I have a few bits and pieces left from the weekend. Enjoy...
The Killers Set:
At Lollapalooza four years ago, the band I most looked forward to was The Killers. About 10 months removed from the debut of Hot Fuss (which remains one of my favorite albums of the decade), Brandon Flowers took the stage in a flannel jacket and parked behind his rhinestone-covered synth for the entire hour of the show, playing through the first 6 songs of Hot Fuss and a few b-sides (“Glamorous Indie Rock n Roll” and “Under the Gun”). Between songs, Flowers would say a couple words to his band, and in his longest speech, pretty much apologized to the crowd for not having a “gift for the gab.” A lot has changed in the past five years. While they’ve always concerned themselves with style, the band that took the stage to close out Lollapalooza this year went from being concerned with style to being obsessed with it. While the music is still good, Flowers acted like he was allergic to his synth, only touching it on two or three songs and even exporting it to some asian guy in the corner of the stage on some songs. The lowlight came on some awkward-sounding piano version of “Smile Like You Mean It” a song that relied heavily on Flowers’s synths. Flowers’s stage presence has taken a turn for the worse as well. While he appeared uncomfortable in front of the Lolla crowd during the ’05 show, he seemed to embrace the spotlight this time around – albeit very awkwardly The show consisted of several “what the fuck” moments from Flowers, including some pointlessly long, meandering story about their flight to Chicago, and some weird interlude about love in the middle of the already unlikeable “Bling” . It’s apparent now that Brandon Flowers and the Killers (maybe an official name change is the next move for them) aim to please –everybody; and while the soccer moms and teenie boppers will continue to eat up the pyrotechnics and palm trees, they are trying way too hard to become U2, and I’m not buying it.
Regrets:
Not seeing Peter Bjorn and John:
I passed by their stage on the way to Of Montreal and heard an amazing song (which I later found out to be be “It don’t Move Me.” I turned to my brother and said “Fuck, I bet we missed a good show.” If I had it to do over again, I would have left the Decemberists earlier to see PB&J.
Not Going to Perry’s:
The stage looked sweet and there were a few acts that sounded good when I passed by. I feel guilty for not making that happen.
Top 5 performances:
5. Crystal Castles
Sounded good from start to finish and Alice Glass’s antics were fun to watch.
4. The Knux
The best of a small selection of hip hop.
3. Of Montreal
The most bizarre stage show to go along with some of the best music.
2. Passion Pit
Their bubbly dance/pop came at the perfect time of the weekend.
1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
They pretty much needed to play an all-timer of a set and they did.
Top 6 Songs:
6. The Knux – Cappuccino
I was going to make this a top 5, but I couldn’t leave a song off the list that got the crowd chanting about coffee.
5. The Killers – Dustland Fairytale
The best song they play live now; their light show is perfect for this and Flowers’s overly-theatrical personality actually works with it.
4, Of Montreal – “Moonage Daydream”
I don’t know if there was a more fitting song for them to cover –played fantastically.
3. The Decemberists - “The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid”
Shara Warden’s ground shaking vocals killed during this song.
2. Miike Snow – “Silvia”
One of the rare slow songs that really worked this weekend. The highlight of a good set.
1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - “Maps”
I decided that Karen O messing up the lyrics made this even better, and the acoustic version was incredible.
Trendspotting at Lollapalooza:
Cheap 80’s shades:
XRT was either giving them out or they were selling them for really cheap. I kind of like them, and I bet Chevy Chase is pleased with this latest pop culture development.
Umbrellas:
These things partially ruined the Ben Folds and Decemberists shows. Anybody who is too dainty to get wet at a fucking rock concert and opens up an umbrella is pretty much just sending a big “F you” to everybody behind them. I think it’s only fair to sentence anybody who does to 10 years in a North Korean labor camp.
Guys Drinking Bud Light Lime:
If you’re going to get drunk in public, please just drink regular beer. It’s embarrassing to see grown men drinking fruit flavored beer at an alternative music festival. That type of thing should be done in private.
“The Vault” videos:
Kudos to those who run Lolla for playing clips from old concerts during the wait between shows at the main stages. A little more variety would have been nice, but the clips they showed were cool and helped take my complete attention away from the sweaty mob I was stuck waiting in.
