When I heard that two of my favorite childhood artists would be coming this past Saturday to Buffalo, NY for the annual Kerfuffle music festival, I absolutely couldn't pass up the opportunity. As I had described to my friend, who came to the concert with me, my typical, middle-school self would spend the twenty five minute ride on the bus to school staring out the window listening to the Dashboard Confessional "Dusk and Summer" album on repeat, dreaming about someday finding and losing the loves he sang about. Additionally, I would spent countless hours with the OK Go "Oh No" album memorizing every little line to "A Million Ways", "Do What You Want", and "Here It Goes Again". Needless to say, I was very pumped to be able to see both of those bands and more for a $35 ticket price.
It was such a beautiful day out, and after paying a mere $2 for close street parking, we made our way to the concert area at Canalside. My friend and I had gone to Buffalo's Canalside Concert series before, and this was just as big, if not bigger. The first few bands we didn't really know too well, Missio and Sir Sly, so we camped out in the shade for a bit and listened to them from afar. We were equally thrilled there were giant, create-your-own snow cones so we grabbed one for $4 and decorated it with all different flavors. Our unanimously-decided favorite flavor was the Piña Colada syrup; after we got toward the bottom of our frozen treat, my friend went back up to add even more Piña Colada. #noregrets
After the snow cone, we decided to walk around the Canalside concert grounds to see what was going on. There was a sweet beer tent serving both normal and craft beer varieties as well as wines and wine coolers. There were also vendor booths selling Kerfuffle merchandise and even fidget spinners, much to my dismay. We watched the boats on the canal for a while; there were so many boats, kayaks, and paddleboards out as the weather was absolutely perfect for boating. It was starting to get quite hot out, so I was very jealous I couldn't jump right into Lake Erie with them. We decided to head up to the stage for the next artist in the lineup, Bob Moses. We knew nothing about this band, but I was also there to explore new artists on the bill. We ended up getting super close to the fence line of the general admission section. There was a closer, VIP section for more money per ticket, but I didn't quite care about getting that close and I could still see perfectly fine where I was.
When Bob Moses started to play their set, it completely blew me out of the water. In a very Passion Pit-style, Bob Moses used heavy bass and synth sounds to create what I had called a "nightclub in space" effect. The lead singer, Tom Howie, had a voice that could simply cut through steel as it was very clear and direct over his perfectly constructed electric guitar riffs and the almost electro-trance synth rhythms from keyboardist, Jimmy Vallance. Quite honestly, the hair stole the show as both Jimmy Vallance and the drummer let their manes flow to the music, and I was totally jamming out. Needless to say, I totally became a Bob Moses fan after watching them play live.
After Bob Moses, we grabbed a couple hard lemonades from the beer tent and made our way back to the stage for OK Go. I was so thrilled to see them live as I had been listening to their albums for weeks during my runs and workouts. They were just as electric on stage as I had imagined. The lead singer, and my personal favorite band member, Damian Kulash, did his signature husky-style singing that just created waves of life and passion around each line he sang. I was expecting a little more character than was displayed from my second favorite band member, bassist Tim Nordwind, who typically stars in their creative music videos with his kooky glasses and fun dance moves.
I was also a little disappointed that they didn't play more songs, to be honest. Their set seemed a little short and, while they did play their new single, "Upside Down & Inside Out" as well as old favorites, "This Too Shall Pass", "Needing/Getting", "Get Over It", and, of course, "Here It Goes Again", I was looking forward to hearing their other singles like "C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips", "White Knuckles", and "Skyscrapers" but I guess they couldn't play everything. I'm just too greedy! They also played a cover of the Led Zeppelin song, "Black Dog", which really got the crowd involved. Their set was my friend's favorite of the day and, if it wasn't for my strange new love of Bob Moses, it would have been mine, too.
There were two bands to play before Dashboard Confessional came on, so my friend and I went to grab some food for dinner. We decided on gyros because, as my friend described to me, he can't seem to disassociate Buffalo with gyros for some reason which, as a gyro fanatic myself, I concurred. And, after jamming out to great music so far and getting quite a bit of sun outside, the gyro I had gotten suddenly became the tastiest gyro I've ever had. I was almost mad I had eaten it so quickly, but it certainly hit the spot. We people watched while sitting in the grass listening to Franz Ferdinand and Grouplove play their sets. My friend really dug Scottish band Franz Ferdinand and I particularly liked the second half of Grouplove's set when they started really dancing around onstage.
The sun began to set as we made our way back to our final time at the stage for Dashboard Confessional. Let me tell you, I'm not entirely sure why they decided to have Dashboard play last because singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba writes and sings some of the most broken-hearted songs you'll ever hear. In addition, many of the Grouplove fans left after their show but, to my delight and surprise, many Dashboard fans swarmed to fill the empty spots. I actually had no idea that many other people loved Dashboard as much as, if not more than, I did.
There was definitely a huge chunk of Dashboard albums that I missed growing up, as I only really listened to "Dusk and Summer" and "Alter The Ending". However, Chris definitely played to all the fans as he really mixed up his set list with songs from every single Dashboard musical period. I might have shed a bit of a tear when he sang "The Best Deceptions" and ended with "Hands Down", which was my "OG" favorite Dashboard song that I would listen to on repeat on that morning school bus ride. I honestly wish I could just have Chris Carrabba sing me lullabies to sleep every night, but not in a weird way.
This was 107.7 and 104.7 FM Alternative Buffalo's fourth Kerfuffle concert and I honestly think it was one of the most organized, well-staffed, and satisfying entertainment I have seen at any festival-style concert setting I've been to. I would highly recommend coming to next year's Kerfuffle, which is only an hour and a half ride from Rochester, NY, even if you don't know the artists. I had such a great time and it was most definitely worth the ticket price and more. Thank you for reading my festival review, keep an eye out for more articles like this by following my Twitter or my Instagram for post updates!
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