Fitz and the Tantrums performance at their beachside stage at Deluna Fest. The indie-soul band got the crowd dancing to their cover of Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”, as well as several tracks from their first two records. Their debut album, Pickin’ Up The Pieces reached Billboard’s top spot on the Heatseekers chart earlier this year.

Jeremy Ruzumna, the keyboard player for Fitz and the Tantrums, has also worked with the talents of Rod Stewart, Joss Stone and Macy Grey. The band gained considerable amount of attention after touring with Maroon 5 after the release of their first album.

What was it like touring with Maroon 5?

It was a funny story, actually. Adam Levine was getting a tattoo when the tattoo artist suggested our music to him. He ended up being a fan of our music and asked us to come out with him. It was great because it was really early on for us and we were playing for these big Maroon 5 audiences.

Your debut album, Pickin Up the Pieces contains the track “Mr. President” which raises a number of social and political questions. What do you want people to get from this track?

That song was actually a timeless song. I don’t think it was necessarily brought on by Obama. It dealt with a lot of issues that have been around forever and will probably be around, unfortunately, forever. However, yes it was arguing a sort of responsibility.

What is it about soul and Motown that inspires you, musically?

When I first heard people like Tom Hathaway and James Brown, and I became a huge Prince fanatic.

I just got into it. It was sort of a natural process.  I just sort of gravitated towards this. I remember being a Prince fanatic as a teenager. I loved him and I slowly started to realize how he was influenced by people like Jimi Hendrix and James Brown.

Fitz and the Tantrums are currently working on their new album, due out October 9^th. The album’s production and process has been publicized on their website, including collaborations with female soul singer Noelle Scaggs. Currently, the band is giving away a free EP on their website from their show at the House of Blues in Boston.

Biggest Old School Punk Punch: OFF!

Lead by the original singer of Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, OFF! is a supergroup of the LA punk persuasion. OFF!’s hour long set seemed daunting as the band’s second record amounted to an aggressive 16 minutes, but they made it work. Playing select tracks from their first two albums, the set was also punctuated by politically charged speeches from lead singer Keith Morris. Initially making a public service announcement for the crowd to register to vote, Morris went on to criticize presidential candidate Mitt Romney and former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

Best Unofficial Headliner (and Baddest Reputation): Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

“Queen of Rock” and birthday girl Joan Jett, with her band the Blackhearts, had enough energy, charisma and audience to be considered the closest thing to Deluna’s fourth headliner. With no other performances on the main Deluna and GoPensacola stages during her time slot, Jett massed an unreal crowd with timeless Runaways and Blackhearts classics, like “Cherry Bomb” and “Victim of Circumstance.” One of Jett’s biggest draws is her “bad” rock ‘n’ roll attitude; As she ripped her shirt off, revealing the tiniest of bikini tops before slamming into the new Blackhearts song “TMI,” Jett proved to her enormous audience that rock is not dead, and that, for 60 rebellious minutes, she owned DeLuna.

Best Lead-In: The Joy Formidable

England’s The Joy Formidable love doing shows on the beach. They announced to the crowd that this was only their second show on the beach, only after the first time they played together under this moniker. Ritzy Bryan, the band’s lead singer, had a fun stage presence. The band played a bunch of tracks from their upcoming album, as well as older favorites like “Whirring” and “A Heavy Abacus”. Rocking out in a lace and polka-dot dress, lead singer Ritzy Brian was able to hold the audience’s attention and get them excited for the upcoming Foo Fighters’ performance.

