Every year, it seems there are a slew of new music festivals attempting to dip their toes into the already overflowing pool of gold-medaled swimmers such as Lollapalooza, Coachella, Pitchfork and over 700 others.
They’re provocative, Instagram-worthy, extraneous branding attempts that can last anywhere from one to 11 days. Some end in dramatic catastrophe — see: Fyre Fest and the newly crowned Woodstock 50 — but others garner hundreds of thousands of attendees, trekking across the world to see global superstars such as Childish Gambino and Ariana Grande.
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Although ubiquitous, there is no denying the fact that, if you want to knock out a tooth in a mosh pit, shuffle to a crescendoing bass line or venture to hear the twangs of a Southern’ crooner: there is a festival for that. Yet, Detroit’s big-ticket music festival, Mo Pop, feels different.
Starting in 2013 as an indie-pop-oriented, single-day event with a mere 7,500 attendees, each year the festival grew, reevaluated and expanded, mirroring the very city it lays in. And 2019 — became its biggest year yet.
Saturday
At 1 p.m. sharp, four lines of about 50 people each started to meander, trickling into the recently opened festival gates. Anticipatory feet wove in and out of security in no time, slowly shuffling into the humid West Riverfront Park.
Upon entering, the festival seems sparse. But all it takes is a quick left to find pivotal pieces of the Mo Pop experience. First up, there is an air-conditioned arcade — highly necessary in the sweltering heat — from OffWorld Arcade, a gamer gallery located in Detroit that contains dozens of classic games such as Ms. Pac Man and Donkey Kong. Next to the tent is an open disco, provided by Haute to Death, a Detroit-based dance collective, where local DJs remix classic tunes or air some of their own homegrown sounds into a relatively open field of dance space. Within seconds, attendees can sample a few dynamic facets of Detroit’s creative realm — all before walking 10 feet.
Further down the riverwalk is the smaller of the two sets, the River Stage. Typically, the beginning acts of each day are local Michigan artists. At 1:30 p.m., the Detroit based band The Messenger Birds took the stage. Although the band eerily mimics the sounds of the 90's alt-rock staples such as Stone Temple Pilots or Pearl Jam, their anthemic choruses and gritty vocals are provided by just two men: Parker Bengry, on guitar and vocals and Chris Williams, on drums and vocals. Despite the lack of bodies, Bengry and Williams captivated the eager audience with a heavily distorted, yet piercing performance of their hits “Phantom Limb” and “The Good Years,” the title of their 2017 EP.
Following the explosive calls of the Messenger Birds, came the sultry pop melodies for “girls who like girls,” by Detroiter Siena Liggins. Technically, Liggins isn’t a Detroiter. Because her father was a Marine, she bounced around different cities, making it hard to really feel cemented to one location, she said. Yet, something about Detroit stuck with her.
“Detroit is the place that I’ve lived the longest. I have family in and around Detroit,” Liggins said. “When I got old enough to move somewhere that was my decision, I just decided to come here and I’ve made so many friends that are my family now, I would just consider this place home...Everybody who is from Detroit is proud of being from Detroit. You cannot tell Detroiters shit.”
Tucked underneath an umbrella in the middle of the pouring rain, Liggins promised ClickOn the downpours would eventually fade. A few minutes later, the rain ceased and Liggins, feeling confident in her foretelling abilities, predicted something else: that she would play a bigger festival next year and that her outfit “will go harder.”
In a thrifted pair of white overalls with tiny black smiley faces stamped up and down (she wouldn’t reveal the “spot” where she got them from), Liggins swaggered onto the stage, radiating unabashed confidence. This is something, she says, she learned with the help of three friends, exactly 20 years ago.
“I just found out that today is the 20th anniversary of “Writings on the Wall” by Destiny’s Child, which was one of the first pieces of music I remember all the words to,” Liggins said. “I’ve just always loved pop music and pop culture...My mom was so young when she had me, I was kind of growing up with her and that was what she listened to because she was still young, so that’s what I listened to — Just really strong women.”
