ALT 104.5 WINTER JAWN AT XFINITY LIVE
For the first Winter Jawn event in a few years, and my first time going, it overall wasn’t a bad experience. The schedule was supposed to be doors at 11, first band at noon. That isn’t what happened lol. Doors didn’t open until a little after 11:30 and from then on everything besides All Time Low’s set was pushed back.
If you're from the Philly/South Jersey area and have been to Xfinity Live before then you know what it is. For those that haven’t, you aren’t missing a whole lot. It is 4 bars connected together by a main gathering area and centrally located giant screen tv. It is a very popular spot to watch sports (go birds) or to see a local cover band. Although the pricing in the venue makes it seem like it is more upscale than it actually is with food and drink prices being about the same as actually going to a game or a regular concert venue. Think Buffalo Wild Wings meets Chickies and Petes.
The Winter Jawn event itself was laid out pretty well. The sound set up was centrally located but far enough back that you didnt lose too much space up by the stage. You never really felt crammed in. The fake snow machine was good in theory but just turned the area to ice until they shut it down. Plenty of food and beverage options inside and out although I was surprised to see that no hot coffee or hot chocolate was available considering it was 25 degrees out lol. The multiple fire pits in the back were a nice touch to help take the chill off though.
The first band up was Joe P who I had never heard of before. Not terrible, just not my taste. It seemed to be very cookie cutter modern alternative music. The songs kind of blend together and there was no real stage presence and lacked any real back and forth with the crowd. The last two songs, All Day I Dream About, and Off My Mind seemed to be the only songs anybody there actually knew.
The second band up was Lovelytheband who I would 100% see again. They had a great sound that was real upbeat and dancy which people got into right away. They also had an awesome connection to the crowd which kind of drew you in and they did a really nice job of connecting to the city without it sounding forced. Mid set they added a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s - Dancing in the Dark which was very well done adding their own style without changing the song entirely. They closed with Broken which is far and away their biggest single with over 290 million streams on Spotify. I highly recommend checking them out.
The third band up was Dayglow who immediately sounded like rom-com background music to me. Good crowd interaction and really upbeat, feel-good sound but doesn’t really stand out or wow anybody.
The headliner for the event was All Time Low who opened with Lost in Stereo which is one the hits from their 2009 album, Nothing Personal. They followed that up with 4 of the next 5 songs being put out after 2017. Weightless was a nice throwback mid set and also probably the biggest hit from Nothing Personal. The second half of the set included songs such as Once in a Lifetime, their newest number one, Sleepwalking, a cover of The Weekend’s hit Blinding Lights and it closed, as all ATL shows do, with Dear Maria. I wish they would have done more from the early years and for some reason the sound was surprisingly low, but not a terrible set all things considered.
Overall it wasn’t a bad way to spend a Saturday and for a free concert you really cant ask for more then what you got. I wouldnt make it a yearly “must do”, but if the lineup is good enough I would probably go again.
