Cleveland’s signature music festival, Snowed In, almost didn’t happen this past week. Evan Hall, lead singer of emo-country band, Pinegrove, recently announced that the band was cancelling their US tour due to sexual coercion accusations. With the festival’s message this year being focused on creating safe spaces and promoting a diverse lineup, there was a sense of shock among fans when the news dropped.
Fortunately, BravoArtist pulled through for the festival and decided to make PUP the headliner along with lowering ticket prices to $18.50 and giving fans the option to match BravoArtist $5 for a total of a $10 donation per person to RAINN. In the end BravoArtist ended up raising $4,533 for RAINN and produced a final lineup that was one of the most inclusive lineups for Snowed In to date.
In the past Snowed In was primarily a male dominated festival with most of the headliners not featuring female or non-binary artists aside from Ratboys at Snowed In IV. In contrast, this years lineup was a step in the right direction with female and non-binary acts such as Columbus folk rock band Saintsenca; an intimate solo acoustic set from Stephanie Knipe, the lead singer of the bittersweet pop band Adult Mom; and the signature bedroom pop act Diet Cig.
Unfortunately there were a few more surprises throughout and before Snowed In that truly made the festival something else. Alex Luciano, the youthful energetic singer of Diet Cig, was doing her signature jump off the drum kick during “Link In Bio” and ended up tearing her ASL; however, this did not stop her from finishing off her set normally.
omg video evidence of me finally getting my ass handed to me by all the evil rock n roll forces (i am hurtin but okay ?) https://t.co/RN0J1rMFAA
— ✨diet cig ✨ (@dietcig) November 26, 2017
On top of this, PUP’s van had broken down before arriving in Cleveland. This did not stop them from making it out to the festival though. They had to call a rental car, and leave their equipment with the broken down vehicle. Stephan Babcock, lead singer of PUP, then explained to the crowd how they had called The Sidekicks and asked to borrow their equipment.
Although there were a few hiccups throughout the set of Snowed In V, there were plenty of memorable moments throughout the night that made it something special. Whether it be the safe environment that was provided by everyone who helped put Snowed In together, the intimate acoustic set from Adult Mom with a packed ballroom that quietly engaged with the set, Diet Cig’s fans gently moshing in the center of the pit to classics like “Harvard” and “Blob Zombie”, or Babcock from PUP jumping over the barricade and crowd surfing while singing. Overall the festival went as smoothly as it could have with everything going on, and was a special night to remember for everyone that was fortunate enough to attend.
Saintseneca:
Adult Mom:
Diet Cig:
PUP:
