Heavy rain and thunderstorms could not stop GROUPLOVE from rocking Chevy Court at the New York State Fair on Sunday, August 24. The alternative rock band from Los Angeles waited out heavy afternoon storms, which caused visible damage to the fairgrounds and forced the closure of gates for over an hour.
Fortunately, the gates reopened at 6p.m.- just in time for the band’s performance, albeit with a 45 minute delay. As concert goers re-entered the fairgrounds, they were greeted with cautiously optimistic skies, though the threat of additional storms remained.
After a short delay to re-set the stage, GROUPLOVE took the stage to a triumpant roar from the crowd, and launched in to the energetic “Itchin’ on a Photograph”. For the uninitiated, the song was the perfect introduction to the band, as Christian Zucconi and Hannah Hooper traded vocal duties, with Hooper dancing and bouncing across the stage. The band kept the momentum going, with “Lovely Cup” and “Deleter” to follow.
After a long day of rain, thunderstorms, and delays, it would have been hard to blame the band if they performed a shortened “festival set”, and called it a day. On Sunday, GROUPLOVE had other plans.
They tore through hit track after hit track, with songs like “Scratch”, “Raspberry”, and “Tongue Tied” drawing the loudest cheers from the crowd. As heavy rains again swept in again around 8 p.m., some in attendance ran for shelter — but most fans stayed gathered in front of the stage.
As the rain poured down, the band kept on playing, feeding off the energy of the audience. They closed out the set with a cover of Blur’s “Song 2”, before ending with their 2011 debut hit “Colours”. As the band left the stage, they left those in attendance a message of positivity; “Bring that love with you in to the rest of the world,” Zucconi urged, before proclaiming that Grouplove was off to see the state fair’s other show that night–Busta Rhymes.
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