It was a beautiful day at the Jersey Shore, perfect weather for a night at The Stone Pony Summer Stage.
The show kicked off with Moon Taxi from Nashville, TN. They have a southern feel to their songs, reminding me a lot of Kings of Leon and the Alabama Shakes. At one point during their set the lead singer Trevor Terndrup yells out “Home of Bruce!” and the crowd goes wild.
They closed with “Cabaret” and as the song comes to an end I watch keyboardist Wes Bailey in amazement. I totally enjoyed this opening band; Moon Taxi needs to be on your radar, I’m sure we will be hearing more from them.
The Dirty Heads take the stage, as the sun sets behind them, and jump right into “Hipster”. Their hip-hop-infused reggae rock sound had the entire audience dancing and singing along all night.
Over the next hour they played numerous tracks off their sophomore album Cabin by the Sea, as well as some of their older hits such as “Lay Me Down” and “Believe” during which front man Jared “Dirty J” Watson gave a shout out to the late MCA of the Beastie Boys and asked everyone to sing along on first the verse lyrics
“Who’d have thought that I could ever turn out this way? I’m blaming Ad-Rock, Mike D and MCA”.
Another performance highlight was when they played “Dance All Night” and Matisyahu, who is featured on this track, came out to sing along. The Dirty Heads closed their set with “Hip Hop Misfits”.
This show was a so much fun, I loved watching percussionist Jon Olazabal play the bongos, I mean who doesn’t love bongos? And I’m really digging vocalist/guitarist Dustin “Duddy B” Bushnell’s voice. I may have a new crush 😉
Matisyahu, The Dirty Heads, and Moon Taxi the perfect vibe for a gorgeous summer night in Asbury Park!