Ceremony Festival
Last month, I had the absolute pleasure of attending Ceremony Festival in Nashville, TN. It may have taken me 3 flights to get there but the line up was simply too good to miss! It was held at the newly refurbished Cannery Hall, which had 3 different rooms that were all easy to move between ensuring fans could catch as many sets as possible, I managed to see 15! All of the staff were super friendly and helpful, and it was clear that the whole festival was planned around the fans to ensure they had the best time possible. The festival even changed the set times after feedback from fans, ensuring everyone could see both Beauty School Dropout and Jxdn. The entire day had the most incredible energy and community-like feel and it was wonderful watching the crowds and other artists moshing and supporting their friends on stage!
The line-up had a great mix of both up and coming artists and bands as well as more established ones, while also promoting local artists from Nashville. Ensuring the crowd got to see fan favourites as well as introducing them to newer smaller artists. The artists and bands covered the whole ‘Alternative’ spectrum, ranging from pop-punk to post hardcore with many mixing lots of genres to create their own unique sounds, allowing for a diverse showcase.
Main Stage held artists like Jxdn, Mod Sun and KennyHoopla. The stage was opened by Nashville’s own Natalia Taylar who took a more acoustic approach to her songs with her incredible vocals. Rivals then took to the stage fiercely and blew me away with their stage presence, I’ve been wanting to see Rivals for a while, and they certainly didn’t disappoint!
Each band ramped up the energy further and further with every set and kept the crowds going all day ready for the headliners in the evening. I managed to catch a few songs of both Point North and Grayscale’s sets and thoroughly enjoyed them despite only knowing a few songs from each band. Mod Sun and his band delivered a truly energetic set that had the crowd singing along louder than ever and even brought out Taela to sing ‘Flames’ before KennyHoopla took over and got everyone in their feelings.
The Mil (second stage) displayed a wide range of talent, starting with Devora who delivered an upbeat ‘y’allternative’ set combining country music with dark pop influences. Sace6 then had the crowd wrapped around his finger with his phenomenal vocals before the room descended into a pit of chaos as the breakdowns dropped. Lil Lotus kept the energy up, bringing out an array of artists to sing their songs together including Mod Sun for ‘blame me for everything’, Sace6 for ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, Lil Aaron for ‘Girl Next Door’ and his partner to sing ‘Shooting Star’. Elijah brought the energy and more mosh pits while showcasing his vocal range, effortlessly transitioning between flawless melodies and growls, accompanied by heavy guitar riffs. The amount of emotion put into his songs is unparalleled.
Winona Fighter’s set packed a punch. The Nashville-based punk band knew how to put on a show! They got the crowd going with their high energy set and kept the energy up throughout with their catchy tunes! Later in the day, we were graced by Amira Elfeky’s hauntingly beautiful vocals and heavy breakdowns as she performed songs from her latest EP ‘Skin to Skin’. The crowd watched silently in amazement, but as soon as the breakdowns hit, every person in that room was headbanging!
Beauty School Dropout then played the last opening slot of the day, starting off slow with ‘I loved you’ and ‘dying to be you’ before building up the energy with ‘SEE YOU IN HELL’ and ‘YEAHYEAHYEAH’. They had the loudest crowd of the whole day, singing every single lyric back to them. The whole room was just full of people enjoying themselves and moshing and crowd surfing. They then debuted 2 new unreleased songs ‘On Your Lips’ and ‘Fever’ which are so different from every other song they have produced and I’m now even more excited for the new era! Dasha joined them on stage to sing Royal & the Serpent’s part of ‘Starphucker’ before the crowd descending into complete chaos during ‘A$$A$$IN’ and ‘FIGHT MODE’ with Colie Hutzler adding in extra screams and growls throughout making the songs even more special live! The band then ditched their instruments to crowd surf their way out of the room.
The Row (third stage) welcomed artists like Matt Rosa, Roadsoda, Telltale and Young Culture. I only went to that room once to see 44phantom, but it had just as nice an atmosphere as the other two. 44phantom filled out the room and showed off his distinctive sound as everyone sang and danced along. It was an upbeat set with a few heavier breakdowns but full of emotion!
Jxdn wrapped up the festival with a set full of emotions and surprises. He played mainly songs from his latest album ‘When The Music Stops’ before covering Blink-182’s ‘Happy Holidays, You Bastard’ and Deftones’ ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ before being joined by Beauty School Dropout to sing their song ‘FREAK’ together.
I had a wonderful time seeing lots of my favourites artists again and discovering new ones to listen to. I met some amazing people and made so many memories that I will cherish. I can’t wait to see what they have instore for us next year!
