Music Day 2: The Wrens

The Wrens may take the prize for the most unexpected show of the day, maybe even the whole festival. I haven’t heard every Wrens song, but many of the ones I have heard are dreamy and deliberate. Not today. Today was for a healthy dose of punk spirit. Bassist/vocalist Kevin Whelan was all over the place, exhorting the crowd to clap along, handing his banged-to-hell and duct-taped bass to crowd members, and jumping off of speakers. There was even some crowd teasing: “We’re going to play a couple of new ones. This does not mean you can go to the bathroom, get a soda, make out, whatever.” Nothing Whelan did could hide the band’s obvious skill, though, even if this was the most unexpectedly aggressive show of the day.