Saturday, at the Piedmont Biofuel facility in Pittsboro, was the third annual TrkFest put on by Trekky Records. TrkFest has quickly become one of the most important local music events in the area and a group of WKNC folk made it out in full force. It was terribly hot and humid outside while the sun was out, but not one single person complained, and I believe everyone had a fantastic time. I was lucky enough to sit next to Rich and Mimi McLaughlin of the Pneurotics, and we had a fine view of both stages.
We missed Vibrant Green and Ezekiel Graves but got there just as Yardwork started up, and those guys put on a fantastic set to start our day.
After a excruciatingly hot but fascinating tour of the entire Biofuel center, we caught the last half of Ryan Gustafson’s set. I have seen Ryan about six times now, but this was only the second with a full band, and he was awesome, as usual.
We had to escape the heat, so we headed into the shade during the Butterflies set.
Veelee went on next. Their sound has evolved so much in the past year while still keeping with their same general style. One song that stuck out to me was a new track named “T’morrow;” that was the first in their set.
Mount Moriah went on next and, as usual, played an incredible set. I cannot describe how much I love this band and how excited I am for their new album to come out.
Midtown Dickens played one of my favorite sets of the evening. Megafaun came on for a couple of songs, and Kym and Catherine are always entertaining but even more so for this event. Fun, outgoing, and fresh is the best way to describe them.
It has been awhile since I saw Embarrassing Fruits play, but with a new album in the works, theses guys were as tight as ever as expected.
Hammer No More The Fingers has never been anything but a pleasure to see. They are one of the most technically sound and entertaining groups in the area. For a couple of songs they brought up Drew Anagnost and Leah Gibson from Lost in the Trees on the cellos and Brad Cook of Megafaun jumped on bass.
Lost in the Trees literally blew the crowd away playing second to last. I was surprised that they could cram onto the smaller of the two stages, but it ended up being truly magical. I feel like every time I see them live they sound different, which is always refreshing.
Megafaun ended the show as they always do: reeling the crowd in with their unique charisma and then putting them into a manic frenzy with their exceptional live performance. I took several videos of the group playing some brand new songs with a variety of different musicians, all off of their upcoming album, but the sound quality came out too poor to post them. Needless to say, every time I see Megafaun play, they retake the top of my list of local bands.