Panic & Mouse Killed It At Live 105’s BFD 2015!!!

REVIEW: If you went to Live 105’s 21st annual BFD at the Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View, then you know Panic & Mouse Killed It At Live 105’s BFD for the San Francisco modern-rock station.

For twelve hours 20,000-plus modern rock fans indulged themselves in the asphalt jungle of music with an explosive 40 acts performing on five stages.

At this year’s BFD, CelebNMusic247.com was once again in the middle of the action as we soaked in great music from Toronto Canada’s Death From Above 1979, Alabama native Yelawolf with his very own hip hop sound, the East Sussex sounds of British Rock by The Kooks, SoCal pop act Best Coast, the sounds of the Chicago suburbs by The Orwells, Australian indie pop group Sheppard and crowd favorite and Columbus, Ohio very own Twenty One Pilots.

We made our schedule as we dipped in out of the Subsonic Tent to catch St John, Live 105’s own DJ Aaron Axelson, and Oakland hip-hop talent K.Flay kept the crowd enticed as the sun beat down on festival goers.
We broke from the subsonic tent that was filled with dance craving fans who couldn’t get enough EDM in their blood stream and they jumped, bounced and waved their arms to every bass hitting beat.

CelebNMusic247.com broke free of the crazy sweat factory to soak up what the main stage was serving. Kicking off the main stage was fan favorites Atlas Genius with their own South Australia sounds that had fans rushing to get to their seats and lawn goers who were trying to get a place on the grass for the evening portion of BFD 2015.

The main stage was filled with top-notch sounds from Australia’s Atlas Genius, Cold War Kids, who played a great set with hits like “Hang Me up To Dry”, “Miracle Mile” and “All This Could Be Yours”, Panic! At The Disco, Of Monsters and Men and Modest Mouse.

We ended up going back and forth at the end of the night between Martin Solveig, Modest Mouse and GTA who gave fans an unforgettable dose of EDM. The crowd was going wild and GTA pumped out mega hits like “Break Your Neck”, “Bola” “The Crowd” and more.

Over on the Local Band Stage the talent was great, but this year we were able to check out Panic Is Perfect and a brief moment of Beta State, who was playing the same time as Twenty One Pilots. Other bands that took the Local Band Stage were The Family Crest, Picture Atlantic, Eyes on The Shore, Andrew St James, Dangermaker, Silent Pilot, Curious Quail and the BFD local band winner.

Like every year CelebNMusic247 has our Best of BFD, our standouts, and our discovery:

Best of BFD:

That goes to, hands down, Panic! At The Disco who had an explosive set. Lead singer Brendan Urie kept fans engaged with his high vocal screams, backflips and Sensational performance of Queens “Bohemian Rhapsody” that notably put a smile on Freddy Mercury’s face for the amazing rendition of the classic rock ballad.

Panic made sure to play “Girls/Girls/Boys” which spoke about the gay lifestyle, then “Miss Jackson” which was about his ex-girlfriend that did he dirty.

Panic! At The Disco’s setlist is as follows:

1. Vegas Lights
2. Time to Dance
3. The Ballad of Mona Lisa
4. Hallelujah
5. Girls/Girls/Boys
6. Miss Jackson
7. Nine in the Afternoon
8. Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen Cover)
9. This is Gospel
10. Positive Hardcore
11. I Write Sins Not Tragedies

Modest Mouse opened their set with and extraordinary list of hit songs from the catalog. Vocalist-guitarist Isaac Brock was in superb form as he led his nine-piece band through a thrilling 12-song set like, “The World at Large” and “Ocean Breathes Salty,” a pair from the band’s best-selling album, 2004’s “Good News for People Who Love Bad News.” Followed by “Ocean Breathes Salty”, “Lampshades On Fire” from the new album Strangers To Ourselves and more hits like “Dashboard”, “The Tortoise and the Tourist”, “Dramamine”, “Dark Center of the Universe”, “This Devil’s Workday”, “The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box” and “Float On”. Mouse closed their set with “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes and “A Different City, it was a double-shot from the band’s best album, “The Moon & Antarctica,” ending another great year of BFD.

Atlas Genius (Jeffery brothers, Keith on lead vocals and lead guitar; Michael on drums; and Darren Sell on keyboard) who enlightened the stage with a mix of songs from their debut album and their upcoming sophomore album due out the end of summer.

Atlas played “On A Day,” “If So,” “Back Seat,” “All These Girls,” “Symptoms,” “Through The Glass,” “Electric,” and “Centered On You.” The guys of Genius closed their set with their mega hit, “Trojans.”

Stand Out:

From Backflips, crowd surfing and standing on the hands of festival goers, Twenty One Pilots electrified the Budweiser Festival Stages like no other band of the day. The power set of hits knocked BFD goers back as lead singer Tyler Joseph opened the set singing “Heavydirtysoul” from a dangling mic. Joseph followed with “Stressed Out” from their #1 album Blurryface. He and Josh Dun had the crowd going wild as they played “House of Gold / We Don’t Believe What’s On TV”. Then they did an awesome cover to Bob Marley & The Wailers song “No Woman, No Cry” and the song “Ride“ with Jesse Blum of Mister Wives on Trumpet, followed by ”Lane Boy”, “Holding on to You”, “The Run and Go”, “Tear in My Heart”, “Car Radio. Twenty One Pilots closed their badass set with “Guns for Hands / Trees” (Drums).

Discovery:

Best Coast did some of its best work on the new material, as it delivered “In My Eyes,” “Heaven Sent” and a number of other good reasons why fans should buy “California Nights.”

Panic is Perfect who performed on the local band Stage. Their set was awesome and took us by surprise. The played songs “Go Go Go”, “Echo”, “Build A Wall and More from their 2015 EP Behind Your Eyelids.

Overall it was a great lineup, a great time and a perfect way to kick off the summer. BFD is one of the best festivals in the Bay Area when you’re seeking the new-now-next of alternative rock, local talent and EDM.

Review: Emilio & GiGi Ricci

Photos courtesy of Live 105/Steve Jennings