BENT NIGHTS Taste of Chicago

The first night of the festival was a lesson in the stars lining up with perfect weather, a sold out crowd, and a jubilent mayor who made a point of meeting his constituents face to face with an outstretched hand. Cynics could call Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handshaking gesture a feeble attempt to repair an overwhelmingly negative public opinion but the spirited sets by opener Delta Spirit and 2012s alt-rock darlings fun. eradicated any hint of sourness.

fun.’s set may have been short with contrived encores (a massive confetti storm, oversized balloons—really?), but you couldn’t fault them for zip. Vocalist Nate Ruess was as spry as a leperchaun while guitarist Jack Antonoff showed plenty of leg and panache. The opening-night crowd loved it (I’ve never heard so much squealing in my life), and with the hetero fun. subtly promoting an LGBT-friendly agenda there were plenty of young queer couples holding hands and singing the anthemic “We Are Young” with full fury.

Estelle hit the stage the second night with “American Boy” and turned the Petrillo Band Shell into a steppers club. “Is this Love?” and “Substitute” were all good-natured funk but when headliner Robin Thicke hit the stage with “Blurred Lines” as his opener, the place and panties was up for grabs. Of course it didn’t hurt that Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, who were just offstage, danced like juiced prom dates.

Friday’s headliner, Robert Plant, got upstaged by his opener, the unheralded Brooklyn roots rockers The Lonely Bellows. Plant’s set was designed to showcase his entire career (from “Whole Lotta Love” to “In the Mood” and beyond) but the hottest show of the night was on the smaller Bud Light Stage. Little Ed and the Blues Imperials tore through a rowdy set of fiery jolly blues that proved that the unfussy, old fashioned gutbucket Chicago version beats the crap out of Plant’s brand of brit blues-rock any day.

Saturday’s opener, rapper/reggae singer Maxi Priest, didn’t start cooking until his fourth song, a funked-up cover of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World.” None of Priest’s clumsy bass lines and raps meant much once headliner Jill Scott got on stage, though. To say that her vocal fire, good-natured sass and celebratory spirit rocked the house was an understatement; the sold-out crowd stood for the entire show. Meanwhile, Company of Thieves and, particularly, Genevieve Schatz—who has the fragile sexual allure of Marilyn Monroe—threw a nonstop party at the Bud Light Stage.

The real surprise came on the last day. L.A.’s Mowgli’s combined crystalline harmonies, incendiary guitar work and explosive joy to create a set so bracingly playful, uncynical and spontaneous that they were almost unnerving. If anything this band, with five vocalists who are also multi-instrumentalists, are exactly what 2013 needs; a blast of pure encouragement. I can’t remember the last time I saw a band that made me want to take off my shoes and dance barefoot with them.

Hot alt-rockers Neon Trees grabbed The Mowgli’s baton and went flying with it. Vocalist Tyler Glenn, ripped into the set like a newly freed puppet, flailing and crouching while guitarist Chris Allen and bassist Branden Campbell kept their composure like bridegrooms trapped in a haywire wedding.

The only sane way to close out the festival was a quiet, patient set by Kelly Hogan on the Bud Light Stage. Dressed in black in the hot Sunday sun, Hogan’s cool approach was refreshingly intimate and to hear her after all the BIG-BAM-BOOM, dancing, and confetti was like being drenched with a torrent of cool clean water after a sweaty day in the sun.

And who is responsible for all of this? This year’s edition boasted five sold-out main stage attractions,d oodles of food and, everywhere I looked, lots of very happy contented people. Thanks to the Office of Special Events—in particular, Cindy Gatziolis and Mary May—A Taste of Chicago has evolved into an institution of which the city can be proud. (Remember three years ago, when the best the line-up could offer was The Wallflowers?) After A Taste of Chicago 2013 and the Blues Festival two months ago, Pitchfork and Lollapalooza will have to up their games.