Every year I always get interested to hear who will be playing Taste of Madison. It’s a unique event that happens the Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend on the Madison Capitol Square. I headed down early afternoon on Sunday with my friend Jennifer with the intentions of getting something good to eat and see at least two of the bands playing; Royal Bliss and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.
We ended up parking a bit further away than intended but caught the end of Royal Bliss’ set on the JJO stage. They had a great sound and good crowd interaction. After they finished their set, we went around the square and stopped at our first food stand for something to eat and drink. Continuing on, we headed over to the Resistance stage for Red Jumpsuit Apparatus for their performance. We had a great time watching them, as the mid-2000s nostalgia was real. I’d be lying if I said that I may have gotten a little choked up listening to Your Guardian Angel, but I’ll blame that on the Bon & Viv I was drinking.
After the set finished we went procured some fish tacos, because as I probably too loudly announced, I’m a slut for fish tacos (gonna blame the Bon & Viv again for that), and made our way back around to see P.O.D. on the JJO stage and we were actually a bit underwhelmed, but it was cool that they brought kids from the crowd on stage for Youth of the Nation. It’s a good song with a good message. We went back around and stopped at the Q106 stage as Walker Hayes was playing and listened to a couple of his songs. If you’ve read any of the other posts on here, you’ll recognize I’m not listening to a ton of country, but I really like his sound.
We then made it back around to the Resistance stage and Barns Courtney was playing. I’ve heard some of his stuff, so I was interested, but didn’t specifically go to see his performance. But let me tell you, not stopping would have been the biggest mistake. He had amazing stage presence and energy and it was one of those shows where you realize, damn I’m really glad I’m seeing him now for free, because he’s gonna blow up and I’m gonna have a hard time getting tickets when he comes back and sells out the Sylvee in 20 minutes. Big things, calling it now.
After that, the event was wrapping up and we headed out having eaten too much and having enjoyed more music than expected. If you’re in Madison over Labor Day weekend, I highly recommend checking out this free event.
Comments