For weeks now, SunFest’s Facebook page has faced a torrent of queries from impatient fans, all posing a variation on the same question: What is the damn lineup?!
The 33-year-old West Palm Beach festival certainly took its time this year to unveil its 2015 lineup—many festivals slated for May and beyond had already trumpeted their talent—but after absorbing this morning’s announcement, it’s safe to say it was worth the wait. This promises to be the best overall lineup in the many years I’ve been covering the South Florida arts.
A variety of pop, modern and classic rock, and adult alternative makes up the lion’s share of the lineup this year. There’s less dance, hip-hop and country than in years past, which is OK by me: SunFest seems to be finding its sonic identity rather than attempting to represent every genre at a Tower Records retailer. Here’s my personal top five.
1. The most exciting act, at least for me, is Hozier (9:45 p.m. May 2), the 24-year-old Irish phenom whose “Take Me to Church” is the best and most artful mainstream smash since Adele burst onto the charts with “Rollin’ in the Deep.” There’s an epic, operatic soul to Hozier’s aesthetic, which manages to sound both rafter-shaking and voyeuristically intimate.
2. Just as exciting is Pixies (2:15 p.m. May 3), the incalculably influential alt-rockers whose mid-2000s reunion proved to be more than just a nostalgic jaunt for the hundreds of thousands of fans who never saw them in their original incarnation. The 2014 comeback album “Indie Cindy” picked up where Pixies left off some 23 years earlier, remaining both challenging and accessible, quiet and loud. (That said, we all hope older songs dominate their set!)
3. It’s always great to welcome Wilco (8 p.m. April 29) back. After a 2014 hiatus when Jeff Tweedy embarked on an eponymous side projects, he returns to front his dynamic alt-country/jam/indie-rock band as part of Wilco’s 20thanniversary tour. To celebrate, the group has just released a career-spanning rarities disc and a seminal greatest-hits album.
4. Fall Out Boy (7:30 p.m. May 3), which emerged from Chicago’s hardcore punk scene in the early 2000s, soon realized that writing chart-toppers was more gratifying than slaving away in emo-rock obscurity. Each of its albums has sounded bigger and more immaculate than the last one, with FOB’s anthemic, arena-ready bombast—like recent singles “American Beauty/American Psycho” and “Centuries”—more than making up for the rawness that no longer colors its music.
5. The German duo Milky Chance (2 p.m. May 3) has a great personal story: Its members met in an “Advanced Music” course in 11th grade, immediately hit it off, and began to write songs together. They spent just two weeks recording their 2013 debut “Sadnecessary” in vocalist Clemens Rehbein’s quiet home. It proved to be advanced music indeed, a mixture of gravelly vocals, glossy electronic beats and acoustic-guitar warmth for a mixture that is all their own, anchored by the viral smash “Stolen Dance.”
Elsewhere, the lineup includes plaintive folk-rockers (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros), emo-pop acts (Paramore, Copeland), classic-rock stalwarts (Boston, Sammy Hagar & the Circle, Eddie Money), reggae and its offshoots (Matisyahu, Damien Marley, SOJA, 311), and a smattering of dance (Kaskade), hip-hop (Schoolboy Q) and Celtic/classical crossover (Lindsey Stirling). For the complete lineup, along with a day-by-day breakdown, visit sunfest.com.
