I don’t remember how I got on the DoLA mailing list (especially after we moved away from L.A.), but I was, and it wasn’t too long until they went from widely promoting events to flogging a service for concert tickets. At $5 a month I could be curious just to see what it was, and maybe it could even score us some tickets if it was any good. The initial offerings weren’t great, but I stuck around just to see what would happen. Suddenly on a day there were tickets to Primavera Sound Los Angeles (if you need the whole name) that came up, for a festival in L.A., which might have already been enough for cheap tickets to become available to be too good to be true. Festivals aren't cheap, but maybe there's something to be said for less demand from the oversaturation of them that had been happening, especially in L.A. (but after FYF went away). The service might have seemed like it was legit, and DoLA at least sent enough e-mails that they might not have an angle for such a short scam that would have little pay-off, especially when I, for one, was only giving them five bucks. So I decided to jump in and claim some tickets. There was an offer for individual days of the festival, and I could have picked the days for Arctic Monkeys or Lorde headlining, but there was also Nine Inch Nails, and, more, Saturday worked best for us (though looking back, Lorde might have been the better choice, only because I hadn't seen her the hundred times before like I’d seen NIN). It could have been a scam -- and we were fully aware of that fact -- but we still decided to go in, just in case it could work. Not only could it have been a ruse, but there could also have been an issue with the tickets, something else I had to do but didn’t know my first time using it, and even an extra fee at the ticket window would have turned us away. But free (relatively, but at least real cheap) tickets for a festival was within risk enough to see if it worked. We had an alternate plan (likely not much more than dinner in L.A. before heading back to Orange County, but that was enough to not be too irritated by it not working out). Even up to the ticket window we were holding our breath… then the tickets worked out. And we were in. Yeah, turns out it was legit. And we could get in to a music fetival practically for free. We were already years away from our Coachella days, and we’d maybe consider a festival if our friends were going, but we couldn’t be too interested in shelling out an egregious amount of money for bands we'd already seen, with the ones we hadn't seen playing such a short set that it might not be worth the effort. But for (almost) free, on an open day -- sure, we’d give that a shot. We knew about the Primavera line-up but weren't overly interested, being just another festival, especially of the horde -- just in L.A. -- with a requisite headliner we knew, supported by buzzy bands, but nothing beyond that to get us too interested. We would have given this a pass, except for free. It helped us make the effort that it was a slightly different flavor for a festival, something more like European sensibility, even if the original Primavera in Spain looked like the homogenous American festival that America (though those buzzy bands being closer to mainstream over there), and those particularly obscure bands could turn out to be the better ones for earning a place on the roster outside of mainstream appeal. Getting there in the afternoon gave us time to check out some of the other bands, though as usual we willingly stuck to the familiar ones. Kim Gordon we knew, of course, from Sonic Youth (and Carla even read her book). It could be assumed that Gordon was going forward on the Sonic Youth name and the goodwill toward her indie legend, more for something to do rather than needing to do it, but she also got the most notoriety after the SY implosion, even more than Thurston Moore (which was fair, seeing how crudely he let the band end). As it was, it might have been more noise that Gordon produced, even just musical wanderings that might have owed more to her collaborators than real, personal inspiration, but she earned a place on the stage. She wouldn't be a headliner on her own -- her stuff is still too out-there to have such wide appeal -- but a new effort (presumably At Issue) joined with her legend was enough to be relevant, at least in a way that could be edgy enough for a crowd that didn’t need as much mainstream sensibility. We also got to see Andrew & Mary, then Max & Poonam and Karen, who would normally have been part of the post for hanging out together all day, but any more we only see each other briefly at these things, going in with our plans and people, but good to make contact even for only a moment; we also got to see Fontaines D.C., who were definitely an edgy band for the time, but breaking through to America on a strong record (Skinty Fia). Singing/yelling in something that was at least a variation on English gave them an edge to be included in the European mix, but the transfer to breaking big in the U.S. could be a challenge, but some propulsive musical rumblings to guide along without needing to parse the words helps to stay on the edge and cool in whatever case. The frontman was energetic on stage and they kept it moving, explosively enough to leave a vacuum when they were done. Of their American appearances on this tour this was a minor one, for a band that deserved greater explosure, but it showed the willingness to keep working the markets, especially L.A. where some notice can go a long way, and put on a great performance even when they deserved a higher place on the bill; festivals have also come to press their food options, that they’ve gone beyond the low-class junk like pizza and burgers, providing a varied menu for meals, and exposure for higher-end eateries