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In its fourth year, the Sing Us Home Festival in Philadelphia’s Manayunk neighborhood saw thousands pack Venice Island for a tradition organizers say has turned into its “own little holiday.”

Hause Family Campfire brings together the best of punk, country and folk

This year’s rendition saw its strongest ticket sales yet, with nearly 3,000 attendees, pushing the event close to maximum capacity. The festival closed its first night with the Hause Family Campfire, a signature event of the weekend that brings together a band for only one show.

Amidst the fog and wooden logs on the main stage, festival organizer Dave Hause performed alongside singer-songwriters Ted Leo, Will Hoge and Jenny Owen Youngs.

“It’s a testament to the people that they are, the musicians that they are, the daredevils that they are, the rock and roll badasses that they are, that they would agree to do this in the first place,” Hause said during the performance. “I count myself lucky once again to be surrounded by the songwriters up here.”

During the set, Hause brought up Eric Bazilian from The Hooters, a noted favorite of longtime Philadelphia DJ Pierre Robert, who passed away last year. Bazilian thanked Hause for the opportunity before performing “And We Danced.”

“When Dave asked me to do this, I said, ‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ And he said, ‘Whatever you want,’” Bazilian said. “So, I said, ‘Well, you know, I just finished writing a new song, and it’s about the human condition… It’s about nine minutes long… Would that be okay?’ He said, ‘Sure, anything you want.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, not tonight.’”

Hause thanked the crowd for coming out to the “campfire” before the temporary band closed the set with a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.”

“I want to thank you for being part of our tradition. We accidentally made our own little holiday in Philadelphia,” Hause said.

Once the campfire went out, the volume cranked up

While Friday night closed with a quieter selection of performances, tall amps and loud guitars were on the menu for the rest of the weekend.

The Menzingers and The Flatliners brought energy to the stage during their performances, which featured new songs from both bands.

Mary Kennedy made the trip from northern Virginia to Manayunk for the festival. It also served as a bit of a homecoming for her, as she frequently visited the neighborhood when at Villanova University.

“I definitely think that people up here are more genuine and it’s just more fun,” Kennedy said. “The shows are more lively … The crowds up here are always really into it. I always love coming back up here.”

While circle pits were forming and crowd surfers were making their way through the waves of attendees, VIP ticketholders were treated to a surprise set from Brendan B. Brown, of the band Wheatus.

Brown used to make trips to Philly when he would get a break from studying at the University of Scranton. After graduating, his band broke out with the hit song “Teenage Dirtbag,” which he said was due in part to Philadelphia being the first city to play it on the radio.

“I’m just grateful that we can still do this after all these years,” Brown said. “Philadelphia was the earliest place where it happened.”

He said the surprise set was truly “authentic,” with the performance coming together at the last second, surprising both the crowd and even people working the festival.

“We always wind up having more long-term friends here than we even can remember,” Brown said. “For 27 years now, this band has been traveling the country and the world, and when you come back to these places now, it’s almost like the family’s back and everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, you’re here!’”

Sing Us Home was the first of a busy month of music festivals in the area, including the MMRBQ in Camden on May 9 and the Roots Picnic on May 30–31.