Photo of Salsa Celtica courtesy of the band's Myspace page

Well, that was exhausting.

I didn't think it was going to be so hard to walk around and watch music for eight hours straight, but to say it was a challenging task was an understatement. By the end of the night, I could barely stand up and am writing this with great appreciation for comfortable desk chairs. Not only was walking around the 'Fest all day a tough task, but finding enough bands to stay excited throughout the day was a bit difficult, too.

I arrived at Musikfest around 1:30 p.m. and decided to walk around and see which platz grabbed my attention first. It turned out to be Plaza Tropical, where SWiM was delivering a solid set of Christian rock to a decent sized crowd happy to sit under a tent in the blistering heat. The band proved to be pleasant, but I wanted a bit more energy, so I turned my attention to the Celtic sounds of Blackwater at Volksplatz. Not exactly the solution, but good enough. Read my thoughts of both bands here

After a much-needed break inside at Moravian Academy Lower School, I trekked down to Festplatz to see swing band the Slicked Up 9's for a bit. Couples trying their hand at swing dancing clearly had fun underneath the tent, while swing devotees joined them on the dancefloor. I walked back up to Liederplatz and met a friend to see roots rockers Hoots and Hellmouth. I've already raved about their performance on the blog, but enough can't be said about it: it was simply sensational, and no doubt the band picked up more than a few converts when their hour-and-a-half set was finished.

Dinner followed at Johnny's Bagels on Main Street, complemented by the nearby folk sounds of Del Rain. The trio of singers played and sang with conviction, but their slow, acoustic songs were better suited for the background.

I again made my way down to Plaza Tropical (which at this point felt like my homebase) to catch KEF, an incredibly solid blues/funk outfit who I had seen a few months ago at The Funhouse and was looking forward to grooving to again. Admittedly, during the band's set and Splintered Sunlight's following performance, I was busy doing work for Metromix, so I couldn't dedicate my full attention to either band. But both were more than decent. Splintered Sunlight played Grateful Dead covers well enough to please the ever-present Dead Heads in attendance, so that says their shtick is working.

At this point, around 9:30 p.m., I was feeling incredibly tired, but I had to keep going. At the insistence of my girlfriend, who had joined me a few hours prior on my odyssey, we made our way to Americaplatz to watch some of the Stars of Bethlehem competition. I don't want to knock any of the participating singers — who were good enough to gain entrance to the contest in the first place — but none of them really wowed me. Most sang slow ballads without much variation, but I did like one man's take on the Gin Blossoms' "Hey Jealousy" and another woman's spirited rendition of Pat Benatar's "Shadows of the Night." Perhaps she can open for Benatar herself when the 80's icon comes to Riverplace on Friday night?

Unfortunately, I can't tell you who won the competition, because we left midway through to see if we could catch any last-minute performances. We decided to go with the exciting blend of Celtic and Salsa music from — you guessed it — Salsa Celtica at Volksplatz. Good choice. The band was incredibly unique and got the audience dancing, and I'm sure it will be asked back to Musikfest in the future.
by Andrew Daniels