Rain Henderson
Always working to bring cool music to Jacksonville, Winterland Presents teamed up with JAXNext100 and The Jessie DuPont Ball Center to host a night of music, kicking off with a sound bath meditation in the Great Hall, The Jessie’s alleyway. Where there’s good music, there are good outfits, and this crowd did not disappoint with some of Jacksonville’s most electric creatures making an appearance.
Dirty sludge-rockers, Florida Smash Hits, opened the show with a grueling one-song set. The trio has been playing music together for years, changing their band name on a show-by-show basis, this could’ve been the first and last show for the Smash Hits. Meticulously heavy, droning sounds blasted through the alleyway bringing the attention away from the vendors and into the music, capturing the audience and passing them off to Bad Madonna. The local indie sweethearts have been making their rounds, doing shows almost weekly, never tiring, always putting on a great performance. Their songs are almost irresistible to sing along to and the lead guitarist blows your hair back with lightning fast fingers. Admittedly, the night started to blur at this point; there was much fun to be had and so many familiar faces to be talked to!
The Dewars, a bunch of surfish-psychedelic rockers from St. Augustine, played next, and you could tell they really knew what they were doing. Five shaggy-haired men, all with resting faces that could bring you to tears, made the crowd swoon with their highly technical instrument playing. In fact, they could’ve been the headliners (don’t tell Acid Dad I said that).
All the energy the crowd harbored from the opening acts (and fancy wine) was unleashed during Acid Dad’s set, quickly erupting into a mosh pit. The ’90s neo-psych, modern post-punk and ’70s rock-n-roll paired with visual stimulation from Momo’s Show Palace and Tachyons+ painted an otherworldly experience for all concert goers, the only thing that made sense was to just be there. Follow Winterland Presents on Instagram (@winterlandpresents) for more Earth-breaking music.
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