I had the absolute time of my life this past Thursday night, April 13. A few of my friends and I set out to Cleveland, to see Vibe & Direct and Dopapod play at my one of my favorite venues, the Beachland Ballroom.
Photo by: Alicia Falorio
Although halfway through the night I began to feel a little under the weather, I couldn’t resist dancing through my illness due to the music’s energy radiating from these incredible performers. I was so excited for the show to begin, because I have never seen either of these bands perform live before, and all I can say is that they left a long lasting, beautiful impression on me.
When we arrived at the venue, Vibe & Direct just took the stage. Vibe is a three piece jam band based out of Cleveland, Ohio, made up of Danny Giannetto on the drums and vocals, Mike Miller playing the guitar and vocals and Douglas Rab on the bass and vocals. Vibe kicked off the night with “Silly Lilly”, a very slow paced song that set a light mood. Halfway through their set, we got to hear the band play their most popular song “Chrysanthemum”, which really got the crowd groovin’. Vibe played for about an hour, which was not long enough at all. They closed their amazing set with their funky “Psychadelavator”, which set the hype for Dopapod to take the stage.
Photo by: Alicia Falorio
The Beachland was absolutely packed by 10 pm when Dopapod took the stage. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, Dopapod is progressive rock and dance music band comprised of: Eli Winderman on the keyboards, Rob Compa on the Guitar and vocals, Chuck Jones on Bass (who we were told was single during the show in case anyone was interested) and Neal Jones aka “FRO” on the drums. Their first set started with a mind-numbing, psychedelic tune “Super Bowl” that has a long intro that really gets inside your head. Dopapod had the entire audience singing along with them when they closed their first set with a cover of “All Apologies” by Nirvana.
The best song they performed all night that had the crowd dancing so insanely, was “STADA”, also part of their first set. Their second set was super uplifting, and of course when it was over the audience had had enough from this incredible band. Dopapod played “Onion Head” to give the audience one last hoorah before they left the stage, and everyone left Beachland that night more than satisfied. However, for me, my illness began to kick in during their set, but I still managed to groove and dance all night because the energy Dopapod was feeding us through their soundwaves was certainly indescribable– it was almost impossible for me to focus on how sick I felt because the music altered my thoughts away from it. They basically cured me for the time being.
Photo by: Alicia Falorio
Throughout the entire night, there were several artists lined up off to the left of the stage painting intricate, trippy pieces to the inspiring music. There were also several hoopers dancing away to the music with their radiant and glowing hoops, accompanied by those that were performing poi during the concert as well. The all around vibe in terms of the music, art, the people, the performers and the energy was euphoric; you could almost get lost in the atmosphere. I would give this show a 5 out of 5; I had an amazing experience connecting with so many individuals just through the sound of music.