I’ve heard that being a fan at a music festival takes a lot of patience, and I never really knew why, but day two of Innings Fest tested every little bit of patience I had left.
Unlike some other people who were planted on the barricade all day, I decided to alternate stages all day. I caught Fitz and the Tantrums at the Home Plate stage as my first performance of the day, which was one of my favorite performances of the entire festival, as they performed some of their hits like “Out of My League” and “Just a Dream.” Their performance was definitely the most high-energy show of the day, and it was a lot of fun to dance with everyone in the crowd.
Between the two stages was a massive food tent. They had just about anything you could want. I didn’t eat during the festival on day one and regretted it afterward, so between shows, I decided to stop and get some food. I settled on tacos.
Usually, I don’t get food at festivals because it’s way overpriced, but at Innings Fest, it seemed to be very reasonable. I got three tacos for $12, and they were absolutely amazing! I finished up my food, and I headed over to the Right Field stage to catch Billy Strings, a folk band that consisted of a banjo, a mandolin, a guitar, and a double bass. I don’t usually care for bluegrass music, but Billy Strings might’ve piqued my interest a little bit.
After the Billy Strings set, I made the reasonable walk back over to the Home Plate Stage, and I realized I should’ve never left. The crowd had gotten considerably bigger since the last time I was at that stage, and I was stuck behind a bunch of taller people to catch the last few songs of the Philadelphia-based band “War on Drugs.”
After that set, it was time for the band I was waiting to see all day. After waiting for another hour, the crowd thinned out, and I got a little more comfortable to see the group I was hoping to see all day, Tame Impala.
Their performance came with a strobe warning, and boy was it needed. Tame Impala’s light show was almost as good as their music! It was an amazing way to end the night, and they put on a wonderful show. The lead singer of the band, Kevin, even took some time to read some of the signs fans had written to him, and pointed out that one of the fans was dressed almost identically to him.
One thing I learned about festivals, you need to plan which stages you want to be at, and you need to stay there, if you don’t it’ll feel like you’re only going backwards away from the stage.
Either way, it was an amazing end to the day and an amazing end to Innings Fest. I loved every last bit of the fan experience.