Better Surprise Set List: Foo Fighters

Squandering no time, the Foo Fighters opened their set with “White Limo”, a hardcore punk track off of their new album Wasting Light. Powering through a line-up of hits and favorites like “All My Life”, “Pretender”, and “Learn to Fly”, the band literally rocked so hard that it threw off the PA system. This brief interruption proved that the only time it is appropriate to boo at a Foo Fighters show is when one cannot hear the band. Dave Grohl was able to distract the crowd from the6 technical difficulties as he covered The Who’s “Young Man’s Blues” while the sound system was getting fixed. The Foo Fighters took their show to the next level as they performed with recent collaborator Bob Mould on “Dear Rosemary.” After this performance, Grohl announced that the crowd was entitled to another surprise, watching him sing “Happy Birthday” to female punk legend Joan Jett. Jett came out to the stage to get her birthday cake and collaborate on her hit, “Bad Reputation.” With these two special guests at the beachside festival, this performance was a rare treat.

Biggest Old School Punk Punch: OFF!

Lead by the original singer of Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, OFF! is a supergroup of the LA punk persuasion. OFF!’s hour long set seemed daunting as the band’s second record amounted to an aggressive 16 minutes, but they made it work. Playing select tracks from their first two albums, the set was also punctuated by politically charged speeches from lead singer Keith Morris. Initially making a public service announcement for the crowd to register to vote, Morris went on to criticize presidential candidate Mitt Romney and former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

Best Unofficial Headliner (and Baddest Reputation): Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

“Queen of Rock” and birthday girl Joan Jett, with her band the Blackhearts, had enough energy, charisma and audience to be considered the closest thing to Deluna’s fourth headliner. With no other performances on the main Deluna and GoPensacola stages during her time slot, Jett massed an unreal crowd with timeless Runaways and Blackhearts classics, like “Cherry Bomb” and “Victim of Circumstance.” One of Jett’s biggest draws is her “bad” rock ‘n’ roll attitude; As she ripped her shirt off, revealing the tiniest of bikini tops before slamming into the new Blackhearts song “TMI,” Jett proved to her enormous audience that rock is not dead, and that, for 60 rebellious minutes, she owned DeLuna.

Best Lead-In: The Joy Formidable

England’s The Joy Formidable love doing shows on the beach. They announced to the crowd that this was only their second show on the beach, only after the first time they played together under this moniker. Ritzy Bryan, the band’s lead singer, had a fun stage presence. The band played a bunch of tracks from their upcoming album, as well as older favorites like “Whirring” and “A Heavy Abacus”. Rocking out in a lace and polka-dot dress, lead singer Ritzy Brian was able to hold the audience’s attention and get them excited for the upcoming Foo Fighters’ performance.

Better Surprise Set List: Foo Fighters

Squandering no time, the Foo Fighters opened their set with “White Limo”, a hardcore punk track off of their new album Wasting Light. Powering through a line-up of hits and favorites like “All My Life”, “Pretender”, and “Learn to Fly”, the band literally rocked so hard that it threw off the PA system. This brief interruption proved that the only time it is appropriate to boo at a Foo Fighters show is when one cannot hear the band. Dave Grohl was able to distract the crowd from the6 technical difficulties as he covered The Who’s “Young Man’s Blues” while the sound system was getting fixed. The Foo Fighters took their show to the next level as they performed with recent collaborator Bob Mould on “Dear Rosemary.” After this performance, Grohl announced that the crowd was entitled to another surprise, watching him sing “Happy Birthday” to female punk legend Joan Jett. Jett came out to the stage to get her birthday cake and collaborate on her hit, “Bad Reputation.” With these two special guests at the beachside festival, this performance was a rare treat.

Best Surprise Set List: Gaslight Anthem

After citing a special inspiration from Pearl Jam in their latest record Handwritten, The Gaslight Anthem were able to perform a song with Eddie Vedder at today’s festivities. Lead singer Brian Fallon introduced Vedder and they started playing Pearl Jam’s “State of Love and Trust”. Fallon gave a high energy delivery of the song, which was originally featured on 1992 Singles soundtrack. As Vedder quietly left the stage, Fallon noted to the audience, “Handsome, no. But we are good for surprises.” Continuing the band’s set with a variety of tracks from the beloved ’59 Sound, American Slang and most recently Handwritten. The Gaslight Anthem also covered The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” before closing with their track “Great Expectations”, a fan favorite off of ’59 Sound.

Best (If Only) Piano Bar Band: Ben Folds Five

Ben Folds Five recently reunited after taking a thirteen year hiatus. Taking a series of one-off shows lead the band to recording together and working on new music last year. The end product was their latest album, The Sound of the Life of the Mind. Ben Folds Five’s awkward brand of piano rock gained popularity in college radio and alternative culture in the 90s. Coming back from a break like this has put the band in a position to win their audience back. As Ben Folds Five, as a whole, is one of the few bands that entirely missed the subcultures of the 2000s, viewing important changes in the music industry from the sidelines of their respective solo projects. In the performance of the new material, tracks from The Sound of the Life of the Mind tries picking up where 1999’s Whatever and Ever Amen leaves off, but there’s no denying that it’s a bit more slow and mature.

Most Devoted Fan Base: Trampled By Turtles

Minnesotan folk and bluegrass quintet Trampled By Turtles performed with a modestly sized audience during the first day of DeLuna, and definitely had the most active and devoted fan base of the day. TBT played mostly fan favorites from their latest releases Palomino and Stars and Satellites, but also early set staples, like the relentless “Codeine.” The Turtles’ audience was comprised of only two kinds of people: hardcore TBT fans and people who had never heard of them. There was no middle ground, and by the end of their performance everybody would fit into the former category. Easily, Trampled By Turtles had the most unified fan audience, and following the band’s finale with “Wait So Long,” one of the best overall performances of the day, if not the weekend.

Most Socially Conscious Set of Day 1: Pearl Jam

Though Pearl Jam first reached popularity as pioneers of grunge in the early 90s with hits like “Alive”, ”Jeremy” and “Even Flow”, the band has recently celebrated its career with a greatest hits album and documentary Pearl Jam 20 . As a headliner of DeLuna, Pearl Jam’s performance attracted the biggest audience. Following a solo performance at an Obama fundraiser in Tampa, Eddie Vedder called attention to the importance of voting in the presidential election, the heightened suicide rate of soldiers and the deaths of Americans at Middle Eastern embassies. This was Pearl Jam’s first performance in Pensacola since their rise in 1994.

Most people don’t find the prospect of adulthood very appealing, from Judd Apatow movies to our culture’s emphasis on youth. Subjects like getting older can be uncomfortable, paying bills, getting married, and suburbs are things that people look to with a great degree of ennui.

But this has not been the Gaslight Anthem’s game plan. From the beginning, The Gaslight Anthem haven’t had a hard time growing up, as much as they've found difficulty feeling young.

Foo Fighters, Florence and the Machine, and Pearl Jam are among the headliners announced for Pensacola’s premiere end-of-summer music festival. Deluna Fest will be held on September 21st-23^rd, featuring a variety of Grammy award winning artists on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

Deluna’s kickoff on Friday, September 21^st will include Ben Folds Five, Guided By Voices, The Gaslight Anthem, City And Colour, Trampled By Turtles, Band Of Skulls, and then capped off with grunge rockers Pearl Jam.

Day Two of the festival includes indie rockers Band of Horses, The Joy Formidable, as well as the band that Spin Magazine named one of the nicest bands in rock, the Foo Fighters.

Deluna will be going out with a bang that Sunday with Zac Brown Band, Florence and The Machine, Fitz and the Tantrums, The Wallflowers, Superchunk and Bob Mould. Drummer Jon Wurster will be drumming in the last two bands. The percussionist has played with tons of bands, from the Mountain Goats to Ben Gibbard, as well as college rock upstarts REM and Guided by Voices.

Not a bad way to spend the weekend. Normally, tickets will be going on sale for $199.95 for a 3 day weekend pass. However, Bulls Radio will be giving away a pair of weekend passes for FREE. Just share this link from our facebook page or our Twitter page to enter our contest.  The winner will be announced on Wednesday, August 1^st.

Click here for more information on Deluna Fest.