Review: Samsara Wows Crowd at Great South Bay Music Festival
By Samuel Clopper
Samsara started off the performances on the Five Towns College Stage at 4:25 on Friday, July 19th at the Great South Bay Music Festival.
Samsara is an alternative rock band with members from Queens and Long Island: Dylan Trif who does lead vocals, Ben Bustamante on drums and background vocals, Charlie LoMonaco on guitar and background vocals, John Devito on bass, and Brendan Sandhovel on guitar.
They were super energetic right from the start. This was obviously not their first gig, and they have a magnetic vibe to them that is super good for drawing in an audience.
The band also writes their own music, which is always nice to see, because it can create a better connection between the artist and the music.
They began with two songs, including “Out of Sight,” a song with strong rock yet somber lyrics, which is currently listed as their top song on Spotify. It was a strong starting lineup, and got the audience engaged to listen to them.
After engaging a bit with the crowd, a couple of songs later they played “Piece of Me.” It is a good piece despite the fact it was a bit hard to understand the lyrics when they sang it live.
However, their stage presence and instrumentation made up for it.
Afterwards, they covered a Nirvana song, which fit very nicely into the band’s style and set list.
Following that, they played their song “Shadow,” and at this point the lead singer’s articulation became much clearer, so it was nice to hear both the band and the lyrics to the song.
They continued their set with their newest released song, “how do you say my name?” It was my personal favorite in the lineup. I enjoyed it both lyrically and melodically, and they gave an exceptional performance of it.
They concluded their set with “Nevermind.” Despite being released, they claimed they did not finish writing it, so they ended it abruptly to announce that before resuming the song.
As someone who frequently attends live music events, I thoroughly enjoyed the act Samsara provided. While I do not usually listen to rock, I was enraptured by their energy and music. Even though a lot of the lyrics were lost, the band played very well, and they all maintained enthusiasm throughout the whole show, which is more important. I would absolutely see them live again.
Overall, it was an excellent opening performance for the Five Towns stage on Friday. The crowd was not super large, which often happens for opening acts, but the audience that was there was engaged and listening intently, even if they did not sing along. They were enjoying the act and plenty of people were recording on their phones. The energetic music in the nice, sunny weather made for a fantastic afternoon and start for the day ahead.