Top 10 Bands I’d Like to See Headline Next Year:
Apparently Perry Farrell hinted that Aerosmith might be a possible headliner next year. Yeah, about that... please god no. Anyway, if any 3 of these acts are booked next year, I’ll be a happy young man. I’m guessing an iconic 80’s act will make the bill as well as a huge alt rock band from the 90’s and a band that comes out with an album some time around the new year that builds a lot of buzz leading up to the headliner announcements. I’m also going to guess that two hip hop headliners will be on the bill next year. Here’s my wish list…
10. Soundgarden
The rumors have already started about them, and they would be a perfect fit for the fest
9. Wu-Tang Clan
This won’t happen, but Ghostface and Raekwon are both scheduled to release new albums and would be sweet if billed as a mid-tier act like they were at Pitchfork last year.
8. White Stripes
Again, probably won’t happen but might only be another year or two away,
7. Beastie Boys
If everything goes well with MCA and they go back on tour, I think they could easily end up at Lolla.
6. Franz Ferdinand
Probably too small to headline, but would awesome in the 6th headline spot or as a solid second-tier act.
5. Lil' Wayne
I don't know if he'd be the type of hip hop headliner Lollapalloza would look to, but I would most certainly be pleased and Jay-Z is a similar act and he headlined at All Points West this year.
4. Arcade Fire
Put on a classic show in 2005 and have a large enough fan base to generate headline-level crowds
3. Beck
I think he’s been rumored to play like every year Lolla has been in Chicago, and I don't think anybody would complain if it finally happened.
2. Outkast
Would be the perfect hip hop headliner. So perfect that it has to happen at some point.
1. The Strokes
a) Due to release an album next year b) have a big enough following to headline c) Allegedly a great band live… please let this happen, please let this happen, please let this happen…
Showing posts with label lollapalooza 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lollapalooza 2009. Show all posts
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Lollapalooza 2009 Diary - Day Three
Sunday started out with one of the more anticipated acts - at least for me - of the weekend, Ra Ra Riot, who played through most of their 2008 album The Rhumb Line. They seem like a little too big of an act to be playing the opening time slot at the Chicago2016 stage, and the performance seemed the slightest bit sleepy. Lead singer, Wes Miles's voice sounded alright, but lacked a little of the smooth elegance that made their album so great. The unexpected highlight of the set for me came on the track "Too Too Fast" a song that was pulled off surprisingly well live.
After making the mistake of the weekend and going with the 5 for $5.95 at Arby's for lunch, my brother and I stopped at Airborne Toxic Event. We walked up about 2/3 through their set to hear them cover "Goodbye Horses" (the song from the Buffalo Bill scene in Silence of the Lambs) which by itself probably should have kept us there to watch the end of the show, but it was way too hot and we still had a lot of standing in the sun to do.
We camped out in the shade by the Citi stage waiting to hear Gang Gang Dance, a band I didn't know much about, but from the snippets I'd head sounded decent enough to see them in an uncompetitive time slot. The Lollapalooza booklet described them as "world music" which is literally the most vague description possible. They ended up opening up with like 10-15 minutes of percussion before the lead singer even opened her mouth, but once they got going and the retro-sounding synths took over, they ended up sounding really good and a lot of the crowd got into it.
At 4:30, Vampire Weekend played a pretty good set. I've given their album like 50 spins from start to finish, so I was interested in how it would translate to a live setting and if they would play anything new. It did sound good, but was mellow enough that it didn't take all the attention away from the sweltering heat. I stuck it out, but the other people who I was with bailed for some shade, and I became 'that guy' listening to them by myself. It was all good though, and their show didn't disappoint. They only played one new song if I'm not mistaken, but it was a forgettable one. Sadly, my hopes of a Discovery song (the side project between VW's keyboardist and Ra Ra Riot's lead singer) didn't happen.
Luckily, VW ended with enough time to for me to check out a good portion of Passion Pit's set back at the Citi stage. The street was absolutely packed for this show and it seemed like almost everybody was dancing. It was almost surreal to see the crowd move like it did for the 35 or so minutes I was there. This made it the show of the day... even if a busted drum pedal delayed the show for 5 minutes, everything sounded great and came at a perfect time to perk the crowd up for the last few hours of the festival.
