Review: Chicago said Goodbye to Summer at The Salt Shed with Beach Bunny’s Pool Party Festival
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY ALINA PAWL-CASTANON ☆
BUNNY EARS IN TOW, fans collected excitedly across Salt Shed fairgrounds, taking in the wide array of street style food and vendors. The lights of the stage illuminated the high balcony and rooftop, making you feel encompassed within the concrete space and the big smiles from the crowd. The one-day event was the perfect Sunday evening to kickstart the beginning of the fall season.
Inspired by the 2016 EP of the same name, Beach Bunny takes us back to the native grounds of the first Pool Party Fest from August 2023, bringing in a powerhouse of women and queer artists to the stage; some new to the festival, and some familiar.
Beach Bunny began as a solo project by lead singer and Chicago native Lili Trifilio, who’s indie-pop EP titled Animalism blossomed while attending classes at DePaul in 2015. Beach Bunny expanded into a full band in 2017, with the release of their song “Prom Queen” the following year putting them on the map and across international stages.
With a quiet and shy entrance and crowd work to contrast their insane emotionally charged vocals, we start the night with Seattle Natives Great Grandpa, a group that's redefining their sound in an act of transformation not only as a band but as individuals.
Great Grandpa has been writing music together for over ten years since their creation in 2014, combining influences of wispy indie and grunge with melodic guitar and raw vocals in pieces like “Cheeto Lust” and “Ram” from their first Album Can Opener. After their 2019 album Four of Arrows, the band dispersed across states and oceans, leaving many wondering including themselves if Great Grandpa was no longer.
After redefining and reworking their sounds, bringing in their changing influences as time and lives passed, The band came together to create their newest album Patience, Moonbeam, an act of rediscovery that takes on a curious edge and folky twang, with a twist of unrefined vocals and mixed dancing guitars. Within their rising vocals, you can detect longing of once was and the theft of time.
A strong solo act, Alternative Indie artist Sidney Gish feels like a personal conversation with your best friend on the floor of your childhood bedroom; raw, honest, and warm.
With two self released albums titled Ed Buys Houses and No Dogs Allowed, Gish keeps herself busy with features and singles sprinkled in between the mysterious cadence, bright guitar and electronic influences within a DIY haze. Keeping true to Gish’s authentic nature, with poetic conversational lyrics that toes the line between a melodic confessional and a conversation with her own selfhood, Gish’s giggly and chirpy demeanor contrasts the themes and cadences of her songs.
With a quirky hesitation, Gish expresses her love for American girl dolls, asking if the crowd has been to the Chicago store yet before diving into “Not for you, Bunny.” The crowd calms to a slow sway, with a few defiant fingers dancing from above the heads of the transfixed crowd.
The full blood Moon, a surprising friend, slowly started to make its appearance as Anni DiRusso took the stage.
With sharp black streaks of eyeshadow that complimented the streaks of blue and black color on her white shirt and tie, the group dive into Dirusso’s most recent album Super Pedestrian, Taking on a wide range of influences; from country folky twang and electronic underlayers to a grittier grunge and dancing guitars.
Dirusso addresses the confusion of dating and blurred boundaries within her song titled “Back in town”, while exploring heartbreak and contemplation of a love lost but still felt in the track “Hunger”.
DiRusso announces that it was her birthday, and takes a moment to share a story of the time she was kicked out of a band on her birthday, followed by awes of sympathy from the crowd, and the emotional turbulence felt that ultimately led her to the group she continues writing music with today.
“If I could have a perfect show on my birthday, there is no other lineup I would ever want to be on,” She said.
For the last song, Dirusso welcomed Squirrel Flower, one of Pool Party Festival’s original performers from 2023, to the stage to perform what Dirusso described as a “song about wearing pants”, earning screams from the crowd.
Soccer Mommy started their set softly and ended with a bang. She takes a moment to address the crowd, saying a small “looks beautiful out there” with a smile before diving into her newest EP, Evergreen (Stripped) to pair with her 2024 album of the same name.
Taking on a more raw and unfiltered approach, Soccer Mommy goes back to its acoustic roots, allowing her voice to take center stage and dancing from these stripped versions and full band versions for an intimate set. With sharp layers of emotion and bright dancing instrumentals that swelled across the space, Soccer Mommy dives into a wide range of her music, from soft dreamy indie to poppy electric.
To close her set, the classic “Your Dog” from her 2018 album revived the tired crowd and brought it to a boiling point for Beach Bunny as the final act.
Beach Bunny came in strong with classic hits from various albums to close the festival; the poppy espresso shot everyone needed to get people up and moving.
Diving into classic hits like “Oxygen” and “Prom Queen”, the screams from the crowd earned smiles from the band as they spun around the stage in a whirlwind of pink and glitter.
Keeping the energy consistent during their hour set, Beach Bunny's new album titled Tunnel Vision has an edge of anger and loss, but also of feelings of the past left unaddressed in a sparkly haze of hope for the future; paired with exciting rhythms and vocals that floated above the dancing crowd.
As they jump into their newest single and extension of their 2025 album, “Year of the Optimist” explores the themes of loss of time and being authentic to yourself during times of turbulence.
The moon, now full and bright above The Fairgrounds, illuminated the white Bunny Ears decorating heads of children and adults alike as they closed their 3rd annual event.
Beach Bunny’s Pool Party fest is a continuation of upholding Queer and Women voices within Chicago spaces and beyond, creating a night of a wide range of performances to mark the ending of the Summer sun and ushering us home into the contemplative Autumn months. From new and old voices to Pool Party, this new Chicago Festival stands alone as a shining light to what's to come.
