Day 1 of Comerica Cityfest Rained Out; Garden Bowl Cityfest Makes Debut

Last night, the thunder rolled, lightning crashed, the rain came and we ran and hid, and the answer to the question “Will tonight’s Cityfest be cancelled?” was blowing in the heavy winds. Around 7:50pm, with last night’s big storm brewing and very close by, the organizers of the Comerica Cityfest called it a night.

My guess is that the night’s headliner, De La Soul, will not be rescheduled.

But here’s the good news, and one of the reason why it’s great to live in Detroit. A few phone calls were made, a few favors called in, and a flurry of text messages were sent to souring, disappointed Detroiters to get their asses over to the Garden Bowl. Four of the acts slated to play that night at Cityfest–The Hentchmen, Magic Shop, The Dead Bodies, and The Silent Years–gathered their gear and headed over to the Majestic complex to reclaim the night for us all.

It was pretty packed.

But it just goes to show how willing we Detroiters are to listen to good music, drink beer, dance, and have fun. Oh, if good ole Judge Woodward could see us now!

^{Magic Shop}

^{The Dead Bodies}

^{The Silent Years}

All four bands were good sports and a lot of fun, but The Silent Years killed it last night. Singer Josh Epstein ended the set on the floor of the very tightly packed performance space in a euphoric fit of musical energy. As much as I love the Cityfest, I can’t help but think how much more intense and intimate the performance was at The Garden Bowl, in the late hours of the night in a sweaty and smokey room, inches instead of yards away from the crowd, with the rain still pelting the sidewalk outside. May the Garden Bowl Cityfest live on!

However, we do have four more solid days of music ahead of us, as well as a few choice afterpartys, so we’ll see you there, Detroit.

MORE REPORTERY ON DAY 1:
MotorCityRawks
Webvomit
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