The Park Avenue Festival was becoming a beer fest for the fraternity types and had lost momentum in the wake of the pandemic—gee, I haven’t had the time to type that word in a while and, frankly, it’s about as pleasant as picking a scab.
But leave it to some musician types to come together and deliver the Park Avenue Music Festival, a new event for 2022. It was a keen mish-mash of hyper-beats with plenty of jam in the parking lot partially obscured by the trees across from Roam Cafe. LSTN was rockin’ for certain with its front woman dressed intensely like a Mayan warrior on the set of “Robo Cop.” They played sonic and solid.
Followed by …
The Kids in the Basement played an out of sight, dynomite, dynamic set that sent me reelin.’ I’d seen their extremely catchy pop punk before, including a piece that had the two guitar players trading off on power chords like they were playing tennis with hand grenades.
Drummer Sean Drogan’s Hybrid Beats wasn’t nearly as visual as the two previous acts, but the way he dissected the beats in halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths, and so on, had the crowd jumpin’ with joy on the hot asphalt and gravel dance floor under the hot summer sun.
Rapper Noah Fense reeled in the casual listener with his clever turn of phrase and energy, which he ramped up with each piece he launched in and out of. Songs about redemption and metamorphosis; tres cool.
This festival was a perfect collision of hippie jams and dance club beats. It ran for two days. I stayed for the whole first day. The things I saw… man.
Here’s a comprehensive list of live shows in and around Rochester: Get Your Gig On
Frank De Blase is Rochester Beacon music writer. The Beacon welcomes comments from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name.