PHOTOS: Lunar Vacation & Dinner Time @ Terminal West - ATL

Atlanta’s own dreamy indie rockers Lunar Vacation burst onto the scene in 2017 as just high schoolers releasing their debut EP Swell, and then their second EP Artificial Flavors in 2018. While the band has yet to release a full length album, it’s already been a wild ride in the few short years since, capped by their biggest headlining show to date on their return from touring. Lunar Vacation played Saturday, August 24th to a packed out show and rabid audience at Atlanta’s Terminal West.

Kibi James at Terminal West - Atlanta 8-24-19

Lunar Vacation brought along with them for this show two more great local bands. Opening the show was Kibi James, who recently completed their debut EP which will hopefully be out this year. With no recorded music out there yet, Kibi James was certainly the surprise of the show. The 4 piece band showed off a jangly lo-fi indie rock sound that mixed everything from garage rock, to surf rock, to psych. With the crowd already packed in and ready to get hype early, Kibi James started a dance party that would become a theme for the night. The crowd loved it, we loved, and Kibi James showed out as another new experimental Atlanta band that the indie rock world should be paying attention to.

Dinner TIme at Terminal West - Atlanta 8-24-19

Next up was Dinner Time, another band that has recently burst onto the scene to catch Atlanta’s attention. Featuring members of the The Pellys, Antarcticats, and Pop Weirdos, Dinner Time only released their first single “Walden Park” in July 2018 and then a few more singles throughout the rest of the year. They quickly built excitement as they became known for their energetic live shows before releasing their full length, self titled debut album this June. A tour around the country followed before the band returned home to Atlanta at Terminal West.

Dinner Time’s set was hype from start to finish. You see Dinner Time’s debut may just be the perfect end of summer album. They bring their own brand of jangly indie rock that includes lots of singalongs, youthful exuberance, and sunny surf rock, all while wearing Phil Spector’s influence on each shoulder of the young punks. You might not believe they are from Atlanta. Or maybe they are just the perfect Atlanta band wrapping the city’s diverse influences into one indie rock band. Who knows, but it sure all worked live at Terminal West.

Dinner Time continued the dancing that started with Kibi James. Late in their set, members of Lunar Vacation joined the band onstage for a few songs. That quickly turned into an all out crowd surfing war with the Lunar Vacation members taking turns and the crowd joining in. It was a beautiful thing not only for the crowd loving every minute of the show, but also for the band (including the opener Kibi James). When the enthusiastic crowd is losing their shit every moment of your set, when the crowd is a big ball of energetic chaos, those are the moments the artists will remember themselves. And this is where we were at on a Saturday night at Terminal West in Atlanta. Oh yeah, and that wasn’t even the headliner.

Lunar Vacation finally took the stage themselves late in the evening to a crowd full of roars and appreciation. There was family, high school friends, college friends, and plenty of just adoring fans there to welcome the band. Lunar Vacation’s wild ride over the last 2-3 years has included the band racking up millions and millions of streams, tours around the country (including their first west coast tour this summer) with artists like Sidney Gish, The Slaps, stops at SXSW and sold out dates with Finn Wolfhard’s (Stranger Things) band Calpurnia. Again, this is all behind just two EPs with minimal promotion or publicity. This is a DIY group of kids who seemed to strike a nerve with their listeners, whether finding them on streaming platforms or live shows. Honestly it’s an exciting thing to see a dream pop band from Atlanta receive the response that Lunar Vacation has in such a short time.

That love was fully in the air at Terminal West. Not only was it the band’s biggest headlining show to date (after selling out the legendary 40 Watt in Athens the night before), but it was also bassist John Michael Young’s 21st birthday. It was also announced that it was his last show with Lunar Vacation as he is going to focus on his solo project. So it was a double, bitter sweet celebration.

Lunar Vacation at Terminal West - Atlanta, Georgia 8-24-19

Lunar Vacation is a guitar rock band at their core. Yes, they are dreamy as hell, and that will be certainly be a used word to describe their sound every time what with Grace Repasky vocals over every lush chord. But it’s the guitars that pull it all together into focused soundscapes that sound otherworldly. Live the dreamy is definitely there on full display. But they were so much more. The guitars shined through as the band was all smiles on stage with a crowd that was dancing to every chord. The crowd surfing continued throughout Lunar Vacation’s set as the audience sang along.

It was a band on full display coming out as a force to be reckoned with not only locally in Atlanta, but also nationally and beyond. There was a lot of love in the room for Lunar Vacation, and this only seems like the beginning.

Check out photos from the show by Mike Gerry below:

KIBI JAMES