At 7, Snoop came on at the Chicago 2016 stage and gave the crowd plenty of "fuck the po-lice" and "when I saw say 'snoop' you say 'dog'" shenanigans. Basically it was a lot of chanting with a few hip hop songs mixed in. After the show was over I realized he only played like 6 songs, but I, and the rest of the crowd, was happy to get the Snoop Dogg experience.
The Killers closed out the fest with a flashy show that was definitely better than their performance at the UIC Pavillion over the winter. I jotted down a lot of notes about their show, and I'm going to write about it in my last Lolla post.
After making the mistake of the weekend and going with the 5 for $5.95 at Arby's for lunch, my brother and I stopped at Airborne Toxic Event. We walked up about 2/3 through their set to hear them cover "Goodbye Horses" (the song from the Buffalo Bill scene in Silence of the Lambs) which by itself probably should have kept us there to watch the end of the show, but it was way too hot and we still had a lot of standing in the sun to do.
We camped out in the shade by the Citi stage waiting to hear Gang Gang Dance, a band I didn't know much about, but from the snippets I'd head sounded decent enough to see them in an uncompetitive time slot. The Lollapalooza booklet described them as "world music" which is literally the most vague description possible. They ended up opening up with like 10-15 minutes of percussion before the lead singer even opened her mouth, but once they got going and the retro-sounding synths took over, they ended up sounding really good and a lot of the crowd got into it.
At 4:30, Vampire Weekend played a pretty good set. I've given their album like 50 spins from start to finish, so I was interested in how it would translate to a live setting and if they would play anything new. It did sound good, but was mellow enough that it didn't take all the attention away from the sweltering heat. I stuck it out, but the other people who I was with bailed for some shade, and I became 'that guy' listening to them by myself. It was all good though, and their show didn't disappoint. They only played one new song if I'm not mistaken, but it was a forgettable one. Sadly, my hopes of a Discovery song (the side project between VW's keyboardist and Ra Ra Riot's lead singer) didn't happen.
Luckily, VW ended with enough time to for me to check out a good portion of Passion Pit's set back at the Citi stage. The street was absolutely packed for this show and it seemed like almost everybody was dancing. It was almost surreal to see the crowd move like it did for the 35 or so minutes I was there. This made it the show of the day... even if a busted drum pedal delayed the show for 5 minutes, everything sounded great and came at a perfect time to perk the crowd up for the last few hours of the festival.
At 7, Snoop came on at the Chicago 2016 stage and gave the crowd plenty of "fuck the po-lice" and "when I saw say 'snoop' you say 'dog'" shenanigans. Basically it was a lot of chanting with a few hip hop songs mixed in. After the show was over I realized he only played like 6 songs, but I, and the rest of the crowd, was happy to get the Snoop Dogg experience.
The Killers closed out the fest with a flashy show that was definitely better than their performance at the UIC Pavillion over the winter. I jotted down a lot of notes about their show, and I'm going to write about it in my last Lolla post.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Lollapalooza 2009 Diary - Day Two
I paced myself a little more on the second day, figuring that I would go with quality over quantity. I started the day out with Delta Spirit, a group that played a pretty straightforward four-piece rock set. They were likable enough, and won some love from the fans when their lead singer called his brother during the set to congratulate him on the wedding he couldn’t attend because he was playing Lollapalooza. We all would have made the same choice buddy… well done.
Next up was Miike Snow at the Vitamin Water stage. They came out wearing weird expressionless masks (think Michael Meyers from Halloween) and played a kind of mellow electro pop. The masks came off to coincide with the show's highlight, the beautiful “Silvia,” a haunting track, that combined with the effects of the breeze off the lake, was just short of spine-tingling. Their most popular song “Animal” drew the biggest response from the crowd and sounded as good, if not better than the studio version.
Across the park back at the Bud stage, Los Campesinos!, a band I had never heard before the show, played a high energy set as the breeze died down and the sun baked the decent sized crowd. Fueled by their bizarre/charismatic front man who moved around the stage like a kid with ADD on a sugar high, they kept the audience moving through the whole set, and made their show one of the day's biggest surprises.
