Photos & Review By Taylor Wallace:
With this being the first annual CounterPoint Festival nobody knew exactly what to expect but immediately upon entrance to the festival grounds attendees knew that this was going to be a completely unique experience. The grounds entailed 2 enormous tent stages, the “Beat Tent” and the “Back Beat Tent,” that seemed to be the main focus of opening day.
Getting things started off in the Beat Tent was MCP Management producer “Abakus” who quickly drew a strong crowd with his heavy, hard hitting sound. Meanwhile up in the Back Beat Tent began the first band of the festival, “Stokeswood”
With both tents off an rocking at 5pm sharp the festival grounds quickly became alive! Local food vendors hustled everything from southern BBQ to bacon-stuffed grilled cheeses while art vendors from all over the country displayed their finest works as well.
“No Body Beats the Drum” is a dutch electronic trio that turned out to be a perfect act to get the stage ready for the crazy antics of the Canadian duo Adventure Club who followed next. Adventure Club seems to create an energy during the makes it hard not to jump around and dance along with. They’re remixes of well known popular songs are very popular in the electronic scene.
Meanwhile up in the Back Beat Tent was electronic producers Trench who was then followed by Run DMT. Run DMT had the GL&M Dolls up on stage during his set showing off some of their famous dance moves and perfect figures. Both of these sets turned out to be smiles all around.
Back down to the Beat Tent were two highly anticipated acts of the entire festival Beats Antique, who’s sound is so dynamic you are immediately drawn to it and Big Gigantic. Big Gigantic is the idea of Dominic Lolli who plays the saxophone and produces along with drummer Jeremy Salkin. Neesless to say these two had the place jumping!
And last but certainly not least is the undeniable duo Up Until Now which features Jay Murphy as producer and on the keyboards, Kyle Holly on drums and a very special guest for this show was David Murphy of STS9. These guys are constantly pushing the limits of electronic music mixed in with live instrumentation. David adds that extra bass line and funk to the already smooth beats of Jay and Kyle and everyone left the Back Beat Tent that night with their jaws on the floor!
Overall the first night to the first annual CounterPoint was a huge success!
