Music Connection was on site for Jay Z's 2014 Made In America festival hosted by Budweiser. The event simultaneously took place in both Los Angeles and Philadelphia—A concept not as common by other festivals. This gave concert goers the ability to constantly be entertained. When one stage completed a set, if another stage hadn't begun its performance, a live feed from Philadelphia would hit the Los Angeles monitors and visa versa. Being from California, we attended L.A.
While many went to see Kanye West, John Mayer, Weezer and Imagine Dragons (pictured) on this weekend, it was some of the up-and-comers who stole the show.
MUTEMATH: These boys came out percussion blazing as they graced the second stage on Sunday. Frontman Paul Meany handled his own effects as he took the crowd up and down his lyrical staircase of emotions accompanied by various keyboards. The band's guitarist and bassist played their part well, but let's get real, if you haven't heard about drummer Darren King, take note: This guy steals the show. Equipped with headphones wrapped under his chin to remain on during fits of head-banging, eyes were glued to his drum set at all times. As we've heard about before, during the final song, Meany took an inflatable mattress to the crowd and rocked out his final lyrics mid-crowd surf.
Capital Cities: If you haven't heard the band's "One Minute More," you might be living under a rock. And while that song holds its own among current indie pop, this group understood the importance of "festival performing" at this year's Made In America. Rather than sticking to 10 songs most people in the crowd may not be familiar with, the L.A. natives brought out a cover of "Stayin' Alive" and spent the final 10 minutes of their set dancing with the crowd to an EDM outro. I didn't see energy like this from anyone else's crowd all weekend. Props to the trumpet player who jumped around with fans the entire 40 minute set.
Honorable mentions: Kendrick Lamar, Steve Aoki, Cypress Hill. Also, props to John Mayer for performing a Beyonce cover as she and husband Jay Z watched from the VIP section.
Words by Andy Mesecher
Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Anheuser-Busch
