02 May Emily’s Picks

Pick three acts, they said. It’ll be easy, they said.

SunFesters, this is always the hardest blog post for me to write.

My top three picks from this year’s lineup. With over 50 acts, it’s no easy task. But I’ll do it for you guys.

Here are my must see’s for 2017:

Weezer

As a card-carrying, official, lifetime Weezer fan club member (seriously), when I heard that this wonderful group was hitting my favorite festival I screamed. I screamed a lot.

Over the Summer, I caught the men of Weez on their co-headlining tour with Panic! At The Disco not once, but twice. The band was promoting its newest self-titled record — unofficially known as The White Album — and put on amazing show.

Now, the four-piece will be bringing that magic to the Ford stage.

It’s perfect timing too, the group released a new song, “Feels Like Summer,” in March and I feel like it was made to become a SunFest anthem.

Absolutely nothing compares to throwing that ‘flying W’ in the air when this band performs. Don’t miss it.

IF YOU GO
Listen to: “Feels Like Summer,” “L.A. Girlz,” “My Best Friend,” “Fall Together,” “Hash Pipe”
The details: May 3 on the Ford stage at 8:30 p.m.

Blink-182

Confession time: I’ve never seen Blink live. I know, it’s bad.

Our schedules just never matched up. That’s about to change, though.

Like a bunch of you, I remember listening to Blink on my Sony walkman and thinking, “These guys are crazy and this is awesome.” The group had so many singles, it’s a bit ridiculous.

“All the Small Things,” “First Date,” and “What’s My Age Again?” just barely scratch the surface as far as a list goes.

Now, with the addition of Alkaline Trio frontman, Matt Skiba, it’s like this group has become even more perfect than I thought possible.

The group’s first single with the current lineup, “Bored to Death,” melted everyone’s faces off, and became the band’s first charting single in decades. Since, it’s found success with “She’s Out of Her Mind” and most recently, “6/8.”

Now, it’s our turn to catch performances of all of those singles and more at arguably the best venue.

I can’t wait to see people react to Blink from their yachts along the Intracoastal.

IF YOU GO
Listen to: “6/8,” “She’s Out of Her Mind,” “Feeling This”
The details: May 7, on the Ford Stage at 7:45 p.m.

The Naked and Famous

If you haven’t heard The Naked and Famous’ “Young Blood” — actually, there’s no way that’s a scenario here. Everyone has heard that song.

The Naked and Famous is a five-piece indie band from Auckland, New Zealand and I can’t wait to see the group live.

Its album, Passive Me, Aggressive You came out in 2010 and immediately took over the mainstream pop and indie sphere, charting in Australia, Germany, Japan, the United States and more.

That song, “Young Blood” I mentioned before has also been featured on “Degrassi,” “Gossip Girl,” “The Leftovers” and even a Kohl’s commercial. Like I said, there’s no way you haven’t heard it.

And now, we’ll get to dance to it together.

IF YOU GO
Listen to: “Higher,” “Hearts Like Ours,” “Young Blood”
The details: May 7, on the Ford Stage at 6:30 p.m.