whether local or beyond, but it also means they’re more expensive, and can only be fuel for the day if well planned, but also usually for splitting to save on costs (and for the plan to hold out for cheap fast food on the way home). We opted for an overpriced something to share, but also a chance to sit and relax while waiting for the headliner, the reason we were there, but also checking in with Warpaint. We might not have seen Low in the time-slot they were replacing, but it had been a minute since we saw our local band, and they sounded in the fine form we’d known them for. Half the set of was new and unfamiliar, showing how much we’d fallen out with them (playing Radiate Like This), but it was a tight groove, and just sedate enough for us to enjoy our late snack and get ready for what was next; Khruangbin had enough of a name that they could sub-headline the main stage, though we’d never heard of them. Certainly something outside of the mainstream but with cache enough to pull a crowd, maybe even foreign enough to be cool, except they’re from Houston. They had gotten recognition from somewhere, though anymore that can be earned outside of radio and MTV airplay, and maybe they had just built a name by putting in the time and work and playing the shows, building up to this appearance (and beyond). They had more of a world vibe, which worked for a dancing crowd, but a bit too obtuse to get us moving besides to a good spot for the main band. It was an easy name to remember, though (especially when you figure out how to pronounce it), even if the time we had with them that night was less than saying we’d truly seen them; Nine Inch Nails finally came on (though we didn't mind waiting, for all the rest we got to see that day), almost as an obligation, being the chief reason we were there (other than free tickets), and it would have only been anti-climatic for us. They weren't as much a musical/lifestyle experience for Carla, while they were, of course, fundamental to my formative college years and beyond, but I’d also seen them before, particularly last time at FYF Fest, when they reignited my devotion through the driving sound I forgot I remembered, when I actually hadn't been checking my nostalgia or seeing if I could regain exactly how or why I loved them in the first place years ago. I had already reconciled the fact that I didn’t need them to focus my rage like I did in my early 20s, and now over 20 years on I had to come back to them through the music, not the emotion. Luckily, it still held up on that level, though Reznor has grown up with us too. Though there was now a new generation that had discovered them, if not from the sound (and all of their successors boldly ripping them off in the decades since), but also the representation of the 90s asthetic, whether it was misplaced wistfulness for young people or my old contemporaries who were there -- and both crowds were represented, enough to fill a festival, with a band that could be considered mainstream, though even still confoundingly so, and enough of a concession for a non-mainstream festival to be the main draw. So Reznor (not having put out anything new in a while) trotted out the hits, tunes recognizable after so many years, despite the challenges to their mainstream appeal (so many F-bombs, even in the chorus), but that's also been part of their provocative allure. It was enough of a show for us that we had already seen, as solid as it was and has ever been, as much as Reznor is now just simulating the fury he once had (he's doing well enough now to not complain as much or as believably), and as enough as it gave a warm but fleeting memory of times past, but more for us, we had no desire to fight the crowd to get out. It was enough for the free tickets, and even almost all of the headliner (the last tracks being the ones we’d already heard plenty in concert, and easily being able to skip “Hurt”), but it was good to see Reznor keeping up the call, even if obligated to roll out some of the same show he’d built his name on by playing it thousands of times but might have been trapped by. Maybe enough older fans that were still fans enough to have some mature tolerance for anything new, as long as it fit, and the younger ones who might not know the difference (if there wasn’t enough comparably great new stuff for them to claim as their own in their discovery), but they were savvy enough to stick to the stuff the crowd would like best. NIN were a solid choice for a music festival seeking to make their own name without the usual bands making the circuit from weekend fest to weekend fest, taking a side to give this thing an identity if willfully obscure bands won’t do, but it was enough. Maybe not enough that they didn't have to give away tickets from an overstock service (presumably being what DoMore is), but it worked for us and our schedule, and curiosity to see if the whole thing (ticket service and new festival) worked.
Nine Inch Nails’ set-list:
“Somewhat Damaged“
“Wish“
“Heresy“
“March of the Pigs“
“Sanctified“ (alternate version)
“The Lovers“
“Less Than“
“Reptile“
“Closer“ (with "The Only Time" interpolation)
“God Break Down the Door“
“The Perfect Drug“
“Copy of A“
“Gave Up“
“The Hand That Feeds“
“Head Like a Hole“
“Hurt“
Warpaints’ set-list:
"Champion"
"Intro"
"Keep It Healthy"
"Hips"
"Hard to Tell You"
"Love Is to Die"
"Krimson"
"Stevie"
"Bees"
"New Song"
"Disco//Very"
"Beetles"
Fontaines D.C. set-list:
“A Lucid Dream“
“Hurricane Laughter“
“Sha Sha Sha“
“Roman Holiday“
“Chequeless Reckless“
“Televised Mind“
“Nabokov“
“How Cold Love Is“
“Jackie Down the Line“
“A Hero's Death“
“Skinty Fia“
“Boys in the Better Land“
“I Love You“
Kim Gordon’s set-list:
“Sketch Artist“
“Air BnB“
“Paprika Pony“
“Murdered Out“
“Don't Play It“
“Cookie Butter“
“Get Yr Life Back“
“Hungry Baby“
“Grass Jeans“