Unfortunately the letdown of the day and the festival came from the next band to take the Bud stage, Arctic Monkeys. While their set was not horrible, a guy behind me summed it up perfectly, “Alright we’ll buy your new cd. Now play some of your old stuff.” Rocking long hair and tighter jeans, AM played a set split equally between new songs and old ones, with one big problem… their new cd isn’t out yet, which means nobody in the audience was familiar with half of their set. The new stuff was not bad at all, especially the single "Crying Lightning" mostly because Alex Turner's wit is clearly seen in across AM's catalog, new and old, but the new songs lacked the driving guitar that made Favourite Worst Nightmare and Whatever People Say... so catchy upon first listen. Add to that that Turner lacks much of a stage presence, and instead puts forth more of a smartest-guy-in-the-room vibe that seemed to isolate the crowd. I wasn’t too disappointed to hear some of their new stuff, but a crowd that was baking and looking for a reason to move around to some of their old stuff didn’t seem too happy with the show, and I don't blame them.
I half walked, half dehydratedly stumbled across the field to the PlayStation stage to see Santigold at 5:30. It had been a while since I heard her album, and it was great to hear it again, and even more so hearing it live. On stage it seemed like she was trying a little hard to put forth a likable stage presence, almost to the point that it seemed like blatant posturing when I just wanted to hear her play some music, but her set (which featured a random “Turn My Swag On” interlude) was refreshing in the oppressive heat, especially after the flat Arctic Monkeys performance.
Afterward, I took a little water break and caught the first couple songs from TV on the Radio back across the field on the Bud stage. Admittedly, I'm not a fan, so I left after the first two songs failed to sway my opinion. I walked through Perry’s, the bumping and buzzing DJ area, for the only time of the weekend, on my way across Grant Park to get a spot for Animal Collective. I also stopped to hear Lykke Li play a strong-sounding “Tonight” and wished I had made time to see more from her – it was also then that I realized how fucking awesome it was to be able to see a huge band like TVOTR, a DJ show, and Lykke Li within 15 minutes of each other... man I love Lolla.
At 7, Animal Collective came on at the Vitamin Water stage, and about 10 minutes into the show I decided that I must be missing something. Granted, I haven’t given a thorough listen to Merriweather Post Pavillion, by many accounts the record of the year, but I guess I just don’t understand them. It seemed like most of the crowd didn’t either since most almost everybody around me either started chatting or headed towards Tool within the first 15 minutes of AC's show. I couldn’t last much longer, and I headed back to the Budweiser stage to get a decent spot for the YYYs.
After the news came out that the Beasties had to scratch and then the news that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would replace them as headliners came out, I was pissed to say the least, and while from a popularity standpoint the Yeah Yeah Yeahs probably were a stretch as headliners, I don’t know if the Beasties – or anybody else -- could have put on the show that the YYYs did on Saturday night. Karen O mesmerized the crowd from the second Ben Harper finally shut up, through its 10:00 end. For the full hour and half she proved to be an absolute fucking rock star, taking the stage in some kind of technicolor dreamcoat/Indian chief thing. She sounded great and was easily the best frontman/woman I have ever seen live. It also helps that the YYYs newest album It’s Blitz! is one of the best of the year so far, and the set list featured all of the album’s strong points. The concert featured a bunch of memorable moments… The lead guitarist ending a song with a teaser from the Beastie’s “So What’cha Want,” Karen O declaring “Best. Crowd. Ever!” midway through the set and telling the crowd that “The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will never forget this night,” and most memorably Karen O forgetting the words to her band’s most popular song “Maps” – a song (performed acoustically) that still managed to be the set’s highlight, partially because she messed up, partially because the crowd loved it and sang through her mistake, and mostly because it sounded amazing. In all, this was a band that was genuinely grateful to be there and showed it, making this the highlight of Lollapalooza.
Next up was Miike Snow at the Vitamin Water stage. They came out wearing weird expressionless masks (think Michael Meyers from Halloween) and played a kind of mellow electro pop. The masks came off to coincide with the show's highlight, the beautiful “Silvia,” a haunting track, that combined with the effects of the breeze off the lake, was just short of spine-tingling. Their most popular song “Animal” drew the biggest response from the crowd and sounded as good, if not better than the studio version.
