A.J. Jackson, a literal ball of sunshine in a 60’s lime green suit skipped his way onstage on a smokey Saturday Night at the Ambleside Music Festival, bringing with him the upbeat, funked up pop tunes belonging to his musical group Saint Motel. Opening with one of their most lively songs Van Horn, the crowd was instantly revved and moving along with them.
This man was just so fun to watch perform. I’ve been to concerts where the frontmen are very stationary, and treat the show as more of a one way act as opposed to a live performance, but A.J. had much more lively plans. Throughout Saint Motel’s short production, more ground was covered by the performers than maybe even myself in the pit. Right before the final song, he had influenced the crowd to separate, creating a walkway for fans to dance through, which even AJ had decided to join in. Although this was a fun moment and definitely a key memory to the small crowd around him, it lasted a bit longer than it should have. Fans that were anywhere else seemed to have lost a large portion of one of their more popular songs, because they couldn’t catch a glimpse of what was happening.
Despite this drawback, Saint Motel was incredibly talented at getting the crowd involved. Preficing other popular songs such as Move and Sweet Talk by preparing the crowd to sing and scream notable points in the chorus really captured everyone’s attention, and made their show just a blast of an experience.