Liggins is candid about her music: "it’s pop music you love to hate." Yet, its delicately balanced. Intermingled with a typical dance-pop backtrack, heightening to a bass drop, Liggins infused a catchy chorus with the perfect amount of provocation and beauty in her final song of the afternoon “Flower Bomb.” To her surprise, much of the audience began to sing the words back to her.
On stage, Liggins is a manifestation of her music: alluring and fearless as she warns everyone in the crowd to “hide their girlfriends,” and coquettishly sings to a lucky concert goer “Aubrey,” and beautiful as she hits each note with ease while dancing carelessly to her drunk-call anthem “Me Again.” For Liggins, Mo Pop in Detroit is the “best day of 2019.”
Each year, Mo Pop makes it a point to emphasize it's connection to the local community. Whether that connection is shown by commissioning Detroit artist Sheefy McFly to construct an 8-by-8-foot wood mural or including a glaring yellow Detroit sign handcrafted to provide attendees with a guaranteed photo-op: the pride of Detroit is evident. And even more so evident within the local artists’ performances.
Following Alec Benjamin’s silky cover of “Stan” by Detroit’s very own Eminem and Snail Mail’s mid-tempo cries of teen angst, the sun began to set, letting Detroit’s breakout star Lizzo, become the only source of light.
“I’m crying,” roared the unmistakable voice from offstage, “cause I love you.” And it felt as if she meant it. Wearing a flashy, fuchsia one-piece outfit, Lizzo, born Melissa Jefferson, answered the crowd's pleads and confidently walked onto the stage, calling out to her hometown. She apologized, knowing she’d be saying her city’s name too much. Yet, she said, she didn’t care, because it felt “too good.”
The entirety of Lizzo’s hourlong performance was embalmed with power. Power over a ten-year long career that only just briefly took off; power over any man that hurt her — we’re looking at you Jerome — and wholesome, yet flagrant, self-power. For the duration of her performance, everyone was invited to join in on the self-love and to embrace their inner “thick bitch.”
Accompanied by her dance troupe, Big Grrls, Lizzo put on a spectacle full of expert-level twerking and never-ending — yet pitch-perfect — vocal runs. She seemed to feed off the high-energy crowd, impusively laughing in the middle of her own song, seemingly amazed by the enormous number of attendees rooting for her.
Mixed between some butt shaking, cries of body positivity and the heavily anticipated flute solo during her final song, “Juice,” was one moment of reflection. During her trip back home, the pop-star noticed a Mo Pop billboard with her picture plastered on the front. Although a momentous feat, Lizzo said she wished she could have shared that moment with her dad, Michael Jefferson, who died a little over a decade ago.
“I thought of my father, and how proud he would be of me right now,” she said with tears streaming down her face.
Even with an animated closing performance by indie-rock icons Vampire Weekend, who served up classic hits such as the cheeky yet charming “Oxford Comma” followed by reggae-infused, beach songs from their fourth album “Father of the Bride,” Lizzo claimed Saturday’s Mo Pop crown. Because similar to the festival itself, she touched the heart of Detroit. Like Lizzo, the city struggled for years to piece itself back together after a crushing loss. Her set temporarily made everyone forget their trials and tribulations and just be proud of how far they’ve come and how far they have yet to go.
Sunday
When asked to describe the band The Doozers to first-time listeners, bassist Melanie Kelley responded: “goofy.”
As a cardboard cutout of Paul Glantz, cofounder of local movie theater chain, Emagine, crowd surfed while vocalist Sean Donnelly sang that he was “trying to get his memes out into the webs,” one might venture to say Kelley was spot on.