Across the park back at the Bud stage, Los Campesinos!, a band I had never heard before the show, played a high energy set as the breeze died down and the sun baked the decent sized crowd. Fueled by their bizarre/charismatic front man who moved around the stage like a kid with ADD on a sugar high, they kept the audience moving through the whole set, and made their show one of the day's biggest surprises.
Unfortunately the letdown of the day and the festival came from the next band to take the Bud stage, Arctic Monkeys. While their set was not horrible, a guy behind me summed it up perfectly, “Alright we’ll buy your new cd. Now play some of your old stuff.” Rocking long hair and tighter jeans, AM played a set split equally between new songs and old ones, with one big problem… their new cd isn’t out yet, which means nobody in the audience was familiar with half of their set. The new stuff was not bad at all, especially the single "Crying Lightning" mostly because Alex Turner's wit is clearly seen in across AM's catalog, new and old, but the new songs lacked the driving guitar that made Favourite Worst Nightmare and Whatever People Say... so catchy upon first listen. Add to that that Turner lacks much of a stage presence, and instead puts forth more of a smartest-guy-in-the-room vibe that seemed to isolate the crowd. I wasn’t too disappointed to hear some of their new stuff, but a crowd that was baking and looking for a reason to move around to some of their old stuff didn’t seem too happy with the show, and I don't blame them.
I half walked, half dehydratedly stumbled across the field to the PlayStation stage to see Santigold at 5:30. It had been a while since I heard her album, and it was great to hear it again, and even more so hearing it live. On stage it seemed like she was trying a little hard to put forth a likable stage presence, almost to the point that it seemed like blatant posturing when I just wanted to hear her play some music, but her set (which featured a random “Turn My Swag On” interlude) was refreshing in the oppressive heat, especially after the flat Arctic Monkeys performance.
Afterward, I took a little water break and caught the first couple songs from TV on the Radio back across the field on the Bud stage. Admittedly, I'm not a fan, so I left after the first two songs failed to sway my opinion. I walked through Perry’s, the bumping and buzzing DJ area, for the only time of the weekend, on my way across Grant Park to get a spot for Animal Collective. I also stopped to hear Lykke Li play a strong-sounding “Tonight” and wished I had made time to see more from her – it was also then that I realized how fucking awesome it was to be able to see a huge band like TVOTR, a DJ show, and Lykke Li within 15 minutes of each other... man I love Lolla.
At 7, Animal Collective came on at the Vitamin Water stage, and about 10 minutes into the show I decided that I must be missing something. Granted, I haven’t given a thorough listen to Merriweather Post Pavillion, by many accounts the record of the year, but I guess I just don’t understand them. It seemed like most of the crowd didn’t either since most almost everybody around me either started chatting or headed towards Tool within the first 15 minutes of AC's show. I couldn’t last much longer, and I headed back to the Budweiser stage to get a decent spot for the YYYs.
After the news came out that the Beasties had to scratch and then the news that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would replace them as headliners came out, I was pissed to say the least, and while from a popularity standpoint the Yeah Yeah Yeahs probably were a stretch as headliners, I don’t know if the Beasties – or anybody else -- could have put on the show that the YYYs did on Saturday night. Karen O mesmerized the crowd from the second Ben Harper finally shut up, through its 10:00 end. For the full hour and half she proved to be an absolute fucking rock star, taking the stage in some kind of technicolor dreamcoat/Indian chief thing. She sounded great and was easily the best frontman/woman I have ever seen live. It also helps that the YYYs newest album It’s Blitz! is one of the best of the year so far, and the set list featured all of the album’s strong points. The concert featured a bunch of memorable moments… The lead guitarist ending a song with a teaser from the Beastie’s “So What’cha Want,” Karen O declaring “Best. Crowd. Ever!” midway through the set and telling the crowd that “The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will never forget this night,” and most memorably Karen O forgetting the words to her band’s most popular song “Maps” – a song (performed acoustically) that still managed to be the set’s highlight, partially because she messed up, partially because the crowd loved it and sang through her mistake, and mostly because it sounded amazing. In all, this was a band that was genuinely grateful to be there and showed it, making this the highlight of Lollapalooza.
