Heirlooms & More @ Meriden's Daffodil Festival

The likes of Eric Burdon, Chuck Berry, Mark Mulcahy(!), and a very young MGMT have played Meriden's Hubbard Park in recent years.  While many attend the yearly Daffodil Festival for the flowers and food (which are both outstanding), we've taken to going for the music, for as you know, we LOVE the free concert.  Recent years have seen the removal of the high profile headliner in favor of emphasis on local music, which may be a deal-breaker for some, but is completely understandable.  After all, it's hard to complain about the value of a free fair.  This year has Sunday featuring a much stronger lineup than Saturday, profiled below are a few acts we're definitely going to catch.

Hartford's indie-folk sextet Heirlooms made waves last year, releasing their fantastic self-titled EP to much acclaim.  Mixing the lush instrumentation of a full band with classic folk sensibilities, their sound is reminiscent of Iron & Wine's second and third LP's, when they began to expand beyond their trademark acoustic-folk sound.  Their star is ever-rising, being recently added to the slate of local bands in the B.O.M.B. Fest lineup, hopefully not overlapping with Man Man or our other "must-sees" (M.T. Bearington being scheduled during Of Montreal last year was a travesty).  Their Daffodil Festival set (Sunday at 2:45) will be the perfect opportunity to see them before they "turn pop" on us (kidding), as it will be a low-pressure environment to enjoy their music.  Embedded below is a new track, "Hair in a Mess", recently performed at the Wadsworth Atheneum.

"The Zambonis are North America's Favorite ALL-HOCKEY Band!!!  Really.  Every song is about hockey!"  This quote from their website says it all, every song really is about hockey.  We last saw them at the New Haven "Ciao My Shining Star" release show, where their surf-guitar version of the Hartford Whaler's "Brass Bonanza" was an instant classic.  Enjoy "I Wanna Drive the Zamboni", embedded below.

In another example of scheduling misfortune, jam-rock wunderkinds The McLovins are scheduled to play 3:30-4:45 (mostly at the same time as The Zambonis).  Having recently played Infinity Hall and Bridgeport's Gathering of the Vibes, they've acquired an impeccable reputation as a live act and quite the fanbase.  Enjoy a part of their Vibes set, embedded below, with all the shirtlessness, smoke, and twirling that's come to be expected at the Gathering.

So come on by Hubbard Park this Saturday or with us this Sunday to enjoy some of the best of CT's local music scene, not to mention 600,001 daffodils, though I don't envy the person who had to take that count.  Complementary shuttle buses will be provided from parking lots at the public schools, where there's free parking, and check out the complete details (and full music schedule) at www.daffodilfest.com. See you there!