Continuing the Mo Pop tradition “goofy” local band The Doozers kicked off the festival on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on the River Stage. They opened with “Goon,” a new song from their recently dropped EP, “Full Length Album,” so festivalgoers had no choice but to get up off their feet and dance to the playful lyrics of the infectious, indie-pop four piece. Although chock-full of decisive riffs and ingeniously placed breakdowns that seem to mirror the likes of Two Door Cinema Club and the Strokes, the Doozers revealed that they had originally planned to make quite a different sound.
“I remember being at Lollapalooza in 2014, and me, Sean and our original bassist decided we wanted to sound like The District, but we didn’t, and now we’re indie. So, I guess we failed at that,” said guitarist Charlie Belleville.
With Kelley acting as chief bassist, she began introducing indie-pop artists like The 1975 and Hippo Campus to the rest of the cohort, leading to the discoverty of a new type of tone. Although, drummer Kyle Garland jokingly reminded the group he is still a “wannabe metal drummer in an indie band.”
“Being a fourth party who wasn’t in the band from the beginning, I was honestly already a fan,” Kelley said. “But once we all got together and started writing music, we leveled up.”
From playing the iCarly theme song and The Killers covers at Ferndale’s Loving Touch to having Donnelly stage-diving into a crowded Mo Pop pit during their final song, “Cytoplasm,” the Doozers have most definitely leveled up. And it happened, much faster than they could’ve predicted.
“Its surreal. This morning I was listening to one of our new tracks and I was like, ‘Wow, I’m going to be playing this tomorrow at my favorite festival with some of our favorite artists,’ and I honestly almost started crying,” Kelley said.
On stage, The Doozers’ excitement was palpable. Not a single moment went by without a band member’s appreciative smile — except for maybe when an unknown source took Paul Glantz’s cardboard head — and peppy, unparalleled energy. Although the sounds of “Lemon Poppyseed” and “Amoeba” are undeniably virulent, Kelley said she believes the energy at Mo Pop ultimately stems from the city itself.
“There is so much Detroit representation,” Kelley said. “Mo Pop is special because of the people who come here and the spirit of this city is so unique...Compared to other festivals, it so much more based around creativity and everyone is here to share what they make or what they love and give and receive.”
Although met with a light, 20-minute sprinkle around 2 p.m, the energy that Kelley described only intensified as Sunday progressed. From the light-hearted sounds of synthy, surf rocker Griffin Washburn of “Goth Babe,” to the country-rock melodies accompanied by a garbled brass from Chicago duo, Whitney, the over 33,000 festivalgoers basked happily in the sunlight.
And the already impressive beginning, was followed by an even more captivating ending to Mo Pop 2019, as psychedelic pop singer, songwriter and producer Kevin Parker, of Tame Impala, took the stage. With hypnotic visuals brimming with bouts of neon — and an occasional animated eyeball rolling around — paired with the psych-disco riffs from songs such as “Eventually,” Detroit had no choice but to succumb to the magnetizing cadence of Parker. And soon enough, as pink confetti burst over the Riverfront Park at the crux of “New Person, Same Old Mistakes,” the fest was finally complete.
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It’s no secret that Detroit is blossoming. With the lowest unemployment rate in over 10 years and incessant new developments, Detroit continues to grow stronger each year. And Mo Pop does the same.
Besides the fact that Mo Pop always seems to enlist artists on the cusp of stardom, such as last year's Billie Ellish, Brockhampton and this year's Lizzo, Mo Pop always brings more: more local food options, a more diverse lineup, more activities — the list could go on and on.
And 2020 will bring even more new beginnings. Due to West Riverfront Park’s new $55 million makeover, Mo Pop is abruptly being rerouted, with whispers suggesting the new location will be Belle Isle.
Whatever the new location will be, Mo Pop can adjust and adapt. It survived the 2015 “Lake Mo Pop” storm during Iron & Wine, so anything else will be a piece of cake. Because at the end of the day, Mo Pop embodies Detroit in every way possible: eclectic, tenacious, electrifying and at its core, grounded in the community.