EDM’s popularity comes through loud and clear

round, at least judging by eye and, more tellingly, the length of the beer lines, with Saturday’s installment ranking among the biggest in the event’s four-year history.

Prior to the fest, there was plenty of talk about how this year’s lineup lacked the superstar headliners of the past, when such big names like Foo Fighters, Kanye West and Stevie Wonder topped the bill.

That criticism seemed fair on paper, but in practice, the fest scored with eagerly received midlevel acts like Jimmy Eat World, who drew a massive crowd to the Ambassador Stage on Sunday, with seemingly everyone in attendance mouthing the words to heart-in-thethroat hits like “Sweetness” and “The Middle.”

While EDM had its moment this year, so did its opposite, the much more corporeal, warm-blooded sounds of folk-derived acts like Mumford & Sons, who headlined the main stage Friday and, on Sunday, Canadian alt-country troupe The Strumbellas and the cello- and accordion-enhanced The Lumineers, who turned in a feisty cover of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”

And then there were veteran pop rockers Third Eye Blind, who made explicit their disconnect from the electronically enhanced performers on the bill.

“We are not a DJ band,” announced frontman Stephan Jenkins, with just a hint of disdain. “We have no backing tracks. We have no pitch correction.”

They needed neither to endear themselves to a large, adoring crowd whose voices supplied the backing tracks that the band eschewed.

“Let’s get carried away,” Jenkins suggested, and the audience obliged.

Toward the conclusion of the band’s time on stage, Jenkins bemoaned the end of the summer festival season, this being the band’s last show on the circuit.

But the goodbye became a hello soon enough: At the end of the night, the dates for the next Life is Beautiful, Sept. 22-24, 2017, were flashed on the video screens at some of the stages.

The first batch of tickets goes on sale Thursday. Read more from Jason Bracelin at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com and follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter.