To begin with a piece of honesty, this was a show that was not on my radar. While I can listen to it, I, generally, try to steer clear of things that label themselves as “folk-pop” because it’s a sound that I find particularly uninteresting. In reality, the only reason I ended up at this show was because Andre bought a pony keg for a general interest meeting for the festival. Being an American, I can’t turn down free beer, especially free Bell’s. This non-stop flow of beer into my cup precipitated my staying at the show. Luckily for me, this was a positive thing as the show was nothing like I expected. The Mill was pretty full, and everyone was just hanging out and having a good time. It was one of those nights to remind you of why The Mill is a fun place to check out a show.

The show started with the Michigan-based trio Breathe Owl Breathe. I’m, swiftly, becoming of the opinion that if you don’t like this band, you don’t like having any fun. Outside of the ridiculously catchy “Swimming,” BOB played a few very poppy songs with folk roots and really solid harmonies between the three of them. The best part of their set was when the lead singer popped on a scuba diving mask and just started roaming through the audience, doing some fake diving. This moved into audience participation with opposite sides of the audience clapping against each other. Somehow, all of this led into an amazing song about dragons. While all of this stuff could be written off as being excessively whimsical, they were very sincere about their songs and had a genuineness about their performance; the weirdness didn’t seem like a put-on as it would with other bands. By the time that they ended, everyone was entertained and warmed up for the co-headliners.

Vetiver came out first. I’m not sure what conception that I had of Vetiver before this show, but I’m pretty sure it involved them being a bit more restrained. What I got was a band that hammered through some early Dead style riffs before taking on a quasi-Steely Dan feel for the rest of their set. They really locked into their groove and just rocked. From what I saw on this night, I would recommend seeing them to anyone who asked. They were consummate musicians and had really nice music. I found myself distracted from the Steely Dan-ness and just locked into their set. I can’t say a lot of bands have done that to me recently, so I was, to make a bad pun, jazzed.

Fruit Bats came out last, and as any attendants of past festivals knows, they are not strangers to Iowa City in the slightest. I’m not sure what it is about them, but watching them at The Mill made it seem like they just hold residency on that stage. They looked very natural up there, as if they knew exactly how to work the space. Additionally, they kept the crowd engaged from beginning to end. For someone who hadn’t seen them before, their rock-heavy alt-country sound worked really well. It didn’t sound derivative in the slightest, and the lyrics of the songs were excellent. This was another band that I would now put on the schedule to see if I was free to do so. I really enjoyed what they did, and seeing how much fun they were having while doing it.

When the show was over, I was reminded of the quality that comes through places like The Mill regularly here in Iowa City. I walked into a show actually expecting to hate it and leave having seen one of the better shows I’ve seen recently. I give any of these bands a high recommendation for sheer stage presence and being hard-working, likable bands, something that there just aren’t enough of anymore. If either are back in town, there’s a very good chance you’ll catch me in the audience.