# Artist Record Label 1 ALISON WONDERLAND Awake Astralwerks 2 DJ TAYE Still Trippin Hyperdub 3 NHOAH 120 Red Skies [EP] R.O.T 4 KONGSTEAD, TEMMPO “Boomerang” [Single] universal 5 PEGGY GOU Once [EP] Ninja Tune 6 TESHA Dreams Vol. 1 Self-Released 7 WHAT SO NOT Not All The Beautiful Things Counter 8 DRUGZZ “Someone Other Than Me” [Single] Super Serious 9 CUSTARD SQUARE “We Live They Sleep” [Single] Self-Released 10 TELEPORT X In Dreams [EP] Polyptych
# Artist Record Label 1 NATALIE PRASS The Future And The Past ATO 2 SNAIL MAIL Lush Matador 3 KEVIN KRAUTER Toss Up Bayonet 4 TT LoveLaws Love Leaks/Caroline 5 SOFT KILL Savior Profound Lore 6 FRANKIE COSMOS Vessel Sub Pop 7 ICEAGE Beyondless Matador 8 BEACH HOUSE Seven (7) Sub Pop 9 OCEAN HOPE Rolling Days Hush Hush 10 HATCHIE Suger & Spice [EP] Double Double Whammy 11 CUT WORMS Hollow Ground Jagjaguwar 12 NIHILIST CHEERLEADER Riot, Right? Perfect Attendance 13 KING TUFF The Other Sub Pop 14 A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS Pinned Dead Oceans 15 FORTH WANDERERS Forth Wanderers Sub Pop 16 ORA COGAN Crickets Hand Drawn Dracula 17 COURTNEY BARNETT Tell Me How You Really Feel Mom + Pop 18 FATHER JOHN MISTY God’s Favorite Customer Sub Pop 19 LITTLE JUNIOR Hi Grand Jury 20 SAM EVIAN You, Forever Saddle Creek 21 SHACKS, THE Haze Big Crown 22 DRINKS Hippo Lite Drag City 23 CURRENT JOYS A Different Age Danger Collective 24 MOANING Moaning Sub Pop 25 NO THANK YOU All It Takes To Ruin It All Lame-O 26 HABIBI Cardamom Garden [EP] Modern Sky Entertainment 27 SHOPPING The Official Body Fat-Cat 28 NO AGE Snares Like a Haircut Drag City 29 PETAL Magic Gone Run For Cover 30 US GIRLS In A Poem Unlimited 4AD
TOP ADDS:
1 MOURN Sopresa Familia Captured Tracks 2 ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER Hope Downs Sub Pop 3 BLESSEDii [EP] CoinToss 4 FUTO In Heaven, All My Jokes Will Kill Marching Banana 5 NEIGHBOR LADY Maybe Later Friendship Fever 6 KADHJA BONET Childqueen Fat Possum 7 RVGA Quality Of Mercy Caroline
1 NATALIE PRASS The Future And The Past ATO 2 ICEAGE Beyondless Matador 3 SOFT KILL Savio rProfound Lore 4 TT LoveLaws Love Leaks/Caroline 5 OCEAN HOPE Rolling Days Hush Hush 6 US GIRLS In A Poem Unlimited 4AD 7 A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS Pinned Dead Oceans 8 AMEN DUNES Freedom Sacred Bones 9 HOP ALONG Bark Your Head Off, Dog Saddle Creek 10 HALEY BLAIS Let Yourself Go [EP] Self-Released 11 CURRENT JOYS A Different Age Danger Collective 12 NO THANK YOU All It Takes To Ruin It All Lame-O 1 3SHOPPING The Official Body Fat-Cat 14 GOBBINJR ocala wick Topshelf 15 DR DOG Critical Equation We Buy Gold/Thirty Tigers 16 PREOCCUPATIONS New Material Jagjaguwar 17 EZRA FURMAN Transangelic Exodus Bella Union/PIAS 18 SALINE You Did It To Yourself Perfect Attendance 19 FRANKIE COSMOS Vessel Sub Pop 20 VOWWS Under The World Anti-Language 21 SCREAMING FEMALES All At Once Don Giovanni 22 HABIBI Cardamom Garden [EP] Modern Sky Entertainment 23 POST ANIMAL When I Think Of You In A Castle Polyvinyl 24 COURTNEY BARNETT Tell Me How You Really Feel Mom + Pop 25 KISSISSIPPI Sunset Blush Bug Crusher 26 SHACKS, THE Haze Big Crown 27 UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA Sex & Food Jagjaguwar 28 LAS ROSAS Shadow By Your Side Greenway 29 FATHER JOHN MISTY God’s Favorite Customer Sub Pop 30 LA LUZ Floating Features Hardly Art
