Bourbon & Beyond 2023 night 2 recap

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) -While night one of Bourbon and Beyond lit its stages with flares of mostly root and blues, night two was all over the place, ending with a more modern flair, showcasing the craftsmanship that goes into ironing out the performers for each day. Much like bourbon, music needs a good pairing.

Highlights in the afternoon included the powerful voice of Brittany Howard, commanding attention with her soul, while Hozier took people to church in a more tongue-in-cheek fashion.

The electro-power-pop-meets-Irish-dirge of Bastille, complete with a reworked cover of TLC’s “No Scrubs” had plenty of people young and old singing along. The placement mixed along with their own hits foreshadowed well into Duran Duran, which shed “Hungry Like a Wolf” two songs into their set to provide focus on the new wave pioneer’s other hits from the ‘80s, including “Notorious,” “A View to Kill,” “Rio,” and “Girls on Film,” which began with a grand entrance using lights from both sides of the two main stages.

Into nightfall, it was clear that The Killers had brought out the largest collection of fans on the festival field, taking the stage to Elvis’ version of “Blue Moon of Kentucky” playing through the house speakers, and wasting no time opening with “Mr. Bright Eyes.”

Some sort of issue in the VIP area in front of the stage led the band to take a pause in the middle of “Spaceman,” until emergency crews responded and the band resumed after several minutes. The mid-set “Somebody Told Me” brought an energy that lasted through the generational singalong of “When You Were Young” which took a lot of millennials back to their college days.

Two nights down, two to go. Saturday highlights for Bourbon and Beyond include the Black Crowes, the Avett Brothers and the Black Keys, resembling a Forecastle lineup from circa 2009.

Bourbon and Beyond started Thursday and will run through Sunday night. For more information and tickets, click or tap here.