Music festivals can often be the beginning of a run for a band or it
can be the end of one. FYF Fest had a lot of both, from what I
could see. Going, for us, was a foregone conclusion. Even at that point we
thought our streak of attending Coachellas might be at an end and it
just made sense to go. The line-up was maybe the best I've ever seen for the festival. This year was pretty much like Coachella, minus
three or four of the top headliners and all the DJs. The phrase
"Coachella replacement" was thrown around more than once. It just makes
sense to go, and it's a lot easier and cheaper than a Coachella
weekend, as much as I've always loved that festival. A lot easier to
get our friends together for it, and this year along with me & Carla it included Andrew &
Heather, Noa, Vanessa, Jenn, Rachel, and the first time we met Max. If
nothing else it was a great weekend with friends in beer gardens. But
the music was great too, with a lot of bands that got much bigger after
that, some bands that I was surprised to see they got, and a few bands that never showed up again (at least for a while).
FYF
Fest lends itself well to grazing and checking out new bands but the way
they have it set up, with five stages and so many acts piled up on each
other schedule-wise, there are some tough decisions to be made. We saw
only half of Cloud Nothings so we could get over to Chairlift, and we
knew that was a choice we couldn't win. I'd started getting into Cloud
Nothings just a month or two before and their fury translated from album
to stage. I knew we were missing out by not seeing their whole set but
somehow we also knew that they were only starting; There was no reason
Chairlift couldn't be great. They may not be best-suited to play in the
middle of the afternoon in the middle of a dusty field but their music
holds up. It would have been a good set if the singer hadn't had a fit
when one of her songs, which she was attempting to perform in Japanese,
hadn't worked to her satisfaction and she stormed off the set, ending it
early. For what it was, it sounded fine to me. She should have played
it out. Maybe they wouldn't have disappeared so quickly after that;
Fucked Up was more grazing. I liked that album they went big (relatively) with but I
wasn't familiar with their most recent work, so it was enough to drop by
and see if I could pick out enough to get a vibe from them but I think
it was more of a stop in the beer garden and they just happened to be
playing near there; the Pains of Being Pure at Heart was another band I was
getting into, especially after their Coachella set and in the time
leading up to this show, and they were good but they didn't exceed
what I'd seen before. I had high hopes for them to go big but that seemed to be
the last anyone heard from them after that. It's the worst thing about
indie bands: they might get big (relatively) but it's often not for long
and when they go away, they go all the way away; I adore Warpaint but
they seem to fit in so well with these SoCal music festivals, it's easy
to take them for granted. After missing them for so long, it seems like
they were everywhere all of a sudden. We checked them out, maybe out of obligation,
but the best thing about their set was some new tunes, a promise of new
material soon, though not in the next year, which would mean they would come back, so it turned out to be a bit of an odd appearance, since they were in limbo; one of the high points for us were Sleigh Bells. They
became a favorite of mine after Carla got me into them, after I might
have dismissed them as an over-loud flash-in-the-pan. But I'm always
glad that I know them well enough to check them out in concert, since
they always bring the music and the form and the noise. Loud, crazy, loud. They definitely
-- defiantly -- did not disappoint and could easily have headlined
themselves. Probably won't be long; Quicksand had been around for a
while and I knew enough about them to know that their reuniting was a
minor big deal. We drifted over just to check them more just to say we
did. I probably should have done more homework but as it is I didn't
get much from it. Then they disappeared from me again; M83 were a big deal at the time, having a hit on KROQ
and in the world, so it made them an odd choice for a headliner,
especially since in that short amount of time they were also a bigger
name than pretty much the entire rest of the bill. I would have thought
they'd be a little too chill for the show, especially one with so many
punk or punk-like bands. Playing at night must have helped, but
apparently they were appreciated enough that I couldn't get close enough
to want to give them more than just a few minutes, and what I saw
wasn't too different from what I would expect; we went over to Simian
Mobile Disco, two DJs as far as I know, and they sounded great and they
had a fantastic light show, but it was so packed with a whole field of
people losing their minds, that we just had to move on. There's such a
thing as too much sometimes; we cruised by Refused on the way out, and I
know I should have some knowledge and respect for them but it was too
far for me to go at the time; we probably should have seen the Growlers,
who played at the end, and Redd Kross earlier in the day, but just
didn't get there.
Another great thing about having a great
festival so local is getting in and out. On Sunday we tried to make an
attempt at rushing to get in, in time to see King Khan and the Shrines.
We got there just barely in time for the beginning of the set,then spent the whole time in the nearby beer garden with the others. Last
time we all saw them was an all-out dance fest but this time it seemed
more acceptable to just enjoy them with a drink and each other and
conserve our energy. They sounded every bit as fun as they always are
and I hope that they got some bodies moving in their crowd, even if it
wasn't us this time. Cursive, who played at the same time, probably
wouldn't have done any more for us either; I was a late-comer to Against
Me!, following everyone else in on New Wave, but I never saw them on that tour or before that show. I think it was also early in the tour for them since Tom/Laura had
his/her gender-reassignment but that didn't seem to affect the crowd in
the least. For anyone who didn't know, it might have looked weird,
though it wasn't too strange for a rock band and especially in L.A.