I know, this is not a metal show. BUT I brought metal to the Post Malone show. My best friend loves Post Malone and so her and I had a girl’s night out and went to the show! This tour was supporting Post Malone’s new album, Beerbongs & Bentleys, which is really good. It is one of my favorite non-metal albums of the year. He brought 21 Savage with him to open up for him because their song, Rockstar, is really popular (trust me, you have heard it at one point or another).
For those of you who are not as familiar with Post Malone, he is a 22 year old singer/rapper from Texas. He hit the spotlight with his song White Iverson and he then went on tour to open up for Justin Bieber. He then dropped his first record, Stoney, in 2016 and realeased his second album, Beerbongs & Bentleys, in April of 2018. Some of his most popular songs are: Déjà vu, I Fall Apart, Congratulations, Better Now, Rockstar, and Psycho.
Post Malone is also a metalhead!!! He used to be in a metalcore band when he was in high school, and there are videos of him with some metal bands! There is a video of Post Malone with Knocked Loose singer, Bryan Garris jamming out on a tour bus. He also has big fans within the metal community such as: Levi Benton from Miss May I, Chris Fronzak from Attila, Myke Terry from Volumes, and Seth Blake from Wage War (Seth is such a big fan, he dressed up as Post Malone for Halloween).
I enjoy Post Malone’s music, and I support fellow metalheads, so I was super excited to hang out with my best friend and see Posty! But we all know that I will bring The Saw’s Butcher Shop to any show that I go to. You see, your Master Butcher has different types of aprons that I wear to shows. I have one specifically for rap shows. But the story about my different aprons is for another time. With that being said, I looked the part as a heavy metal kid. No, I didn’t wear an extremely offensive band shirt or corpse paint (even though that would’ve been really funny), I wore the attire that is in every metalhead’s closet (besides band shirts), leather. And let me tell you, I stuck out like a sore thumb.
My best friend and I
Literally every girl there looked the same. All of them wore high waisted shorts, a tank top, and black converses (you can see two pairs of black converses in the picture above). So, it’s easy to say that I was really easy to spot.
And oh my god, there were so many teenagers there!!! Like they all looked like they were sophomores/juniors in high school and they were all in huge groups of people. I swear, I would turn around and there would be a group of like 15 girls screaming and jumping on each other when they would see one another. C’mon now… I know y’all saw each other literally 3 hours ago at school. I could easily spot the older people (and by older, I mean people in their twenty’s and in college) because there would be a group of two or three people glaring at the group of 15 girls (me and my friend are included in this older group).
A DJ came on first and got the crowd hyped up! He kinda made me mad because he wouldn’t play full songs and would cut the song off RIGHT WHEN THE GOOD PART WAS ABOUT TO COME ON! It’s like he was personally trolling us. During the DJ, some guy threw a full beer can in the air and homeboy beside me caught it, drank it, and then threw the empty can in the air. We all started hollering, “WOOOOO!!!!!” and hyping him up during this. It is safe to say that nothing beats crazy rednecks no matter what the setting is.
