Xponential Music Festival Presented by Subaru
July 27th, 28th, and 29th marked 25 years of XPN Music Fests with the Xponential Music Festival Presented by Subaru. WXPN is one of Philadelphia’s best radio stations as it is non-commerical with great music and greater community.
The 2018 Xponential Music Festival Presented by Subaru was filled with three stages and a total of 36 bands over three days at the BB&T Pavilion and Wiggins Park. Friday the 27th had a nine-band lineup of Swift Technique, Greg Sover Band, M.A.K.U. Soundsystem, The National Reserve, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Bermuda Triangle, Cloves, Proper Dark, Sylvan Esso, and David Byrne. The Lone Bellow was scheduled to play but had to cancel their set due to the rainy weather.
Bermuda Triangle, the trio of musicians Brittany Howard, Becca Mancari, and Jesse Lafser played at Wiggins Park right before the weekend storm started on the Camden Waterfront. It was Bermuda Triangle’s first festival performance. The band consists of three unique, harmonizing voices and the alternating instruments of classical guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, stand-up bass, and a small drum machine. Howard, Mancari, and Lafser admitted they were the best of friends and were having the greatest time recording and playing music together. Bermuda Triangle even has a theme song which they performed during their set.
Becca Mancari of Bermuda Triangle
Once the rain started, the crowd headed towards the BB&T Pavilion to see Sylvan Esso and David Byrne close out the first night of the festival. Sylvan Esso is an electronic duo from North Carolina with plenty of hits like “Die Young” and “Coffee”. The band pulled the crowd up from their seats with a stunning array of lights, upbeat music, and dancing.
Sylvan Esso
Saturday’s lineup was longer than Friday’s with 14 bands scheduled to play. At 8:30PM in the BB&T Pavilion Sturgill Simpson and his band shredded with his rock-country songs. A lot of wild guitar riffs and solos had the audience on their feet.
The War on Drugs closed Night Two and the energy the band poured out to the crowd carried from the pit to the lawn. Everyone was singing and dancing to one of their favorite local bands that made it big.
The War on Drugs
As night two ended day three started quickly at noon on Sunday with Harmony Woods from Philadelphia, PA. At 2:40PM a huge crowd gathered at the River Stage to see Phoebe Bridgers and her bandmates in suits with their instruments ready to go. Bridgers played songs of her LP Stranger in the Alps released last year. Bridgers has had great success from the release and has been playing shows and festivals non-stop since. The songs are mellow with head-nodding beats and her angelic voice. Phoebe Bridgers also covered Gillian Welch’s “Everything Is Free” and played what she calls her “one angry song”, “Motion Sickness”.
Phoebe Bridgers
The next band to grace the River Stage was Tank & the Bangas. The band pulled all the stops with as many instruments and band members they could muster. Tank & the Bangas make extremely fun
Tank & the Bangas
