Maren Morris, Arcade Fire, Third Eye Blind among acts bringing the energy on Something in the Water’s first day

Arcade Fire killed it.

After rain and wind delayed the start of the Something in the Water festival, Arcade Fire supercharged the crowd of thousands on the Oceanfront with its two drum sets, multiple guitars, a fiddle, and even a little tambourine.

Arcade’s married lead singing duo, Régine Chassagne and Win Butler, took the stage as the sun set. Opening with “Sprawl II,” Chassagne skipped down the catwalk that extended into the crowd, twirling her bright red cape as if she were a ribbon dancer, singing as if there was nowhere in the world she’d rather be.

The crowd screamed.

Unless she was singing, Chassagne never stopped dancing during the 50-minute set and many in the crowd followed suit.

Butler yelled at one point: “All right, Virginia Beach how’s it going!? We can change the weather!”

The festival started after a five-hour delay, which canceled some of the opening acts. When the gates finally opened around 5, music fans sprinted toward the stages, and the festival, which featured rap, country, indie and rock acts, was on.

Rapper Babyface Ray opened the evening with his song “What The Business Is.” Country star Maren Morris followed, blasting her popular “80s Mercedes.” She paused between songs to point out a rainbow arcing out of a cloud over the ocean. Her performance turned emotional as she began to sing her first country-pop crossover No. 1 hit “The Bones,” which she wrote after getting engaged. The song changed the trajectory of her career.

The festival has two stages — the Solar stage at 3rd Street and the Lunar at 12th — and Third Eye Blind had some technical difficulties at the start of its performance on the Lunar stage.

Lead singer, Stephen Jenkins, stopped in the middle of a song, explained his band’s excitement to be there, and used a couple of expletives to express his frustration over not being able to hear through his earpiece.

“I grew up going to punk rock clubs,” he said, meaning he had no problem stopping the show in such an impromptu way.

But the crowd grew bigger as the internationally known band worked through the technical kinks and tightened its performance through the song “The Kids Are Coming.” By the time they got to “Never Let You Go,” the music was in full swing. Cellphones began appearing above the crowd as dozens started recording their favorite band.

After Arcade Fire lit the Solar stage, rapper-singer Doechii turned the already fired-up crowd into a dance party.

After the first nine acts Friday night, there was a pause in the music. Both stages were silent.

Skrillex was scheduled to spin on the Solar stage at 10:20 p.m. and the bulk of the festival’s crowd packed one side of the beach waiting for the electronic dance music artist to start. Meanwhile, producer Kenny Beats started a mix of club bangers while a giant timer projected onto a massive screen started counting down to Skrillex: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Then the stage went dark.

A whining siren blasted over the beach while a dizzying display of white lights built anticipation. A looped robotic voice began, growing faster and faster, then — BAM! The beat dropped and dropped again, sped up and dropped again. Skrillex’s dubstep mastery got the crowd dancing.

As midnight was fast approaching Mumford & Sons and Kid Cudi had yet to go on.

Colin Warren-Hicks, 919-818-8139, colin.warrenhicks@virginiamedia.com