June 29: ComFest

Yesterday, after going to Highbanks Park earlier in the day, we went to a local music festival. Dubbed ComFest (for Community Festival), the weekend-long event is spread across half a dozen stages on 40-acre Goodale Park right outside of downtown Columbus. We spent three hours at ComFest that night. Early on, we saw a good jazz group play at the stage on a street corner next to the park.

We hopped around to a few other acts, including a couple of hilarious comedians. Later, at the gazebo stage, we came across an amazing group. At first, it looked like a bluesy Southern singer-songwriter:

On stage was the female singer, and she had an awesome drummer. He had some solid beats, with a bit of hip-hop thrown in. Then some back-up vocalists came up, and they were great!

But… a hype man? Not expected AT ALL, but he was fantastic.

His name is Psycho. He left the stage for a few minutes, but came back on later in a new outfit. And yes, he's holding a thesaurus. Go figure.

I can't get enough of Psycho. A few other guests came up for songs throughout the gig. The whole set was epic. It tuns out the core group is a duo of the singer and the drummer, and their group's name is Wonder Twin Powers! Josh and I got their EP after the show, and it's really good. I've listened to it maybe ten times already. Here's a picture of us with the singer, Jenny Flory:

The group after was pretty good, too. Their name is Under The Sun.

Today, we went back to ComFest. (ComFest Day 2: This Time It's Personal!) On our way to the festival, Earl and Alyn drove us around some sights in downtown Columbus. Here's the Scioto River waterfront.

When Josh and I got to ComFest, there was a WEIRD free-form jazz/poetry group, but we didn't stay long.

Then we caught a great performance by a killer singer-songwriter named Mike Perkins. His music is really catchy. I bought three of his CDs after the show.

We really enjoyed the set. After him, a group called the Floorwalkers played. They put on one hell of a show!

A rapper came out for a verse? I didn't see it coming, but he was good.

And then a tenor sax player came out for a song. He was amazing, and the crowd loved him!

I highly recommend the Floorwalkers, along with Wonder Twin Powers! and Mike Perkins, for that matter. It started pouring rain after the encore, and Josh and I left, but we still had a great time at ComFest. It looks like there's scattered storms in Columbus for the next few days, so we'll see what happens for us tomorrow.

Trip odometer: 866.5 miles
Currently listening to: Mike Perkins