IS FOR LOVERS FESTIVAL
Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys
Lake Tahoe, NV
6.22.24
LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARILYN BELL
The 2024 Is for Lovers Festival kicked off on Saturday, June 22 at Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys. Set among the beautiful backdrop of Lake Tahoe, this wasn’t a concrete parking lot stop on the Warped Tour. Just as the elder emos have matured, so has the emo/pop punk festival scene. In addition to the usual merch booths, food, and drink options, Is for Lovers had other fun opportunities like the Myspace Your Face booth to get scene makeup and the Dunk a Punk booth where you could dunk members of Crooked Teeth, Armor for Sleep, and Hawthorne Heights.
The Emo Night Tour kicked things off and played all the emo hits between sets. California’s Crooked Teeth got things started for the bands playing a raucous set of pop punk. Nashville’s Free Throw was next to keep building the momentum. Free Throw was recently covered on the Hot Mulligan tour date at the House of Blues Anaheim here: https://outburn.com/all-features/live-reviews/hot-mulligan-house-of-blues-anaheim-ca-4-23-24/.
Detroit’s I See Stars was next with a blistering set of their electronic infused metalcore. Anyone who doubted if their live show would translate to a 3:20 in the afternoon set among the trees in Tahoe was quickly and pleasantly surprised.
Up next were Armor for Sleep and Finch, who were recently covered on tour with Bayside here: https://outburn.com/news/bayside-house-of-blues-anaheim-ca-4-19-24/. The Starting Line then brought their infectious pop punk emo to brighten the mood.
Is for Lovers festival founders Hawthorne Heights then did a memorable set celebrating 20 years of The Silence of Black and White, with vocalist/rhythm guitarist JT Woodruff going out into the crowd to sing and at one point attempting to crowd surf on a swan pool float. An audience member asked to play guitar on “Ohio Is for Lovers” and nailed it. It was pandemonium while Woodruff was still singing with crowd surfers flying everywhere.
As the sun started going down, Orange County’s Movements turned the heat back up with their post-hardcore sound. Their slot following Hawthorne Heights nods to the band’s more current status as a second wave emo band. They did a perfect job of getting the crowd ready for the headliners.
The All-American Rejects fronted by whirling dervish Tyson Ritter played a set of nearly non-stop singing and dancing by the crowd, except a couple pauses led by Ritter to address crowd-goers needing assistance or medical attention. Between the bands and emo hits played by the Emo Night Tour DJ’s, the festival was a perfect day all around. Even without the gorgeous backdrop of Lake Tahoe, the festival is worth the time.
These are the rest of this year’s Is for Lovers festival dates:
West Virginia is for Lovers – July 13, 2024
Outer Banks is for Lovers – July 20, 2024
Pops is for Lovers (Sauget, IL) – July 27, 2024
Iowa is for Lovers – August 13, 2024
California is for Lovers – August 31, 2024
Ohio is for Lovers – September 7, 2024
