The fifth annual Audiotree Music Festival was held in downtown Kalamazoo this past weekend, September 22-23. Hosted in the Arcadia Creek Festival Place, crowds gathered despite the blistering heat to welcome bands such as SuperDuperKyle, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and Twin Peaks. A continuous live-stream was also posted on Facebook throughout the weekend, giving those who couldn’t make the trip an opportunity to witness the event.

Friday night featured the following bands: hi-ker, Bayonne, HOOPS, SALES, Smino, Noname, Lizzo and SuperDuperKyle — the artist behind “iSpy” feat. Lil Yatchy. With a  mix of genres, from instrumental and easy-listening to rap and EDM, the festival has always boasted a wide variety of genres.

Carson Peterman and Andy Alford — sophomore roommates who are  well-equipped music lovers — attended the festival on Friday night. “At Audiotree on Friday, I saw Smino,” said Carson. “It was really cool because he’s not super big right now, but he really impressed me with his chill vibe. Noname was awesome too — it’s really sweet to see more female rappers out there.” Andy agreed, saying, “Because of the setting at the festival, all the artists were very interactive with the crowd in a personal way. Smino impressed me with his swagger on stage and Noname’s live band and mixups to her iconic songs made her show memorable.”

The second day of the festival kicked off at 11:45am, with performances from Sales, Active Bird Community, Liz Cooper & The Stampede, Campdogzz and Charly Bliss.

The crowd really began to gather around the middle of the afternoon when indie-rock band Pinegrove took the stage. The lead singer, Evan Stephens Hall,was welcomed with open arms as the crowd eagerly sang along to songs off of his two albums “Cardinal” and “Everything so far.”

After Pinegrove, came two instrumental bands — CHON and BADBADNOTGOOD. CHON fell more into the breezy and light-rock type of genre.BADBADNOTGOOD brought out various instruments, including an impressive flute solo from saxophonist Leland Whitty, to create a more jazz focused set.

Twin Peaks arguably delivered the most energetic spectacle of the show. A rock band made up of five men from Chicago, Twin Peaks played to the growing enthusiasm and hype of the crowd.. At one point, lead singer Clay Frankel announced that he would be buying the entire audience free drinks after the show. He then stopped to accept one that was offered to him from a fan. Frankel was constantly jumping around(and falling) while he was on stage, making it one of the most fun and most memorable shows of the day.

The festival ended with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, who were given an hour-and-a-half on stage. The rock band consisted of seven members, each passionately working together to create their unique style of music. The screen behind them gave way to an entourage of trippy visuals that synced well with their music, which made for a pleasing end to the festival.

Audiotree is still building its reputation, attracting bigger and bigger artists each year.It excels at creating a warm and welcome environment that is open to fans of all kinds. Everyone who is there clearly happy that they came.After any given band’s performance the artists could often be spotted back-stage, talking and laughing with other artists.