Lollapalooza 2009 Diary - Day One
I made my way through the gates a little before noon, and wandered around by myself for a little, trying to figure out where everything was. I accidentally went to the wrong side of the park and heard a song from the Henry Clay People about “The Scene” or something and decided I had had enough of that. I eventually made my way to the Budweiser stage and caught up with my brother.
Manchester Orchestra started things off. For a 12:15 show to open up the weekend, they drew a pretty large crowd and from what I heard, did not disappoint. Their opener “Shake it Out” rocked as hard as any song I heard all day, and was one of the better songs I heard all weekend.
After a few songs, we made our way over to the BMI stage – the smallest stage from what I could tell – to check out Gringo Starr, a band I had heard a few bits and pieces from -- plus, how bad could a band called Gringo Starr be? Well, they ended up being mediocre and the few dozen people at the stage seemed to agree, so we took off after a couple forgettable songs.
Next up was The Knux, one of the only hip hop groups from a pitifully small selection of acts from a festival with a long tradition of high quality hip hop. These guys did not disappoint pumping out a high energy show that kept the crowd moving. Even though comparisons to some kind of west coast Outkast were way off, they kept the crowd moving from the jump. The highlight of the set came with their song “Cappuccino” – connecting with all the white people who wandered by, chanting the chorus “I need a fresh cappuccino with a mocha twist.” It ended up being one of the best sets of the weekend.
Buzzing off of the Knux’s set, we went to check out The Builders and the Butchers, a group that promised to offer a more folkish sound than any other act on the bill during the weekend – or at least any band that I planned to see. They were playing at the BMI stage where we had seen Gringo Starr a little earlier and after the first song it quickly became apparent that this stage was some kind of dead zone where the older people at the fest were coming to chill out and sip from their Camelpaks and down Bud Light Limes. The band sounded like they would be good in a different venue, but the sound quality of the stage was not right for a band that seemed like it needed a fine balance of its various components and leaned on involvement from a crowd that wasn’t awake enough to oblige. We only stayed for about three songs.
Next came Amazing Baby back at the Citi stage where we had watched the Knux. Again, I had no expectations. They played a mediocre U2-inspired rock for about 6 songs. They sounded good on the song “Headdress,” but for the most part didn’t do anything exceptionally well. Their lead singer also frantically spun the mic around by the cord for most of the show until he accidentally clocked himself in the face – easily the best part of their set.
After a little lunch break and a 20 minute wait to use the porta-potty, we went to see Ben Folds, an old favorite of mine, and I crossed my fingers hoping that he wouldn’t play anything post 2004. For the most part he obliged, but didn’t sound good at all – it seemed to be a combination of his voice being shot and some sound issues. He pandered to the crowd on a shitty-sounding version of “Bitches Ain’t Shit”, but made up with it via a decent-sounding “Kate.”
We ducked out a little early to get a spot for Crystal Castles, a band I was probably more intrigued to see than anything. They took the stage with a thumping set, and kept it up for the entire hour, playing one of the weekend’s better sets. Singer/drunken yelper Alice Glass entertained with various antics, and I left feeling like I had just been electrocuted while playing Nintendo… success.
At 6, the Decemberists played through Hazards of Love in a slightly above average set highlighted by “The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid”, more specifically female vocalist Shara Warden’s show-stopping bellow that perked up the crowd every time she let loose during a set that otherwise bordered on placidity.
We left a song or two early to see the beginning of the Of Montreal show. I’m still not exactly sure what I saw but at various times ninjas, balloons, dudes in leotards, and a chick with a mohawk paraded around the stage while some sort of weird clip art cartoon thing ran on the screen. Meanwhile, a pretty good musical performance took place, fittingly highlighted by a cover of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust-era “Moonage Daydream.” With or without the bizarre stage show, it was definitely the best performance of the day, and among the best of the entire festival.
Kings of Leon wrapped up day one with a set that pretty much met expectations. Based on the crowd response, they proved they are a top level act, but I left the slightest bit disappointed. They played all the songs I was hoping to hear, but I guess I’m just not as entertained by the arena-friendly sound their new album plays to. I was, however, happy to hear personal favorite “Slow Night, So Long” and a few other Aha Shake Heartbreak tracks, and lead singer Caleb Follwill’s voice was great as expected. Overall, not a bad set, but not spectacular either.