21 Savage was next and of course, it started pouring down rain. But that didn’t stop us from jamming out!! We were all dancing in the rain, getting soaked but it just made the night more fun! My friend and I made some friends and we were dancing with them and rapping along with 21. He commented on how many people were in the lawn (aka us) and said we were crazy. For this show, I didn’t try to get close seats to the stage (because those are $$$$) and lawn is wayyyy more fun! There is no point in getting close while in lawn so, we were just having a blast singing and dancing in the back! 21 Savage played some of his most well-known songs such as Bank Account, Mad High, Dip Dip, and Bartier Cardi.
21 Savage
And now, what we have all been waiting for: POST MALONE!!! While we were waiting for Posty, people were literally crowd surfing in the lawn. I would see all these people going up and since this isn’t a show that would usually have crowd surfers (like a metal show), the majority of the people were dropped. I have no idea where the crowd surfers thought they were going because you literally can’t go anywhere in the lawn section, but hey, A+ for effort! This one girl was in a lawn chair, and crowd surfed while sitting in the lawn chair. That girl is my spirit animal.
Post Malone opened up with Too Young and everyone was vibing with the music, jumping around, and singing every word. On his records, Post Malone’s songs are really chill, but live, they still had the chill aspect but were more hyped so people could sing and dance. He also played some of my favorite songs such as Better Now, Candy Paint, No Option, Stay, and Go Flex. When he sang I Fall Apart, everyone was singing along with him way louder than any other song. He dedicated that song to “the bitch that broke his heart” and we all started chanting “F*** that bitch.” He ended the show by playing one of his most well-known songs: Congratulations. I swear no one was still during this show. Post Malone also commented on how many people were in the lawn and said we were some crazy mother*******.
Post Malone
The Post Malone show was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed myself! It was way different than a metal show, but it was a great experience! If you are thinking about listening to Post Malone, DO IT!! He has some really great music! I hate that someone broke his heart, but damn, some great music came out of it. I would also suggest watching videos of him, he is a real funny guy.
Overall, the show was a success and I wouldn’t mind seeing Post Malone again!
I was so excited for this show because one of my favorite bands, Upon A Burning Body, was playing! I am also really good friends with Joe from Upon A Burning Body and Myke from Volumes. So, I was looking forward to catching up with my friends!
The last time I saw Upon A Burning Body was at the Blind Tiger in Greensboro, NC.
At that show, I met the entire band and Danny Leal (the lead singer) gave me a hug and dedicated Texas Blood Money to me. Danny is a big fan of golfing, and I work in Pinehurst, NC which is one of the biggest and most popular golf locations in the United States. I promised him that the next time I see him, I would bring him some Pinehurst gear. So that is exactly what I did! I met up with him when I got to the venue and he was so excited and happy to see me. He was also really surprised when I gave him two golf shirts and a hat.
After hanging out with Danny, I met up with their bass player, Joe, and we also caught up. They were all really excited that I showed up to the show and kept asking me if I would be in the front again singing all of their songs. Is that even a question? OF COURSE I’m going to be in the front jamming out.
I bought a VIP ticket to meet Volumes and I got to hang out with the entire band. They were all really nice guys, and they were so excited to meet some of their fans. One of my friends is in the military and he was getting deployed that day. So, I asked Volumes if they could sign something for him and they did! Gus ended up sending him a video saying what’s up and Myke Facetimed him while my friend was on the way to the airport.
Volumes
Myke Terry (Lead Singer) for Volumes
After the meet and greet, Myke went with me and some friends to Zaxbys. Shoutout to Myke for paying for my food, you are the real MVP. Once we got back to the venue, I got in the front and was ready to jam out!
