By Lindsay DePietro

Day one of Buffalo Infringement Festival 2025 (Thursday, July 24) started off with a bang. The opening night ceremonies kicked off at Nietzsche’s at 9 p.m., but before the musical performers began singing their tunes, Mini Marching Machine marched their way from Ol’ Wondermoth to Nietzsche’s doors, settling down to play outside of the establishment.

Seasoned Infringement Festival performer El the Mime put on an expressive show in her sparkly red cape and beret, with a large bow around her neck to match. Included in her show, was her well-loved balloon sculpting skills. People could be seen carrying her balloons around throughout the night.

The first performance of the opening ceremonies was another long-time festival pair, Green Schwinn, who sang and strummed away on the front stage. As Ryan Gurnett, Infringement Festival music coordinator, said the festival wouldn’t be the same without this duo. The boisterous vocals of Green Schwinn singer, John Blake, had the whole crowd tuned in.

Next up, but first to perform at Nietzsche’s back stage, was a punk rock band, Standard Living. Although young, the trio proved to be a great talent. The audience members were seemingly impressed with their explosive performance.

Back at the front stage, Dante DiGiulio and East Coast Dave Maguire set a more relaxing pace. They strummed on their acoustic guitars and DiGuilio sang to the crowd in his mellow tone, blending the likes of Americana, blues, folk and rock all into one cohesive sound.

Following DiGiulio and Maguire’s performance was one of the younger talents of the night, a new band from SUNY Fredonia by the name of Bone Machine. The immersive sound of the soft vocals and spoken word of the female lead layered on top of the soothing instrumentals had the crowd swaying on their feet.

Different Planets was next to the stage and he certainly seemed to be a crowd favorite. His unique sound had the audience bouncing around and cheering him on and his energetic personality shone through his performance as he danced around confidently while singing and playing the synthesizer.

Although the next performances were past my bed time, Greg Hill, Rookie Knights, Goodbye Metro and Sonic Wranglers all took the stage to give the Nietzsche’s crowd a good time. From the looks of the Buffalo Infringement Festival Instagram, they did just that.

To view the list of performances for Friday, July 25, visit either the Infringement website for the full schedule, or the Buffalo Hive Calendar.

Some more scenes from the Buffalo Infringement Festival Instagram page: