festival review: Day In Day Out 2022 in Seattle, WA
Fans relax in between sets.
Day In Day Out.
Despite being fairly new to the scene, the Seattle-based music festival brought the heat last weekend, Fisher Pavilion packed full of eager concertgoers ready to see various big names such as Mitski, Mac Demarco, and the National. Day In And Out, lovingly referred to as Capitol Hill Block Party’s indie sister festival, had its second birthday in downtown Seattle, Washington, last weekend, and I had the pleasure of attending days one and two.
The first thing that struck me as I entered the festival (aside from the super nice Stanley cup given away to me after gates that I am currently obsessed with) was the insanely wide range of diversity in attendees. From groups of teenagers dressed in earth tone and Mitski tour shirts gathered in the grass near the barricade to guys in baseball caps and pop punk tanktops wandering around, beer in hand, to casual concertgoers relaxing in the shade deep in conversation, it was hard to tell what kind of festival this actually was going to be. However, things quickly began to fall into place as I checked the lineup for the next day or two.
Mitski and Mac Demarco? Check, those fans are camped out for front row right now. Turnstile? Yep, see those guys preparing to open the pit come the hardcore band’s set time. JPEG Mafia? Easy peasy, there’s probably a million people here wearing “Girls want Peggy, not Jesus” shirts, and I can’t imagine those are fans here for some other “Peggy.”
A fan sings along as JPEG Mafia runs the stage.
Friday began with local Seattle band The Kerrys, replacing Soccer Mommy who unfortunately had to drop out due to COVID reasons. Regardless of the last-minute add-on, The Kerrys did amazing, bringing some incredible energy to the crowd to start the day off. Shortly following them, singer-songwriter Hollis took the stage, an ASL interpreter on a platform translating as she sang (That’s something I found to be really important, a lot of festivals and live music events simply are not accessible to disabled people and Day In Day Out seemed to do a great job with combatting that). I lingered at my chosen spot on barricade throughout these sets, singing and dancing along when I wasn’t snapping photos or snagging a video or two. I decided I’d stay there for one more set before retreating to the shade to relax a little when Zambian artist Sampa the Great began, and let me say, I’m sure glad I stayed. Sampa and the rest of her band put on an absolutely amazing show, both audibly (Every other song was in a different language, which was insanely cool to hear) and visually (Sampa’s Zambian culture was very much incorporated into her dances).
After taking a quick water break (P.S. there is paper in the free Stanley cups. Do not fill up the cup without checking the inside for paper first. Trust me) I hung out waiting for MUNA to start. Having not known a single thing about them before, going in blind was a terrific experience, leaving me wondering how I’ve never listened to them before!
Last but not least, Mitski was set to bring Friday night to an end, and I could not be more excited. I’d been dying to see her again since I last saw her in Dallas, Texas a few months ago, and was devastated when I couldn’t make her Portland show earlier that week due to work. Luckily for me (and everyone attending DIDO 2022) I was given the opportunity to see her again at the festival, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t cry just a little bit. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but something about Mitski’s stage presence and her music awaken a lot of emotional things inside me (as Mitski concerts tend to do) and photography aside, the night was full of poorly contained tears, dancing and singing, and community. All around me were people holding hands as they jumped up and down, holding each other as they swayed slowly to songs, and eyes glued to the singer on stage, absolutely entranced. It’s an oddly comforting feeling, seeing someone's art affecting everyone around you in absolutely different, yet the same, way, and I relish in that.
After a Saturday morning of exploring downtown Seattle, I made my way back up to the festival grounds, ready for the second day of music (And sadly for me, my last day of the festival). Indie/post punk/alternative/I’m-not-exactly-sure-their-genre-I-just-know-that-it’s-good band julie was the opener for day two, illicting an extremely positive response from the steadily growing crowd as distorted guitar blared over the speakers. Next up was Shabazz Palaces, wowing the place with their almost ambient synth and off-the-tongue rapping.
Cherry Glazerr was a band that I was super stoked for, not because I knew their music well, but because they had a featured song on the soundtrack of a movie very important to me (The Tribes of Palos Verde) and it’s easy to say, they blew me away. I don’t know what I was expecting exactly but what I got was even better. Cherry Glazerr brought the dancing, they brought the head banging, and they brought the perfect garage-rock-gone-new-wave vibe to the crowd.
Now as Cherry Glazerr’s set came to an end, I knew what had to be done. I had to join the pit. Not because I love moshing (as much as I enjoy moshing, it’s a little risky to do with expensive equipment strapped to your body and nowhere safe to stash it) but because there was no way in hell I was getting any usable photos for JPEG Mafia and Turnstile otherwise.
As I stood there in anticipation for JPEG Mafia to start his set, I got more and more nervous. I’ve shot a lot of shows, and my camera’s been through multiple moshpits before, but I’ve never been in the actual pit for a whole set like this before, and I also have no idea what his fans are like. That being said, I was about to find out; fans had caught a glimpse of ‘Peggy’ side stage and started a chant, pushing me into the pit whether I was ready for this or not. One thing I learned was that these fans are really, like insanely, pushy. On the other hand, they know how to have a great time, and I’ll let those photos speak for themselves (Arguably, this also applies to Turnstile fans, but in a different way. More elaboration on that later).
Baltimore-based Turnstile brought the energy, lead singer Brendan Yates twisting and turning every other chorus (I’m honestly not sure how one moves that much during a set without dropping to the floor in exhaustion) as the crowd mimicked him, crowd surfers hoisted in the air and moshpits wild. I don’t think I even stood on more than the edge of my toes their entire set (or at the very least, I know my full foot never touched the ground) and I wasn’t even mad about it.
And last but not least, indie sensation Mac Demarco had the honor of ending the night for us, setting the tempo for the perfect end to my festival weekend.
