Records pressed featuring themselves and fellow Out in the Streets performers Pink Mexico. The album even came with 3D glasses!

Monograms

Monograms

Monograms

Monograms

Monograms

Monograms

Monograms

Cuddle Magic lived up to their name with their majestic rhythm and airy vocals – the trumpet and bass clarinet were a great addition – I felt like each song was layering me more and more with a new cozy blanket. For one song, the band ran out into the crowd with their instruments and sat amongst the colorful umbrella-decorated picnic tables as a silent and attentive crowd listened in awe.

Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic

Cuddle Magic

Suburban Living elevated the energy a bit as the handsome lads from Philly played a killer set.

Suburban Living

Suburban Living

Suburban Living

Suburban Living

Suburban Living

Suburban Living

Suburban Living

Suburban Living

The highlight of day one for me had to be Crush Club who brought the party, sass, great dancing and passionate vocals to the stage. It’s very hard to photograph a band when you can’t stop dancing but that just means they were too good to stand still for.

Crush Club

Crush Club

Crush Club

Crush Club

Crush Club

Crush Club

Crush Club

Crush Club

Crush Club

Crush Club

Psychic Twin brought us into the night with their trance-y backbeats and ethereal vocals. The pair had great chemistry on stage, always throwing each other a smile or the middle finger throughout the set and they absolutely slayed it with their futuristic costumes.

Psychic Twin

Psychic Twin

Psychic Twin

Psychic Twin

Psychic Twin

Psychic Twin

Psychic Twin

Psychic Twin

Psychic Twin

Buscabulla looked like those cool Europeans who know they’re cool but pretend they don’t and are so enticing to look at yet way too intimidating to hang out with. Their hypnotic sound was dance-y yet sexually charged and so rhythmic that you couldn’t help but sway the whole time.

Buscabulla

Buscabulla

Buscabulla

Buscabulla

Buscabulla

Buscabulla

Buscabulla

Buscabulla

Closing out the night was Brooklyn-based band Caveman. Towards the end of the night the show was running late, so the guys didn’t take the stage until about 9:50pm when they were set to go on at 9pm. There was a noise curfew but Caveman gave it all they got for as long as they could. They crowd was dancing and the band was jamming as lead guitarist and vocalist Matthew Iwanusa bantered with the crowd. Just as he was preaching about how Brooklyn, and Bushwick in particular, was full of party animals and they can rage however long they wanted, their sound cut out just about 10-15 minutes into their set. When the band realized what happened, they rightfully got upset and Iwanusa even threw his guitar in anger.

Caveman

Caveman

Caveman

Caveman

Caveman

Caveman

Caveman

Caveman

Caveman

Caveman

Though people kept chanting, “ONE MORE SONG!” after the band had left the stage, the plug was officially pulled on night one of the festival and we’d eagerly have to wait for day two.

Article: Merissa Blitz