My top 5 Deluna Fest moments

I don’t pretend to be a music aficionado. I enjoy music, and I enjoy live shows, but I most certainly am not an expert. On the one hand, this might diminish my appreciation of performances, but on the other hand, I believe it might enhance it. I am able to appreciate the show organically without being bogged down in the minute details. With that in mind, I humbly present my top five favorite performances from Deluna Fest 2011.
5. Big Boi. My appreciation of Big Boi is limited to the Outkast songs I enjoyed in middle school and a few singles like “Miss Jackson” and “I Love the Way You Move,” so I was somewhat unsure as to how much I would enjoy his show. I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did he play the aforementioned singles, but he also played some Outkast hits, which surprised me as I expected he would have stayed away from those while performing solo. Either way, he kept the crowd’s energy up throughout his set, despite the mid-afternoon sun beating down on the sand.
4. Matt and Kim. If my knowledge of Big Boi was limited, my knowledge of Matt and Kim was practically non-existent. I had heard of them and knew they had a reputation for fun, however, so I was excited for their set and, again, I was not disappointed. They delivered a high-energy performance with heavy crowd interaction that inspired balloon-throwing and shirt-waving. Men in the crowd were reduced to screaming teenage girl status, loudly proclaiming their undying love for Kim. They incorporated bits of covers, kept songs short and moved quickly, making for an all-around exciting performance.
3. Weezer. Weezer was amazing. ‘Nuff said. They played an energetic mix of their radio hits, fan favorites and fantastic covers. The three Radiohead covers in a row blew my mind, and their cover of “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People was a big hit. Rivers Cuomo interacted well with the crowd, wading out among us at one point to hop two security fences and belt out “song Rivers sang” on a sand dune. The crowd was the largest I saw at the festival, energy was high and the songs were exciting. Although I’m not familiar with a plethora of Weezer songs, I was not bored during their almost two hour set.
2. Girl Talk. Or more adequately, “gurl tawk, gurl tawk,” as the crowd chanted when the lights dimmed for Greg Gillis to take the stage. I love Girl Talk’s records, particularly to keep me awake on a long drive, but I was somewhat curious as to how he would put on an interesting show with no instrument but his laptop. The answer became obvious when fifty-two lucky audience members (who received playing cards from a deck before the show) were decked out with glowsticks and Native American headdresses and warpaint and sent onto stage to party with Greg Gillis. Not only that, but he threw various awesome stuff into the crowd, including rolls of toilet paper, water and masses of confetti. Gillis  kept the energy going as well by dancing furiously on stage, ripping his shirt off and yelling sporadically at the crowd. When Girl Talk left the stage, I felt like my brain had been run over by an 18-wheeler. And that’s a good thing.
1. The Shins. The Shins are my favorite band of all time. I cannot emphasize this enough. I was literally bouncing up and down in anticipation of their show, but when they took the stage I froze in awe and amazement. They delivered a perfect show, blending popular songs from the radio and songs from early albums that only true fans would know. I was also surprised by their back to back covers, but pleased by the choices – “Breathe” by Pink Floyd and “Ashes to Ashes” by David Bowie. The highlight of the show came, however, when James Mercer announced after playing a song I didn’t recognize (WHAT?!? A Shins song I don’t know?!?) that it was in fact from their forthcoming album. Nothing could have made me happier, as I indicated by my high-pitched girlish scream. Seeing The Shins was a dream come true.