Slide show from the awesomely bizarre Of Montreal show:
Manchester Orchestra started things off. For a 12:15 show to open up the weekend, they drew a pretty large crowd and from what I heard, did not disappoint. Their opener “Shake it Out” rocked as hard as any song I heard all day, and was one of the better songs I heard all weekend.
After a few songs, we made our way over to the BMI stage – the smallest stage from what I could tell – to check out Gringo Starr, a band I had heard a few bits and pieces from -- plus, how bad could a band called Gringo Starr be? Well, they ended up being mediocre and the few dozen people at the stage seemed to agree, so we took off after a couple forgettable songs.
Next up was The Knux, one of the only hip hop groups from a pitifully small selection of acts from a festival with a long tradition of high quality hip hop. These guys did not disappoint pumping out a high energy show that kept the crowd moving. Even though comparisons to some kind of west coast Outkast were way off, they kept the crowd moving from the jump. The highlight of the set came with their song “Cappuccino” – connecting with all the white people who wandered by, chanting the chorus “I need a fresh cappuccino with a mocha twist.” It ended up being one of the best sets of the weekend.
Buzzing off of the Knux’s set, we went to check out The Builders and the Butchers, a group that promised to offer a more folkish sound than any other act on the bill during the weekend – or at least any band that I planned to see. They were playing at the BMI stage where we had seen Gringo Starr a little earlier and after the first song it quickly became apparent that this stage was some kind of dead zone where the older people at the fest were coming to chill out and sip from their Camelpaks and down Bud Light Limes. The band sounded like they would be good in a different venue, but the sound quality of the stage was not right for a band that seemed like it needed a fine balance of its various components and leaned on involvement from a crowd that wasn’t awake enough to oblige. We only stayed for about three songs.
Next came Amazing Baby back at the Citi stage where we had watched the Knux. Again, I had no expectations. They played a mediocre U2-inspired rock for about 6 songs. They sounded good on the song “Headdress,” but for the most part didn’t do anything exceptionally well. Their lead singer also frantically spun the mic around by the cord for most of the show until he accidentally clocked himself in the face – easily the best part of their set.
After a little lunch break and a 20 minute wait to use the porta-potty, we went to see Ben Folds, an old favorite of mine, and I crossed my fingers hoping that he wouldn’t play anything post 2004. For the most part he obliged, but didn’t sound good at all – it seemed to be a combination of his voice being shot and some sound issues. He pandered to the crowd on a shitty-sounding version of “Bitches Ain’t Shit”, but made up with it via a decent-sounding “Kate.”
We ducked out a little early to get a spot for Crystal Castles, a band I was probably more intrigued to see than anything. They took the stage with a thumping set, and kept it up for the entire hour, playing one of the weekend’s better sets. Singer/drunken yelper Alice Glass entertained with various antics, and I left feeling like I had just been electrocuted while playing Nintendo… success.
At 6, the Decemberists played through Hazards of Love in a slightly above average set highlighted by “The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid”, more specifically female vocalist Shara Warden’s show-stopping bellow that perked up the crowd every time she let loose during a set that otherwise bordered on placidity.
We left a song or two early to see the beginning of the Of Montreal show. I’m still not exactly sure what I saw but at various times ninjas, balloons, dudes in leotards, and a chick with a mohawk paraded around the stage while some sort of weird clip art cartoon thing ran on the screen. Meanwhile, a pretty good musical performance took place, fittingly highlighted by a cover of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust-era “Moonage Daydream.” With or without the bizarre stage show, it was definitely the best performance of the day, and among the best of the entire festival.
Kings of Leon wrapped up day one with a set that pretty much met expectations. Based on the crowd response, they proved they are a top level act, but I left the slightest bit disappointed. They played all the songs I was hoping to hear, but I guess I’m just not as entertained by the arena-friendly sound their new album plays to. I was, however, happy to hear personal favorite “Slow Night, So Long” and a few other Aha Shake Heartbreak tracks, and lead singer Caleb Follwill’s voice was great as expected. Overall, not a bad set, but not spectacular either.
Slide show from the awesomely bizarre Of Montreal show:
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