This weekend the Dover International Speedway in Delaware will play host to the inaugural Firefly Festival, a tightly knit musical event preaching quality over grandiosity, and providing patrons with one of the most alluring summer circuit lineups of 2012. Let’s take a look at the main draws below:
Friday, July 20th
En route to a headlining slot at Chicago’s Lollapalooza Festival, the bohemian bluesman Jack White will close out opening day with an eclectic career-spanning collection of tunes featuring the best cuts from his debut solo effort, Blunderbuss (2012), intertwined amongst a greatest hits compilation with selections from such projects as his Nashville-based supergroup, The Dead Weather, the songsmith’s other supergroup, Detroit’s own The Raconteurs, and of course the artist’s famed candy striper Garage-Rock duo The White Stripes.
Nine-time Grammy Award winner, John Legend, will make his first of only three scheduled live appearances in 2012 warming up Firefly’s main stage for the aforementioned White with a 90-minute set of piano-laden R&B and elegant snare-led Hip-Hop tunes, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m, while Bassnectar and Silversun Pickups provide hour-plus sets in the first major conflict of the day. Will the Electronic Dance Music dynamo win the crowd’s favor, or will hearts be set on experiencing the L.A.’s shoegazing Indie-Rockers? Time will tell.
Saturday, July 21st
After premiering “Runaways,” the Springsteen-inspired lead single from the band’s forthcoming LP Battle Born, on July 10th, Brandon Flowers and The Killers are primed to complete Day two with the band’s only scheduled North American festival stop, a greatly anticipated performance indeed. Also playing the Main Stage that evening is the recently added Philadelphia-based experimental Indie-Rockers Modest Mouse, while Electro-Pop auteurs Passion Pit will preface the July 24th release of its sophomore LP Gossamer with pre-headlining set at 8 p.m. after Sacramento’s own Alternative-Rockers and musical activists CAKE take to The Lawn stage for an hour-long performance. Hip-Hop showcases will also be of prominence on Saturday as Lupe Fiasco and Chiddy Bang lead the fire-spitting offensive.
Sunday, July 22nd
Before heading to Chicago with White for the aforementioned Lollapalooza, the Blues-Rock duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, The Black Keys, will conclude the first (and hopefully annual) Firefly Festival with a road tested Sunday evening set that’s seen numerous venues around the world since the release of the three-time Grammy winners’ acclaimed 2011 full-length collection El Camino.
Prior to The Black Keys, the Firefly Stage will host Washington’s own renowned emotional Indie-Rock collective Death Cab For Cutie, which will be followed in succession by the psychedelia-laced, confetti-coated, balloon-bursting, musical head-trip that is a performance by The Flaming Lips. However, if experimental Space-Rock isn’t your cup of tea, head over to The Backyard stage for Girl Talk’s toilet papered and sweat-drenched dance party.
A musical paradise awaits this weekend…and you’ll find it in Dover Delaware.
