Audacy Beach Festival: From Willow to Twenty One Pilots, our favorite moments from Day 1

Starting things off on the BEACH stage just right, Willow came out commanding the crowd singing everyone’s fave “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l." Keeping both the energy and the crowd hype “Meet Me At Our Spot” was up next. There actually might have been a song in between but tbh we blacked out from excitement. To close out the short but sweet set, Willow sang “Wait A Minute,” and the whole crowd clearly caught her vibe (sorry had to) cause they didn’t want her to leave.

Apparently Willow didn’t want to either, because after the crowd chanted encore for just a few secs, she gave the people what they wanted and came back on stage for one more song. “Couldn’t leave y'all hanging,” she said before belting out “G R O W,” then she left for real and we were sad again.

From start to finish, Bleachers we’re at 100%. In fact after starting things off with “Let’s Get Married,” lead singer Jack Antonoff had some thoughts about the crowd needing to get on his level. Well we were there so you’ll just have to take our word for it, after an all-out performance of “ How Dare You Want More”— that they did.

You could say it was the tambourine that did it, or the sax break, but by the time they got to their next song, “Rollercoaster,” it was 100% the bass that had the crowd experiencing those back together “pre-pandemic s***” feels. Next for “You’re Still a Mystery,” Jack asked those in the crowd that could to get on their friends shoulders. When Jack Antonaoff asks you get on someone shoulder —you oblige. Leveling up again, even though we didn’t even know they could, Bleachers closed out their set with “I Wanna Get Better,” “Don’t Take The Money,” and “Stop Making It Hurt.” Walking off to just the sweet sax, we were lifted for the rest of the day.

Glass Animals did not come to play (not that we thought they would). But we just had to actually say it. Keeping things no frills and just about the music, they started off their set with "Tokyo Drifting” and it pretty much only got better from there. From the “The Other Side of Paradise” to their monster hit “Heat Wave,” even when the slowed down the tempo the bass was still present and piercing our souls (dang - how poetic).

A force of nature with a guitar in hand, side swept bangs, and Y2K cool girl style. We’re talking about Beabadoobee of course, who in addition to effortlessly slaying the RIPTIDE stage, also happens to be our newest girl crush. And we aren’t the only one’s with these feelings. Willow, a fan of the British indie star came through to jam out to Bea’s bops which included; “Tired,” “Dye It Red,” “He Gets Me So High,” “Coffee” and “Emo Song,” just to name a few.

So here’s how it went, first — “Sleep On The Floor,” second — “Cleopatra,” and third — “Ho Hey,” for which every band member agreed the crowd singing along “was sounding good out there.” Then, after taking a moment to express that it’s truly “amazing to be out here again singing live music,” The Lumineers continued their set, singing “Flowers In Your Hair,” “BRIGHTSIDE,” and “Gale Song,” which put us in a folky dream-trance-like state we never wanted to wake up from.

Before they offered up a new song, “Where We Are,” which will be featured on their forthcoming album, lead singer Wesley Schultz revealed the song's inspiration, detailing the aftermath of a nearly fatal car accident he had been in. “I remember people walking up to us… after we crawled out of this car, and they were crying thinking that we had died. They were so upset and we were in shock. And it felt eerily similar to the last 18 months, where you’re cruising along and all of a sudden everything stops and you're left picking up the pieces. So it (the song) felt like a good metaphor for how everybody feels right now. We’ve all been in a car wreck together I think.”