A couple of local bands played first, and they were pretty good! They were jamming out and trying to engage with the crowd, but like most shows, the crowd did not really get into the opening acts as much. Convictions was the first band from the tour lineup to play and they were really interactive with the crowd. There was some movement from the crowd and they did put on a great show! This band were Christian’s because the singer apologized to the fans if some people from that religion ever judged them. He also said that what those people do is not what they stand for. I thought that was pretty cool. The White Noise came on, and wow. They put on an amazing performance. The singer was a wild man! He got on some guy’s shoulders and was running around in the pit. He really got the crowd pumped up for the rest of the show.
Upon A Burning Body (UABB) was up next and you already know that I was hyped to see them! They came out playing Red Razor Wrist and the crowd exploded! Everyone was jamming out and there were people running around in the pit. UABB has amazing energy and I love seeing them live. Everyone in the band waved at me at some point during their set. They played my favorite song, Scars, and during that song, Danny was in front of me and he squatted down, ruffled my hair, and gave me a hug. There were two little kids in the front and Danny noticed them getting squished from the pit, so he pulled them on stage and let them watch the rest of the show from stage-side. They played all of their hits, such as You Don’t Own Me, Already Broken, Intermission, and Texas Blood Money. Danny dedicated their song, Sin City, to me. Joe gave me a guitar pick after their set and then it was time for Volumes!
Picture by: Rosario Gutierrez
Can you spot me in this picture??
Volumes came out playing Left for Dead and the entire place was rocking! They also have great energy on stage and Myke has some sick dance moves. Everyone was singing and dancing to their songs. They played my favorite songs back to back. They played Finite, Feels Good, The Mixture, and Waves Control. After Waves Control, I went to UABB’s merch booth and hung out with Danny and Joe for the rest of the show. The guitarist for Volumes was walking around the venue while playing. He was at the bar and taking shots with fans, and he would go up behind people while playing. He was just hanging out having a great time. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Volumes came out and did an encore and played Vahle and Intake.
All of the bands put on a great show and I was really impressed with the turnout! The venue really surprised me, it turned out to be a really cool place! I got to meet new people, hang out with some bands, and to top it all off, Danny said that I am UABB’s favorite fan! This show was worth the 4 hour drive!
1 TT LoveLaws Love Leaks/Caroline 2 ICEAGE Beyondless Matador 3 CUT WORMS Hollow Ground Jagjaguwar 4 BUZZY LEE Facepaint [EP] Future Classic 5 FORTH WANDERERS Forth Wanderers Sub Pop 6 SOFT KIL LSavior Profound Lore 7 NO AGE Snares Like a Haircut Drag City 8 OCEAN HOPE Rolling Days Hush Hush 9 CAMP COPE How To Socialise & Make Friends Run For Cover 10 FRANKIE COSMOS Vessel Sub Pop 11 MOANING Moaning Sub Pop 12 NIHILIST CHEERLEADER Riot, Right? Perfect Attendance 13 CURRENT JOYS A Different Age Danger Collective 14 HOP ALONG Bark Your Head Off, Dog Saddle Creek 15 EZRA FURMAN Transangelic Exodus Bella Union/PIAS 16 AMEN DUNES Freedom Sacred Bones 17 SHOPPING The Official Body Fat-Cat 18 BEACH HOUSE Seven (7) Sub Pop 19 LADY LEGS Holy Heatwave Communicating Vessels 20 SHACKS, THE Haze Big Crown 21 DRINKS Hippo Lite Drag City 22 DURAND JONES AND THE INDICATIONS Durand Jones & The Indications Dead Oceans/Colemine 23 SOCCER MOMMY Clean Fat Possum 24 ED SCHRADER’S MUSIC BEAT Riddles Carpark 25 GENGAHR Where Wildness Grows Kobalt 26 ANNA BURCH Quit the Curse Polyvinyl 27 CORNIGLIA Corniglia Self-Released 28 LEBANON HANOVER Let Them Be Aliens Optika 29 DR DOG Critical Equation We Buy Gold/Thirty Tigers 30 GUM The Underdog Spinning Top
