Feel Good Fest at Radio/East

Resound has been fucking nailing it with shows. Their tickets are still somewhat affordable (remember the days when tickets were 10 or 25 dollars though) and they have a list of venues and festivals that they partner with that keeps me checking their site. Most of the time, I am paying over thirty dollars a ticket, because inflation, but I recently had the chance to snag a great deal for this event. I was eyeing it because of the family rock group, Infinity Song, was in the lineup. And this was one of the first TikTok viral songs that made me realize the youth are making good music.

By getting the ticket in advance, there was a two for the price of one deal, allowing me to take a bestie and for us to get back to those event prices of our youth. Since we are two olds, we checked the event page and arrived unfashionably early, we were a hour ahead of time. So we killed time drinking our sugary corporate coffee drinks that we had picked up along the way, eyeing the food trucks that would be closed by the time we left. We should have eaten before we shuffled our way in!

Being there so early we had time to drink and snag a spot to the left side of the stage where there are tables and chairs. This allowed us to creep on those trickling in and to discovery if we were okay or would hate the other bands performing before Infinity Song.

Before talking about the bands, I want to talk about what the event was for. Feel Good Fest wasn’t just a random assortment of weird rock bands with a distinct sound, it was put together by the SIMS Foundation here in Austin to bring awareness to their services and to raise money. They are a nonprofit organization that has been around for over 25 years and are part of the legacy around a local musician who died after a struggle with their mental health. His father, along with a group of others, started the organization with the aim of offering mental health services to the Austin musical community. They are beloved for a reason and they really stepped it up during Covid.

In between the sets, they had people with the organization, and other local musicians, talk about the importance and impact of their work. Feel Good Fest is an apt name, as the vibes were positive even when talking about real world issues like mental stability and having resources to do something about it. You can tell there is a passion not just in the music that they selected, but in the work that they are doing. Which is needed in this dumpster fire of a world.

But before there was Infinity Song, there were other acts. 

The special guest was an artist performing under their name Elijah Delgado. From Austin, this is an upcoming young artist that I heard things about but hadn’t had a chance to listen to before this show. Let me tell you that has changed. It is hit or miss with opening acts, I feel most are a miss for me or not memorable enough to dig into. Not this performance, from the first song we were like who is this guy (but in a good way). Moving to the songs that feel comfortable in its sound, even if it was the first time hearing it. His music has mass appeal, it is rock for sure but with the melodic pop sound that draws more people in than it turns away. He plays with a full band, even though you know that it is his music and songs that are being performed, and there is still harmony in the accompanying sound in the guitars and drums. You can tell they rehearse together and know their set. This was still in May, so the heat was not stifling and the band seemed so perfect under an endless blue sky, a beautiful backdrop of epic proportions. 

They were followed by a crowd favorite Cigarettes @ Sunset. They are an Appalachian rock band from North Carolina that has embraced and/or created the genre Possum Rock. Although they weren’t my thing, because of their t-shirt designs I still ended up snagging one since I couldn’t turn down a skeleton smoking a cigarette. This is a four piece band that incorporates a violin and is fronted by Garrett Dellinger. He has a country voice that fits the music, there is a bit of a rasp that must come from dialect and smoking, it lends itself to concept. He also shared his personal struggles and tied it into the songs that he was singing, which razed his base into a supportive frenzy, he reciprocated the love by doing some crowd work, very much felt like an Elvis moment. 

And then it was time for Infinity Song! I have been listening to their records nonstop, even going so far to pre-add the new album. The way these sibling harmonize, I was like there are too good to be true. And I was wrong. This Brooklyn group is amazing live. They fucking brought my friend to tears, okay he is an emo boy forever at heart, but still. They have the voices of heavenly choir, each one an angel (not just the one name Angel). They do Fleetwood Mac covers to perfection, they have sassy songs that sound like it was a classic ripped from the seventies, and the way they can play a guitar. I am hoping the backing band is also part of their family, because once again they have a theme that they are selling so well. Right now there are four that are performing together: Abraham, Angel, Israel and Momo Boyd. I believe it was Israel on the electric guitar, but for sure Momo was on the acoustic. The only negative thing I have to say is that no family should be this talented and musically inclined. I would see they perform live, again and again.

The last performer of the night was Night Cap, but our drinks and lack of food made us skedaddle and try to find the nearest Whataburger, so I can’t tell you what they were like. Just a typical end to a show, you can tell we got home before midnight since I did not end up scarfing down any of their taquitos.