CLEVELAND, Ohio — Midway through Signals Midwest’s set Saturday night at the Brite Winter music and art festival, lead singer Max Stern was apologetic that it took so long to tune his guitar.
“Thank you for being so patient with us,” Stern told the thousands in attendance, eager to hear more of the quartet’s emo-tinged indie rock. “The cold does some strange, strange things to my guitar.”
He wasn’t alone. Bands and audience alike braved the cold for the festival, an annual event under the Main Avenue Bridge in the West Bank of The Flats.
Or maybe toughed out the freezing temperatures is a better way to put it. This is Cleveland in February, after all, something to which residents are accustomed.
The event, which arose from a conversation 14 years ago among graduate students and friends at the old Barking Spider in University Circle, has become a staple for many in the dog days of winter.
An estimated 14,000 people from the Cleveland area and beyond showed up on Saturday, according to a spokesman for the event. Bundled up festival goers made their way from stages to tents. Many clutched hard seltzers and beer cans from the recently shuttered Platform Brewery, which was one of the festival’s sponsors.
Aaron Goldweber, 27, said he heard about the event last year from friends and was upset he didn’t attend. He rectified that this year.
“I’m impressed,” Goldweber, of South Euclid, said. “This is a lot cooler than I expected.”
Many came to eat, drink, visit with friends or to provide a fun event for the whole family. A miniature golf course on the festival’s grounds attracted many parents and children, as did a large Skee-Ball setup for which participants used a soccer ball. Others huddled around a few fire pits set up throughout the festival’s grounds, either to stay warm, roast marshmallows or both.
The myriad pieces of art that fit this year’s “Anchors Away!” nautical theme, including multiple landlocked boats and a large lighthouse, also provided fodder for Instagram photos. So did multiple ice sculptures.
But the real attraction was the music. With 21 bands and several DJs spread out over nine hours, the lineup reflected a fairly diverse selection of talent.
Signals Midwest drew a mix of the unfamiliar and diehards who remember seeing the band at basement shows more than a decade ago.
“It’s been awesome fun to see a band so close to my heart on a big stage in a Cleveland location,” said Sam Hanley, a fan from Cleveland Heights.
The quartet’s set on the West Bank Stage was a warmup for headliners Welshly Arms, which shut down the festival with more than 70 minutes of songs that drew from blues, soul and gospel music. They even threw in covers of Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls on Parade” and the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Fire.” And while they have a relatively diverse sound, none of the band’s music would sound out of place on modern rock radio next to Kings of Leon or Akron’s own The Black Keys.
“You don’t look cold at all,” lead singer Sam Getz told the crowd, rubbing his own hands together when he wasn’t playing guitar.
Nick Perrin, an Akron resident, sang along to every word with his kids next to him. He said he saw the group at the House of Blues the day after Thanksgiving.
“They’re a fantastic band,” Perrin said.
Immediately preceding Welshly Arms, on the Cleveland Scene Skyline Stage, was Akron’s Free Black! Made up of emcee Floco Torres and drummer HR3, the duo provided a powerful set of hard-hitting and thought-provoking hip-hop that galvanized a small but increasingly engaged crowd. Guest spots by guitarist Dave Rich gave the music an even funkier feel.
Still, the highlights, musical and otherwise, were many and spread out throughout the day. Grumpy Plum covered boygenius’ new single “$20.” Akron’s Big Pop concluded its set with lead singer Jeri Sapronetti crowd surfing while continuing to shred on guitar.
The members of Joplin, Missouri’s Fox Royale also played their set shirtless. Cleveland’s Shoreline Funk All-Stars, meanwhile, wore matching black tracksuits as they doled out heaps of, well, brass-heavy funk.
But despite the diverse lineup, there was a common thru-line with much of the lineup. Most were pulled from Northeast Ohio’s underground music scene.
And their hometown pride often shined through.
“I love being a band from Cleveland,” Stern, of Signals Midwest, said as he marveled at the view of downtown across the Cuyahoga River. “I love it so much.”
Eric Heisig is a freelance writer in Cleveland. He can be reached at eheisig@gmail.com.