1 COURTNEY BARNETT Tell Me How You Really Feel Mom + Pop 2 PARQUET COURTS Wide Awake! Rough Trade 3 PRISM TATS Mamba Anti- 4 POPTONE Poptone Cleopatra 5 TOMEMITSU The Cave (Deluxe Edition) S.A.D. 6 PROFESSOR CAVEMANVol. 4 [EP] Sniffling Indie Kids 7 DEEPER Deeper Fire Talk
TOP 30
1 CUT WORMS Hollow Ground Jagjaguwar 2 ICEAGE Beyondless Matador 3 TT Love Laws Love Leaks/Caroline 4 FORTH WANDERERS Forth Wanderers Sub Pop 5 BUZZY LEE Facepaint [EP] Future Classic 6 SHACKS, THE Haze Big Crown 7 AMEN DUNES Freedom Sacred Bones 8 EZRA FURMAN Transangelic Exodus Bella Union/PIAS 9 HOP ALONG Bark Your Head Off, Dog Saddle Creek 10 SCREAMING FEMALES All At Once Don Giovanni 11 US GIRLS In A Poem Unlimited 4AD 12 LEBANON HANOVER Let Them Be Aliens Optika 13 ANMLS ANMLS Slovenly/Algo 14 GOAT GIRL Goat Girl Rough Trade 15 NIHILIST CHEERLEADER Riot, Right? Perfect Attendance 16 PENDLETONS, THE Funk Forever [EP] Bastard Jazz 17 KISSISSIPPI Sunset Blush Bug Crusher 18 BRIEF CANDLES Retreater Guilt Ridden Pop 19 DURAND JONES AND THE INDICATIONS Durand Jones & The Indications Dead Oceans/Colemine 20 POST ANIMAL When I Think Of You In A Castle Polyvinyl 21 BOYO Me, Again Danger Collective 22 GUM The Underdog Spinning Top 23 ANNA BURCH Quit the Curse Polyvinyl 24 HINDS I Don’t Run Mom + Pop 25 CURRENT JOYS A Different Age Danger Collective 26 FRANKIE COSMOS Vessel Sub Pop 27 SOFT KILL Savior Profound Lore 28 UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA Sex & Food Jagjaguwar 29 SPEEDY ORTIZ Twerp Verse Carpark 30 INSECURE MEN Insecure Men Fat Possum
1 KING TUFF The Other Sub Pop 2 STIMULATOR JONES Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures Stones Throw 3 SOFT KILL Savior Profound Lore 4 LA LUZ Floating Features Hardly Art 5 RF SHANNON Trickster Blues Cosmic Dreamer 6 HALEY BLAIS Let Yourself Go [EP] Self-Released 7 TRACYANNE AND DANNY Tracyanne And Danny Merge 8 LAS ROSAS Shadow By Your Side Greenway 9 LADY LEGS Holy Heatwave Communicating Vessels 10 TT LoveLaws Love Leaks/Caroline
top 30:
1 GOAT GIRL Goat Girl Rough Trade 2 CUT WORMS Hollow Ground Jagjaguwar 3 FORTH WANDERERS Forth Wanderers Sub Pop 4 ICEAGE Beyondless Matador 5 BUZZY LEE Facepaint [EP] Future Classic 6 SHOPPING The Official Body Fat-Cat 7 NO AGE Snares Like a Haircut Drag City 8 YOUNG FATHERS Cocoa Sugar Ninja Tune 9 SHACKS, THE Haze Big Crown 10 MOANING Moaning Sub Pop 11 HALEY BLAIS Let Yourself Go [EP] Self-Released 12 SHANNON AND THE CLAMS Onion Easy Eye Sound/Nonesuch 13 LEBANON HANOVER Let Them Be Aliens Optika 14 INSECURE MEN Insecure Men Fat Possum 15 HOT SNAKES Jericho Sirens Sub Pop 16 PENDLETONS, THE Funk Forever [EP] Bastard Jazz 17 SOCCER MOMMY Clean Fat Possum 18 BRIEF CANDLES Retreater Guilt Ridden Pop 19 NO THANK YOU All It Takes To Ruin It All Lame-O 20 US GIRLS In A Poem Unlimited 4AD 21 FRANKIE COSMOS Vessel Sub Pop 22 WENDY RAE FOWLER Warped Plug Research/Round Trip 23 SCREAMING FEMALES All At Once Don Giovanni 24 HOP ALONG Bark Your Head Off, Dog Saddle Creek 25 ANNA BURCH Quit the Curse Polyvinyl 26 SPEEDY ORTIZ Twerp Verse Carpark 27 UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA Sex & Food Jagjaguwar 28 PREOCCUPATIONS New Material Jagjaguwar 29 GENGAHR Where Wildness Grows Kobalt 30 MELAINA KOL Bird Kill Worm It Takes Time
Now that we’ve all been able to recover from the weekend, it’s time for a recap of this year’s Moogfest. 15 miles of walking around Durham + at least 5 meals consisting of free sandwiches from the media lounge + 17 shows = one unforgettable weekend.
