Homecomings are always the sweetest, right? Houndmouth can sure say so after this Sunday’s Boomtown Ball.
This day-long festival, a Market Street spectacle in New Albany, was filled with everything from food trucks to live music, and gave us the chance to discover “the sunny side of Louisville” all over again.
An underrated part of the day was just being in New Albany. It is truly a beautiful city, which may be why there are multiple Louisville-based businesses that made the jump across the river (including Quills Coffee, Dragon King’s Daughter, and Toast). New Albany businesses were opening their doors for everyone at the Boomtown Ball, and there was an atmosphere of celebration. The crowd was diverse: locals and hipsters, urban and rural people, residents of both sides of the river, forty-somethings, elderly people, and young people.
The outdoor music stage was excellent. The lineup was curated by Houndmouth and included local and national touring acts. Highlights for me included the synth pop, groove-heavy guys from Louisville The Pass and a Brooklyn-based baroque pop band San Fermin.
The Houndmouth show was just as great as the rest of the day. They performed in The Grand right there on Market Street, which is a ex-move theater used more often as wedding than a concert venue, but it worked wonderfully. Houndmouth played a great set, full of crowd favorites, new songs off the record they hope to release soon, and even a Rolling Stones cover.
Similar to when My Morning Jacket (who are, in case you’ve been living under a rock, from Louisville) played The Louisville Palace a few years ago, Houndmouth found a way to enjoy a hometown concert in a way they never have before, with a prideful heart. It’s hard to believe, but the first time that Houndmouth played New Albany was when guitarist Matt Myers and keyboardist Katie Toupin sang songs for a farmer’s market around the same place where the Boomtown Ball took place. Talk about coming full circle!
Houndmouth may never play New Albany again, because they are only getting bigger, but if that’s the case (and I hope it’s not!), they sure did go on a bang with the Boomtown Ball.
