The following article was written by Zach Collins:
This past weekend, Asheville, North Carolina came alive with the spirit of Halloween and great music. People came from all across the country for MoogFest. The performers ranged from the mellow acoustics of Mountain Man all the way to the clever rhymes of Big Boi and just about everything in between. Overall, the festival was incredibly well run considering this was its inaugural year in Asheville. I had an incredible time and will definitely be returning next year! As for the performances, here are my top five.
MGMT – This was my absolute favorite show of the entire festival. I will admit, though, that I am a bit biased towards them since they are my favorite band and it was the first time I had seen them. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic show. They tore through most of their latest album as well as plenty of older favorites such as “Kids”, “Time to Pretend”, and “Electric Feel”. About halfway through the show, they debuted a new song, which they said they had never played before. This was absolutely the highlight of my weekend.
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Jónsi – I came into this show with pretty high expectations based on previous reviews, and the performance far surpassed my expectations. The former lead singer of Icelandic band, Sigór Ros sure knows how to put on a concert, and display an enormous amount of musical talent. Although the show started a little slow, the pace gradually picked up throughout, and by the time the encore came around, the place could only described as a category 5 Hopelandic Hurricane (Hopelandic is the made up language Jonsí sings in).
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Big Boi – Andre 3000’s partner in crime brought the heat to Friday night’s lineup. Fresh off the release of his new album, Big Boi played plenty of new material as well as some old Outkast favorites. The energy on stage was incredible with an hour of nearly non-stop music. Big Boi’s set was an awesome way to start off the weekend.
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Mountain Man – This all-female trio from Vermont, with no electronics in heir music, was uncharacteristic of any other band at MoogFest. This lighter feel, however, was a nice change of pace and added some diversity to the lineup. Not only was the music great, but also they had an amazing stage presence and chatted with the crowd. They were a hard act to follow for the rest of the Saturday lineup.
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Sleigh Bells – Despite going on nearly twenty minutes late due to technical difficulties, this was still the most energetic show of Sunday night. With guitarist Derek Miller’s heavily distorted riffs, singer Alexis Krauss’ shrieking vocals, and intense backing dance beats, this show was one heck of a party. They wasted no time getting started, blazing through song after song with more energy than any other band and making the crowd go berserk with ridiculous amounts of high octane dancing. This show was the perfect ending to my MoogFest 2010.


