What mattered is that they rocked as hard as anyone out there, if not
harder, and they sounded great. There were a few tunes I didn't
recognize so they must have been appeasing old fans or being adventurous and
trying out new songs. Whatever it was, I'm now a fan of their live
shows. If they always play like that, Tom/Laura can decide whatever in the
world he/she wants to be; mid-Sunday was a really tough decision: not
just one conflict but four at the same time: Paul Banks or Atlas Sound
or Glass Candy or Dinosaur Jr. We went with Dinosaur. And I thought I might regret it. I've always
respected J. Mascus and I know he can rock a guitar (if not playing as
an entire band), I've just been unable to get past his voice and the songs
I've heard, in the admittedly limited time I've given them, haven't often
grabbed me at first pass. But I figured I had some kind of obligation to see them, if
only just to say that did. And I found out that not only was I wrong,
but I was more wrong than I have ever been. I should have been into
Dinosaur years ago, and I should have worshiped them. Not only did they
play some songs I didn't realize that I would recognize but they played
"Out there", which I've always loved in spite of J.'s voice and which I
didn't think they'd do since they didn't record it with Lou, and a
cover of "Just Like Heaven" and a whole lot of other songs that I didn't
even have to be familiar with to love and make me want to jump up and
down and scream and pledge my allegiance to them. In short, they burned
the place down. Not only possibly the best set out there that weekend but maybe one of the
best sets I've seen in years and years. Absolutely incredible. And of
course they did it effortlessly, because of course they did this all
the time, whether you're a fan or not. All within the allotted
time-frame of a music festival. And with Uncle Hank Rollins sitting at
the side of the stage, absorbing the whole thing along with us (though
not jumping up and down like we were). And it turns out Paul Banks
didn't do any Interpol stuff anyway; I have to admit to not always being
a gigantic Bright Eyes fan, but I have a chunk of their music and I was
curious to see Oberst in his old punk band, with the Desaparecidos. They sounded a lot heavier
and louder than I would have thought. That was all I got out of them,
though; we stopped in to see Liars, which I've heard about, though what
I've heard has been amazingly inconsistent. I'm pretty picky with my
avaunt-garde and noise-rock and I haven't had much reason to give them time. Their set sounded fine. But I continue on with most of what
I know of them being that Karen O wrote "Maps" about that guy. That
would be enough; Health are local, and they seemed to be doing a lot of
the festivals for a while, but they seemed to be at the end of their
span at that show. We'll probably see the band members elsewhere later
on; as much as I try, I just can't care much for Yeasayer. They were a
buzz band for a while, and they always seem to be placed highly at
fests, but I can't help but lump them in with Animal Collective and
Dirty Projectors and stuff that I like less exponentially the more I listen to it.
Whatever it is in those pieces, they just don't fit with me. But we
had an open space in the schedule on our way to something else and we
gave them a chance. Still nothing for me there; we stayed in the beer
garden for Beirut too and they did just as much for me but it had also been a long day. Their sound is a
little more comfortable but I still didn't think of them enough to check them out outside of a festival. We
also didn't see the Faint, who played at the end, though we heard a bit
of Turbonegro while we were leaving. It makes me wonder how they
determine the placement of these bands on the line-up. At least a few
of those can draw a good-sized crowd, even if I'd be ready to leave.
FYF Fest has so much to offer: a chance to say good-bye to some familiar bands or hello to some new favorites, a beautiful
day at a (finally) well-run festival, great food
trucks and beer, and most importantly, a day out with friends.
Sleigh Bells' set-list:
"Demons"
"Crown on the Ground"
"Kids"
"True Shred Guitar"
"Riot Rhythm"
"Infinity Guitars"
"End of the Line"
"Born to Lose"
"Comeback Kid"
"Never Say Die"
"Tell 'Em"
"A/B Machines"
Dinosaur Jr.'s set-list:
"Thumb"
"The Wagon"
"Back to Your Heart"
"Budge"
"Out There"
"Feel the Pain"
"Training Ground" (Deep Wound cover)
"Just Like Heaven" (The Cure cover)
"Freak Scene"
"Kracked"
"Sludgefeast"
"Gargoyle"
Against Me!'s set-list:
"Transgender Dysphoria Blues"
"Cliché Guevara"
"I Was a Teenage Anarchist"
"Don't Lose Touch"
"White Crosses"
"True Trans Soul Rebel"
"Turn Those Clapping Hands Into Angry Balled Fists"
"Drinking with the Jocks"
"New Wave"
"Pretty Girls (The Mover)"
"Better Days"
"Black Me Out"
"I Still Love You Julie"
"Pints of Guinness Make You Strong"
"Sink, Florida, Sink"
Warpaint's set-list:
Instrumental jam
"Bees"
"Burgundy"
"Undertow"
"Elephants"
"Baby"
King Khan and the Shrines's set-list:
Introduction music
"Outta Harm's Way"
"Land of the Freak"
"So Wild"
"Bite My Tongue"
"I Wanna Be a Girl"
"Shivers Down My Spine""
"Luckiest Man"
Cloud Nothing's set-list:
"Fall In"
"Separation"
"Stay Useless"
"Cut You"
"Wasted Days"
"No Future/No Past"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment