SummerLark 2024 took place this past weekend on May 11, 2024 at Bailey Park in Winston-Salem, NC. This was the 3rd annual event which is put on by Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Philanthropy and supports The Cancer Patient Support Program at the Comprehensive Cancer Center. The event has taken place every year at Bailey Park which is located in Innovation Quarter in Downtown Winston-Salem, NC.
Fans filled the park on this Saturday afternoon to not only enjoy some awesome music by the live bands, but also to donate to this incredible benefit. Local rock band Crenshaw Pentecostal got the show started. The band played a full hour and the audience in attendance were dancing and singing all the way through their set.
The headliners for this year’s benefit was Barenaked Ladies. Just before the band stepped out on stage, a little spring rain started. Sometimes that scares away crowds, but that certainly didn’t happen. Everyone snuggled under their umbrellas or ponchos or just hung by some of the trees which lined Bailey Park for a little bit of cover. Most importantly, everyone stuck around and thoroughly enjoyed the show.
Barenaked Ladies stepped out on to the stage greeting the crowd which was huge and fully filled the park. The band started straight into “It’s All Been Done” and then “The Old Apartment”, which are both crowd favorites and had everyone already singing along. Afterwards they decided to stop and have a chat with the audience talking about the event and being the fun and entertaining band we all know, they also decided to dive into a little cover of “Shake It Off” before continuing the set.
Barenaked Ladies has of course tons of hits that just everyone knows and they definitely played them, but they also treated the crowd to a few tracks from their latest album “In Flight,” which we thoroughly enjoyed getting to hear played live. They also continued chatting with the audience and sometimes changed some lyrics for fun. During “Pinch Me” vocalist Ed Robertson smiles at the crowd and sings “Raindrops are falling on my head anyway” while it continued to rain.
This was a great event and Barenaked Ladies really made it so much fun for everyone involved. After a full set and then a medley of covers, Barenaked Ladies stepped off stage. No one in the crowd left, they knew the band just wasn’t quite done yet and no one wants to miss it. The band came out for one more track, playing “Lovin’ Life” off their latest album. As the song was ending, this full huge stage show got even bigger as some fireworks lit up the full city skies behind them. As Barenaked Ladies exited the stage, they thanked everyone and joked “These are our fireworks too.” It was not only a great show, but such a great event as well.
I’m Music Magazine Associate Editor/Photographer Daphne McKinney
For more information on SummerLark, visit: https://giving.wakehealth.edu/get-involved/summerlark
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