Limelight at Tipsy Teapot hosts Spazz Presents

The creators of Greenville’s Spazz Fest music festival have held various concerts this summer known as Spazz Presents. On Monday, the event series continued at Limelight @ Tipsy Teapot.

The show opened up a performance by a new band, First Marriage, a punk-alternative group based out of Greenville that formed earlier this year and is new to the scene.

By the time that Rocky Mount alternative rock band Foiler took the stage, Limelight’s crowd had almost doubled in size. The band played songs from its album that was released last September and the crowd responded positively.

FS, a group that formed in Greenville in 2008, was up next, and their pop-punk approach to the alternative genre and guitar-heavy sound was a crowd favorite. Members of the other bands joined the audience as the crowd grew by the time the set came to a close.

Dikembe, out of Gainesville, Florida, proved to be worth the wait as they closed the show and kept the crowd swaying to their sound late that night. Dikembe brought the heat as they kicked off the first of their summer tours.

“I’ve heard of Spazz Fest, and when we looked into this we were like ‘Yeah, this seems really cool’ and we’ve never actually played Greenville before,” said Stephen Gray, lead vocalist and guitar player of Dikembe. “We played Charlotte yesterday and we’ve been to Asheville before, but never Greenville, so this is exciting for us.”

While the young adult and student-based audience was mostly unfamiliar with Dikembe’s material, it stayed through the end of the set and kept the energy alive through the last song.

“This is day three of our tour and we’re doing all of the east coast, most of the midwest and then Texas as well,” said Gray. “We always [look forward to] playing for kids who’ve never heard us before and making new fans.”

The hard work that goes on behind the scenes at live music shows is often overlooked, but the Spazz Fest crew has done its share of ground work to get bands to perform in Greenville. and to keep the music scene alive this summer when it’s not preparing for March’s Spazz Fest.

“The Spazz Team,” as they call themselves, is made up of the founder and creator, Jeff Blinder, as well as volunteers and former musicians he has recruited along the way since the beginning of his musical journey in the early 2000s.

“I wanted to be a part of the community and get myself out there,” said Vincent Li, junior art major at East Carolina University and 2-year Spazz team member. “Through the Spazz team, I’ve met a whole spectrum of people. Anytime we need people to work a show, I volunteer and I always get to meet really cool people and bands.”

This writer can be contacted at arts@theeastcarolinian.com.