Photos and words by Samantha Skapin

Last weekend I had the pleasure of going to Bunbury Music Festival in Cincinnati, OH. Bunbury, a now PromoWest Production has been around for 5 years now and has now hosted hundreds of performances. This was actually my first year attending Bunbury so I was super excited to check it out!

Day one had an incredible lineup that included bands and artists such as Mutemath, Civil Twilight, G-Eazy, and Wiz Khalifa. The energy was high for Day 1, with all festival-goers with huge grins on there faces and lemonade in hand to handle the heat. Flor put on an incredible set on the main stage, which left me wanting to listen to more after their set.  G-Eazy was easily one of the fan favorites of Day 1, with an outstanding crowd in attendance to watch . One of the most notable performances I saw was Mutemath putting on an energetic performance at sunset on the River stage, which was one of the most beautiful experiences I had the pleasure of being a part of at Bunbury. Wiz Khalifa was the headliner for the night and  closed out Bunbury to another enormous crowd, all while smoking a joint in his infamous Wiz Khalifa fashion.

Day 2 was labeled “Electronic/EDM Day” in my mind as we had acts such as Pretty Lights and of course the king of EDM, Bassnectar, playing today. Saturday was a HOT one, with all the acts giving a friendly reminder during their set to drink water and stay hydrated. Day 2 felt a little more laid back, with artists such as Charlie Hirsch, VHS Collection, and Kevin Garrett giving off a chill vibe during their sets. Personally, a stand out performance for me Saturday was Frenship, who pumped up the crowd from start to finish (the banana maraca definitely helped) and sounded incredible live. Looking around, it was amazing to see the fashion for Bunbury change slightly with Bassnectar playing in the evening. Many “bassheads” wore scarves and shawls, as well as tie dye and cat ears (a fan even had a parrot on his shoulder named “word”).  After honestly not knowing too much about Bassnectar, seeing him close out Day 2 made a lot of the “bassheads” devotion make more sense. This guy brought the damn BASS. Being in the crowd felt like I was in some type of movie, as  ight up beach balls were being thrown around in the crowd, and fans were banging their heads to the music and the incredible light display in front of them.

After having the question of “rain or no rain?” all weekend for Sunday, Day 3 and the final day for Bunbury, the answer was absolutely no rain. After having an 80% chance all weekend, the forecast went down to a whopping 0% and 90 degree weather all day. You could start to tell the hot weekend was starting to get to everyone, but it didn’t bring the energy level down one bit, especially with the anticipation of The 1975 and Muse playing tonight. Personally, today was the day I was most excited for since I was incredibly excited to see Flogging Molly and AFI, which I hadn’t had a chance to see before and they did NOT disappoint. Flogging Molly was smiles all around the entire set while playing their Irish-infused punk filled with accordion, flute, and violin parts. Following their set on the main stage, AFI was INSANE to watch as they jumped around the stage their entire set and played some fan favorites. Some other notable acts from Day 3 would have to be Canadian rock band Arkells, with frontman Max Kerman jumping into the crowd to sing with the crowd, as well as the rapidly growing artist Jon Bellion, who freestyled his entire set when technical difficulties came up. Of course, most of the crowd for Day 3 was excited for the return of 30 Seconds to Mars to Cincinnati, as the crowd for the main stage was the biggest I’ve seen all weekend. To close out the night and the end of the fest, The 1975 played an incredible set on the Sawyer Point Stage, and Muse closed out the main stage with a jaw dropping light display. Many fans danced with lights during Muse’s incredible set, which was a beautiful sight to see at the end of Bunbury 2017. I had an incredible time last weekend overall and I would definitely recommend checking out Bunbury next year if you didn’t go this year, because you’re guaranteed to have a blast.