New Politics returned to Summerfest this year as one of the headliners for the last day of the festival. The performance took place on July 5th on the US Cellular Connection Stage at 10:00pm (Central standard time). Sunday’s performance marked New Politics fourth time coming to Summerfest. I spoke to the band backstage about headlining the festival this year. “Every time we come it’s so fun. As soon as we hear about it, we hop on it right away. Summerfest is one of the better festivals. Festivals are great- it shows people uniting and it shows a common communication that everyone understands. It’s just a celebration,” the band stated. They also said a great advantage of playing at festivals is hanging out with the other bands, and making friends with the artists as well.
The band opened with a performance of “Tonight You’re Perfect,” which was the “perfect” way to open the show. The crowd sang along, clapped their hands, and danced as much as possible- considering it’s almost impossible to dance while standing on the bleachers. I’m still trying to figure out why the audience at Summerfest stands on the bleachers, as opposed to just standing in front of them. New Politics followed up their opening song with “Berlin,” which was then followed by “Die Together,” “Give Me Hope,” and “Everywhere I Go (Kings & Queens).”
New Politics’ frontman David Boyd was simply brilliant. He interacted with the crowd, and he was vocally flawless on the stage. The entire band looked as if they were having a blast onstage- reminiscent of kids in a candy store. When the band broke into a cover of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” the audience’s energy went to another level. Throughout the entire show, the audience’s mood was wild and full of life. It was by far the best performance on Sunday. The band’s setlist also included “Dignity,” “Overcome,” “Fall Into These Arms,” and they closed their memorable set with a performance of “Harlem.”
On August 14th, New Politics will release the album Vikings. “It was a really fun album to write. Most of it was written in the back of a [tour] bus, and we didn’t try to write singles. When we were listening to it afterwards, you can hear that we had a lot of fun. Sometimes that how singles come about- it was a really natural thing,” New Politics told MusicSnake.