photos by Phieace Photo
This past year has been one of the busiest and greatest years of my life. Back in May was the official start of my first full festival season working for Festival Squad. In the four months since May I have attended five festivals and countless other shows. Resonance Music & Arts Festivals was easily one of the best weekends I’ve had all summer and one of the best times I’ve had at Legend Valley. Everything from the music to the art, people, and the food helped make my weekend amazing. This was the perfect festival to end a once in a lifetime festival season with!
The Lineup:
(Aqueous)
My favorite thing about my weekend at Resonance was hands down the stacked lineup. Every day brought something different and better from the previous day. I was able to jam out to a few of my personal favorites and I discovered a few new bands that I had never seen before. The first day of music got the weekend rolling with a few of my favorites and a band that I’ve been looking forward to seeing for the first time live. Dixon’s Violin kicked off the day with a soothing performance. A little later in the day one of my favorite bands, Aqueous, took the stage and brought down the sun for the start of a great night. I first discovered Aqueous back at Summer Camp Music Festival and have enjoyed every performance I’ve seen of their’s since. This young and talented four piece band from New York has a promising future ahead of them. After Aqueous came the band I was waiting for. Beats Antique put on a bizarre and mesmerizing performance that made everyone feel like they were apart of a crazy psychedelic circus. This was my first time seeing them live and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After Beats Antique concluded their wild show the band of the weekend took the stage for their first of four performances. Ohio natives Papadosio took the main stage to put on a great tribute to Nine Inch Nails. They went the whole nine yards for this show including wearing eyeliner to look like the iconic band members. Following Papadosio’s tribute set, Turbo Suit took over the late night tents for their only festival reunion show of the year!
(STS9)
The second day of music brought even more talented musicians to the stage and was arguably my favorite day of music throughout the weekend. Once again my day started off with Dixon’s Violin followed by Aqueous. Day two also brought a few more firsts for me when I saw Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Wookiefoot. I fell in love with Pigeons this weekend and have been jamming out to their music non stop since I’ve been home. Twiddle, one of my all time favorites, put on yet another fantastic show at Legend Valley. If you have never listened to them, I suggest you do! After Twiddle, Papadosio performed set number two of four and got the crowd pumped up and ready for the main event of the night. One of the main reasons I was so excited to come to Resonance was for the Friday night headliner. The last time I saw STS9, life was at this exact venue and they absolutely blew my mind. To say that I was excited to see them again was a complete understatement. STS9 didn’t let me down! Their performance was one of my favorites of the weekend. After Tribe’s stellar performance the music wasn’t over. The Motet was the first to take over the late night tent with a “Mix Tape 1979” set playing various hits from 1979. Dopapod took over after The Motet for a stellar show to close out the second day.
(Papadosio)
Day three brought the perfect conclusion of a fantastic weekend of music. My day started off stumbling across Abby Vice in the Woodland Tent. She put on a soothing show that captured the attention of a lot of people walking past. Once I left the Woodland Tent, I journeyed to the Big Tent to get down to some bluegrass with the Rumpke Mountain Boys for their first of two sets. Trevor Hall gave a soulful performance on the Main Stage that touched everyone’s heart and had me caught up in my emotions. Once Trevor finished his set, Papadosio took over the Main Stage for back to back sets. Their first set was an all acoustic set and was arguably my favorite of the weekend. Sitting on the hillside while listening to some soothing acoustic covers of their original songs was a fantastic way to watch the sunset and relax. After the acoustic set Papadosio took a short break then came back with some more original music to close out their fourth set of the weekend. Once Papadosio ended their second set of the day, I was not ready for the weekend to end. I made my way to a fantastic late night set put on by The Main Squeeze. Later I jammed out to Rumpke’s second late night set then headed to the Big Tent for a second dose of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong to close out the perfect weekend of music. Seriously though, this weekend’s lineup was amazing!
(Main Squeeze – Late Night)
The People:
The first music festival that I ever attended was here at Legend Valley. During that weekend I experienced great vibes from all of the people that I haven’t really found at Legend Valley since. This weekend changed that completely. Everyone I came across this weekend had a smile on their face and was genuinely happy to be there. I showed up knowing no one there and was welcomed into one of the greatest festival families that I’ve been apart of. The camp I joined was decked out with everything you would need to thrive at a festival. We had a grill to cook on, golf cart to move our gear with, a dome to hang up our hammocks in, a slip and slide for the hot days and so much more. We had dance parties all weekend and met and befriended our surrounding neighbors and random groups throughout the festival. Another thing that was great about this weekend was that everyone looked out for each other like they were family. People made sure that everyone had enough to eat throughout the day and stayed on people about staying hydrated. If someone was feeling down at any point people rallied behind them to lift them up and make sure they were ok. It’s nice to know that people can put aside their differences to come together for a weekend of good times and good vibes. The people I met here make me want to come back to this wonderful festival year after year.
Art & Food:
Resonance Music & Arts Festival had some amazing craft booths, mesmerizing live artists, and some life saving food. Resonance had the basic vendors that are found at festivals across the country such as Third Eye Pinecone and a few others. However, I loved the fact that an emphasis was placed on local vendors. There were booths scattered throughout the festival grounds with tie dye shirts and tapestries, hand blown glass pipes and pendants, stones wrapped in wires, bracelets, necklaces, posters, and so much more! On top of all of the unique and creative local vendors, Resonance offered a solid variety of food vendors. Everything from pulled pork BBQ sandwiches to wraps, burgers, smoothies, coffee, and breakfast sandwiches were available. Of course a festival at Legend Valley wouldn’t be complete without a couple slices of Disco Pizza while watching the sun come up! One of my favorite things about this past weekend was the amount of live artists spread out throughout the festival grounds. I haven’t seen this many live artists at a festival since The Werk Out 2016. There were painters set up around the Main Stage creating breath taking works of art while the musicians were performing. There was also a crazy amount of flow artists making their way through Legend Valley. Fire POI spinners, hoopers, glovers, and so many other flow performers got lost in the music and captivated the attention of fellow festival goers.
Overall I couldn’t ask for a better festival weekend to end this year with. Everything about my fourth festival at Legend Valley was special. I have made lasting friendships and unforgettable memories that will stick with me forever. Resonance was a one of a kind adventure that helped a lot of things in my life come full circle. I reconnected with the band Aqueous again after interviewing them at Summer Camp, interviewed Dixon’s Violin after discovering him at the first festival I covered for Festival Squad, put an end to some personal troubles, and left with a fresh perspective on life. Resonance was the ending and restart I needed in my life. This fest will forever hold a special place in my heart and I’ll be counting down the days until next year. Thank you Resonance for everything you’ve done for me and everyone else that had the opportunity to make their way to Legend Valley.