I Got The Pot Of Gold
(I know if I can hit once, I can hit twice)
By Croix Provence
Top of the morning to ya! It’s a fine time for shenanigans, ay lassie? There’s no better place in America for some good ol’ fashioned Irish fun than the Pot Of Gold music festival at Tempe Beach Park in Arizona! Because nothing screams Irish like the southwestern American desert. With consistently dry, beautiful weather, especially at this time of the year, what better venue could there be for an outdoor music festival? And for only $49 per day, you can’t go wrong! Not bad for a first timer. But price and location can’t win it all: let’s see the lineup!
Friday, March 13
This day of the festival is reserved for fun indie, pop, and electronic music! Indie synthpop group Bastille will headline the opening day of Pot Of Gold, and they will rock your socks off! Better even is AWOLNATION, the alternative indie rock craze that brought “Sail” to the world. I would be all over that show! Girl Talk though… let’s have girl talk about Girl Talk. The experimental mash-up project makes consistently fun, mind-blowing music that will definitely create an awesome live show! Do NOT miss Girl Talk! This will all be prefaced by Bleachers, Chromeo, Future Island, and Joywave who are all good, but, you know.
Saturday, March 14
Kicking it off with hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar, to which I say: ehh, okay. But who cares because SLIGHTLY STOOPID! Gotta love those intricate and masterful guitar skills that fuel their reggae beach rock. They’ve got dozens of amazing songs, so stick around for that. Schoolboy Q’s new-age hip hop sounds are pretty sweet, but allow me to skip ahead to Dirty Heads. This band is awesome. They are a beach rock and hip hop mix with a few singles under their belt, but their off-radio music is even better than any single they’ve released. Listen to “Check The Level” and “Antelope” for some bad-ass tracks that will guarantee your attendance to Pot Of Gold. Kongos are fairly new on the map, and exploded after the release of their recent single “Come With Me Now”. The Expendables offer bad-ass reggae rock music that’ll blow your ears out, and the Tribal Seeds more chill reggae will lull you to sleep in the soft sands of the beach… er, of Tempe, Arizona. Hehe, that’ll never get old.
Sunday, March 15
And then Sunday happened. Out the window goes the well-matched genres, and in comes this melting pot of music that doesn’t really do much for me. I didn’t even realize Fall Out Boy was still a thing; I guess you could say “I Don’t Care” about them. *Rim shot*. Rebelution has some pretty sweet reggae sounds, but that voice takes some getting used to. Once you’re over that nasal hump, they have some great songs to offer you, as well as a chill time. The regga/electronica/folk duo Milky Chance is pretty damn interesting and would be worth a visit. Alt-rockers New Politics are cool, indie pop-rockers Echosmith don’t do it for me, and Big Data has one awesome song. Sunday’s kind of a bust.
Tuesday, March 17
A much shorter day, but a super rowdy day for sure, as it falls on St. Patrick’s Day! What better way to celebrate the Irish than with full-blast metal and hard rock? Ahh, Arizona, land of the rolling green pastures. We all know that Korn is AMAZING, so you can’t miss that. Chevelle and Godsmack are sweet nostalgia rockers that shouldn’t be missed either. Rite To Remain are local prog-rockers, so that’s pretty cool. Hopefully they will mesh in well with the other hard-ass bands.
So, how are you feeling about this lineup? I’m feeling… confused. Excited. Mostly confused. But I like it. I think I like it a lot. Except Sunday. Pot Of Gold sounds:
Friday, March 13: Not Bad
Saturday, March 14: Cool
Sunday, March 15: Bad
Tuesday, March 17: Good
Overall: Not Bad
Eh, you win some, you lose some. Not to say Pot Of Gold has lost, but it’s definitely not won my ticket purchase, let alone my attention. For those who are interested, however, check out www.PotOfGoldMusicFestival.com, and find them on Facebook and Twitter for more information. When the lineup’s not bad, you might as well give it a shot.
Croix Provence, abridged: Singer. Actress. Model. Dork. Snack enthusiast. Freelance writer. Music lover. Comic Con freak. Adrenaline junkie. Short sentence sorcerer. Follow @CroixProvence on Twitter and Instagram, and like Croix Provence on Facebook.
