Words & Photos: Kate Lawlor
Strolling on to the stage with a confident yet somewhat demure energy, the Chicago natives “Beach Bunny” began their set in Vicar street with emotional indie-rock love song ‘Dream Boy.’ This kicked off a steadily great set filled with a mixture of poignant, romantic and relatable indie anthems.
The rescheduled show the audience had been waiting for since 2019 did not disappoint! Beach Bunny’s relaxed and catchy melodies, accompanied by lead singer Lili Trifilio’s dreamy yet powerful vocals were complimented by distorted guitar riffs and a steady deep bass throughout the set. This combination decidedly engrossed the audience from the opening couple of songs. The energy in the room was already palpable as they performed the tracks ‘Oxygen’ and ‘Promises.’
The band surprisingly broke out, arguably, their biggest hit early on in the set. ‘Prom Queen,’ an emotionally charged anthem, was the fourth track they performed and it very obviously failed to disappoint. The crowd knew every lyric and sang along to the high energy performance with gusto.
The energy from both the band and the crowd never faltered from this point onwards.
Lead singer Lili Trifilio engaged regularly with the audience throughout the set, encouraging mosh pits for some of their more ‘hardcore’ indie-rock style songs such as ‘Sports’ and ‘Cuffing Season,’ and routinely encouraging the crowd to sing back the lyrics.
The end of the set ensured the band left the stage with a bang, as they performed more well known, high-energy hits such as ‘Cloud 9’ and ‘Painkiller’ (performed for their encore). The crowd parted for one final, high intensity mosh pit and the band looked decidedly pleased and somewhat emotional before waving goodbye to the Vicar Street audience.