The first show I went to was Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Maybe it was because I had gotten several free drinks at the opening party beforehand but I left Carolina Theatre absolutely sobbing, which was a good start to the weekend.
Next we checked out Madame Gandhi. Her performance was dynamic and multifaceted, ranging from drum solos to rapping to reading poetry.
I only caught a bit of Jamila Woods’ set but I enjoyed what I was able to hear. I really loved her recent album HEAVN and highly recommend it.
I ended night one on a high note with Kelela, who put on a captivating performance. I was a little bit concerned when I heard she’d be playing Carolina Theatre- a seated venue- but they opened up the pit so people were able to dance.
On Friday afternoon I stopped by the Raund Haus local producer showcase (check out my interview with Raund Haus a little further back on the blog!) Pictures is Double Barrel Benefit alum RGB.
I headed back to Carolina Theatre for Jon Hopkins, which I wasn’t really feeling to be honest, but had a great light show.
After quickly realizing I had lost my phone and retrieving it from the nice people at the Caroline Theatre front desk, I saw Suicideyear, a producer best known for his work with Yung Lean. This was honestly a weird show, complete with very unsettling visuals, but pretty fun.
I LOVED Yves Tumor’s performance- it was the perfect kind of abrasive and weird. My friends all complained about their ears hurting afterwards and didn’t want to stay for the whole time but I highly enjoyed it.
Next up was Shabazz Palaces. This was a really fun set and the crowd was absolutely loving it. I didn’t witness this myself but apparently there was a man in the front row dancing like crazy and swiping left on Tinder enthusiasticall during the set, which rocks.
I actually ended the night by checking out new Moogfest venue Fruit and Company and then going to an afterparty, but I didn’t get any pictures because both locations were too crowded.
I was THRILLED when Moses Sumney was added to the Moogfest lineup mere days before the festival. I’m honestly a bit of a stan of his.His show was the first I saw on Saturday and it was a beautiful one. Very different from when I saw him at Moogfest in 2016- this time he had a full band with him!
Pete Rock was another artist added last-minute (and as part of the free programming).
I was really excited about Psychic TV! None of my friends wanted to go with me to this show but I still enjoyed myself. Their bassist was wearing one of their own T-shirts, which absolutely owns.
Jenny Hval killed it as per usual. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen her three times and each time has been amazing. She always incorporates weird performance art into her sets, and this time it consisted of a gigantic inflatable clam and a few inflatable pears that she had her collaborators blow up while she performed.
Later in the night I caught excellent sets by Fatima Al Qadiri and DJ Stingray but unfortunately didn’t get photos due to poor lighting.
Overall, I had a great time and caught some sets by artists that I wouldn’t expect to be in North Carolina for any other reason- even if some of the bigger names dropped off the lineup this year.