Emerge: Impact + Music is the latest music festival to appear on the Vegas scene. It was announced and planned for the fall of last year, but after the tragic events of the Route 91 Harvest music festival it was moved to April 2018 with a reconfigured and highly eclectic lineup including Poppy, Cupcakke, Waxahatchee and Jeff Rosenstock.
The festival’s self-described aim is to “combine music, art, and speaking to highlight the unique perspectives making a big impact in our world.” Think the art exhibits and speakers from Life is Beautiful mixed with the up-and-coming artist vibe of Neon Reverb and you’ll get a pretty good picture of Emerge: Impact + Music’s aim.
My excitement for the touring portion of the festival largely centered around two artists: the aforementioned Waxahatchee and Jeff Rosenstock. Unfortunately, a combination of complications in picking up my media pass and health issues (“achooo” – me, all weekend) caused me to miss Waxahatchee’s show (a special solo set that found the former P.S. Eliot frontwoman switching between piano and guitar for a set of originals and covers, according to friends that went).
So my Emerge weekend started with the showcase Rosenstock played, dubbed “Speaking Truth to Power” (insert your own Rosenstock “Yr Throat” reference here) and headlined by Hurray for the Riff Raff. The show was inside of the Mat Franco Theatre, which itself is inside the Linq casino. The venue reminded me of a scaled down version of the Joint (“What is this, a ‘the Joint’ for ants?”). It had the same descending levels with a mix of seats and a standing room area up front plus a stage that was just high enough so you could see it from the back without having to break your neck looking up (I’m looking at you, House of Blues).
It was easy to tell who was there for Rosenstock. The former Bomb the Music Industry! frontman has developed an intensely loyal fanbase through the consistently high quality of his music and years of relentless touring (his last Vegas show wasn’t even a year ago at Zarfest), so his fans were already pressed up against the stage a few sets early, despite the fact that the room was fairly empty. It was also easy to spot fellow fans because of the higher than normal concentrate of jean shorts (aka “jorts,” for those without Urban Dictionary access) and Chris Farren shirts (it was a real “Chewie, we’re home” moment for me)!
While the stage killed it on height, it took the whole “depth” thing way too far. Watching local favorites Mercy Music expertly blast through new tracks like “Song For” and old favorites like “Fine” while local artist Ryan Brunty live-painted a Yermin piece was a blast, but the band was so far back that I felt like I needed opera glasses to make them out. I felt like you needed to be a regular Michael Phelps get to the action because there was a metaphorical moat between the fans and the bands. I pointed out early on that you could fit the entirety of the audience in that space on the stage and still have room.
Luckily, Rosenstock and I are on the same wavelength. After a short spoken word intro by one of the night’s speakers appropriately titled on the teleprompter “Introduction to Jeff Rosenstock,” Jeff and his band, John Dedomenici (bass), Mike Huguenor (guitar), Kevin Higuchi (drums) and Dan Potthast (keys, guitar, being a living legend, etc.), kicked things off with the politically charged “USA,” but before the song was halfway done, Rosenstock invited everyone on stage to help sing the “tired and bored” and “et tu, USA” refrains. We were more than happy to oblige, and from then on, it felt more like a real Jeff Rosenstock show, with friends new and old happily bouncing off and on each other while shouting the words to “Nausea,” “Wave Goodnight to Me” and the aptly titled “Festival Song.”
It’s hard to pick just one highlight from the night’s set. There was Rosenstock’s unconstrained smile as Huguenor interrupted a fan chat session with the opening notes to “HELLLLHOOOOLE” is high up there, especially as it signified we were getting the Worry. side B medley as the set’s penultimate “song.” New song ”9/10,” a self-aware testimonial and entirely too relatable power-ballad for fellow socially anxious people, inciting the night’s loudest arm in arm sing along isn’t far behind. There was louder non-arm singalongs, so “arm in arm” is an important distinction. Also, sorry for the “power-ballad” descriptor. “9/10” is at least 1/10 times better than both “More than Words” and “Be With You.”)
But for my money ($14.50 less after visiting the Mat Franco Bar. Thanks a lot, classic the Strip inflation!), it was set ender “You, in Weird Cities” that was the night’s most unforgettable moment. The song is the perfect distillation of what makes Rosenstock’s music so endearing – peppy, frantic punk music paired with vulnerable lyrics about the complicated and uncomfortable feelings that come when struggling with depression. There’s something very pure about singing “Nothing makes me happy, I’m like a shitty child / Nothing makes me laugh, nothing makes me smile / But when I listen to your records, it’s like I’m hanging out with you” with a few dozen like-minded individuals. It’s that kind of cathartic release that makes Jeff shows so special.
It also ties right back into the showcase’s name: “Speaking Truth to Power.” It’s easy to see all the political assertion that the title is designed to evoke, but there’s also a more subtle truth at play. When Jeff, his band, and the fans all crowd around each other to sing with elongated glee “I wanna hang out with yooooouuuuuooooouuuuuu” for “Cities,” it shows that music and friendship can help us navigate through the myriad of worries that make up modern life, and that’s pretty powerful. Let’s hang out again soon.
-Emily Matview
Photos by Paul Citone | http://www.KabikPhotoGroup.com
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