Walk the Moon will be the daytime headliner at Dillo Day this year, Mayfest representatives announced at Battle of the DJs Thursday evening.
“When we were looking at Dillo Day, we wanted to start the day off with a bang,” said Weinberg junior Xander Shepherd, the Concerts Chair for Mayfest. “When we looked at Walk the Moon, we felt they were a very fun, very energetic band. They really effectively meld indie music and pop music, which makes for really infectious songs that you really want to sing along to, you really want to dance to. Songs like "Anna Sun" and "Tightrope" are the kinds of things that when you hear them you can’t help but smile and have a good time.”
As the daytime headliner, Walk the Moon will play at the same time as Cold War Kids, the early day slot usually reserved for indie bands. But as a band that has toured with both fun. and P!nk, Walk the Moon is a band that can appeal to a greater section of campus, said Communication senior Jeremy Shpizner, one of the co-chairs of Mayfest. In addition, they have the benefit of being a band that’s still on the rise.
“It’s cool because last year Cold War Kids was the kind of band that already had a lot of hits from past albums, whereas Walk the Moon is a band that has two or three really big hits from their most recent album, and they’re picking up a lot of steam right now so they’re a lot more relevant,” Shpizner said. “So that’s nice to feel like we’re a little bit more on the cutting edge this year.”
Shepherd added that, like Danny Brown, Walk the Moon had performed well in Mayfest’s “Who do you want for Dillo Day?” campaign earlier this year.
“They were actually a name that had popped up quite a few times,” he said. “We felt that independent of the fact that they were just a fun band that, day of, people would have a lot of fun with, we know that there’s actual buzz on campus and excitement about them, which seemed like the perfect route to take.”