Free the Freefest!

The month of Roctober started a week early for me in Columbia Maryland as I participated in my first ever Virgin Mobile Freefest. I went to the original Virgin Fest in 2006 at Pimlico race track in Baltimore, MD back when they were charging an (at the time for me) unheard of amount: $90 for a single day of shows. But hey, it was a chance to see The Who and Gnarls Barkley amongst other exciting bands.

I must give huge thanks to Sir Richard Branson for his charitable work and ability to sign top grade bands to this show. I've been excited since I picked up my tickets during the "Freesale" several weeks ago. In spite of rapper, T.I.'s legal trouble, and Die Antwoord pulling out, the Freefest was chock full of acts to see from when I arrived.

I bought into a bus with some friends thinking it would afford for a better time. I mean Freefest with none of the responsibility? Yes, please. In hindsight, I could not have been more disappointed. I assumed that because the bus would be headed to Freefest I would be surrounded by like-minded individuals with incredible taste in music. My friend was quick to remind me that I could also be on a bus full of people who got free tickets to something and they just want to spend the whole day fucked up. Unfortunately, it seemed like it was the latter, as I watched trendy Asian after trendy Asian bring case after case onto the bus (and ugh, Jager). My agitation only grew when we were told to be there sharply at 11:30 AM, and we didn't leave until after 12:30 PM because the ORGANIZER of the event showed up late because he was hungover. Any initial snobbishness was only magnified when some idiot decided to give the bus driver a mix CD. I was then subjected to house music for the next 90 minutes of my life. While waiting in line for the bathroom, some guy says, "Oh they started the first CD over again?"

"FIRST?! There's more?! Of THIS?!"
"Well...I did make a second CD with hip-hop on it..."
"Oh! It's yours? Haha...well...let's...um...get that second CD up and going, huh?"

Luckily I was spared that horror until later because we shortly arrived at Merriweather Post Pavillion, and one of the best single day festival shows I've ever been to:

I started the day with finding my friends in the last throes of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. I had seen him before at Black Cat and didn't feel the need to repeat the experience so we moseyed on over to Yeasayer. I had been forewarned that Yeasayer's show was something to behold, but I had not expected the spectacle that was their live performance. My only experience with Yeasayer is limited to repeated viewings of Red Cave on La Blogotheque. So I was surprised to learn that the lead singer is not featured in that video. The lead singer, Anand Wilder and Chris Keating would trade vocal responsibility throughout the set (their voices sound near identical to me). I tend to zone out to their more choral arrangements from the first album, but the live versions of these songs were so full of sound and energy that I couldn't get enough of it. It gave me a whole new look on their music. People should be introduced to Yeasayer via the live show. They closed with Ambling Alps, simply stating, "This last song's been remixed a lot".

Having given Dave Sitek's solo effort, Maximum Balloon, a cursory listening on Rhapsody, my interest was piqued enough to check them out in the appropriately named "Dance Forest". I gotta tell you, the show was not much like the album. He was a HUGE fan of the air horn sound effect though. It was decent music, I could see myself dancing to it, if it were darker (something about dance music outdoors during the day that doesn't quite work for me) or in a tent somewhere. We left the set early giving up music for positioning for Matt and Kim.

Getting to the main pavilion stage early meant that we got to (or had to depending on your view) listen to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. She played some songs I'm sure bigger fans would have known; but I was surprised to hear a bunch of songs that I suppose on some level I knew were done by Jone Jett but never really attributed them to her. I was amused when a friend of mine complained to me:

"I think I don't like this band because they're so much older everyone here. Why are they here?"
"Because she's Joan Jett. She's an icon."
"She is? What does she do?"
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot? It's on fucking Guitar Hero, dude."
"OH YEAH!! Now I know who she is. She's really old now."
"Well, yeah. She's been around for a bit."

Matt and Kim took the stage a few minutes later with their catchy brand of indie pop. I've said it once and I'll say it again: You'll never find two people more happy to be playing music in front of people...EVER. They opened with I Wanna and then ripped into Good Old Fashioned Nightmare. I wasn't sure if it was the acoustics of the lawn seats, but the sound wasn't as energetic as it normally is. My greatest fear for Matt and Kim was that their sound wouldn't translate to a pavilion setting, and I felt my fears were warranted. My friends who had yet to see them play said that they had a great time during the set. I made the most of it and danced like a maniac. I had some other friends leaving early for Chromeo, but every time I thought I was going to leave they would pull me back in with hip hop throwbacks like Apache or I Like it Raw.

Eventually I did leave and made my way back to the Dance Forest to check out Chromeo's set. This was probably my biggest surprise of the day. I'm not that familiar with the bulk of Chromeo's work; but I have been bumping the album Fancy Footwork, for some time now. I was expecting some good flow over some synthed out beats but I walked into an orgiastic sea of writhing, bumping bodies. I didn't make it out for Sharam, but I can only assume that Chromeo truly turned that place into a Dance Forest. They're sound filled the area, and all you could think about was getting your proverbial "swerve on".

After the set, I dashed over to the west stage to catch a bit of Luda's set before coming back to the Dance Forest for Sleigh Bells. I'm not really familiar with Ludacris' music outside of radio hits, and I'm not really inclined to work on it now. I'm always skeptical of live rap shows because of the use of hype-men, and it translated into the little bit I heard from Ludacris. I'm not sure if I'm just not used to it, but a lot of people were pleased with his set, while everyone else I was with was somewhat underwhelmed with his performance. Perhaps these people are more familiar with live rap shows than I or my friends.

I was truly upset that I only caught brief glimpses/sound snippets of Pavement as I bounced between the Dance Forest and West stage. I was curious as to whether or not Sleigh Bells enormously loud shows would translate to a wide open forest. I was not disappointed as the group with whom I was traveling made it back to the forest and could hear the last bits of Infinity Guitars pouring through the main gates to the forest. I had a great time at the Rock and Roll Hotel show back in July; but this show was so much better. They seemed louder and more comfortable to improvise and interact with the crowd. Lead singer, Alexis Krauss encouraged the crowd to scream with her as she set forth a shriek that would make the Banshee's hair stand on end. I have a really good friend. He's one of those stoic, strong and silent, still-waters-run-deep types. Needless to say, he doesn't really dance at shows. In fact, at the evening with CAKE he told me that while he had not danced, it was the closest he came to dancing at a show. That being said, he danced to Sleigh Bells. His girlfriend and I couldn't believe it, and we went to join him in a thrashing little dance party.

Back out to the west stage for M.I.A.'s set. With LCD Soundsystem's set looming in my future (I was at Freefest primarily for LCD), I was disappointed and impatient to find that M.I.A. was not on stage 5 minutes past her posted start time. I was fairly certain that LCD would open with Dance Yrself Clean and I would not miss it for anything. When M.I.A. finally took the stage with The Message and proceeded with a very house music sounding beginning, I was already half-checked out. With 10 minutes until LCD, She was working her way through World Town, and I just bailed with my friend upon news that they were letting people into the pavilion for LCD's set and I should, "Get my ass down to the pit".

Unfortunately, the pit was at max capacity by the time we made it to the pavilion. We took to standing positions in some seats a few rows behind the pit and waited. When James Murphy took the stage with his collective of instrumentalists you just knew that there was something epic about to happen. The telltale drum beats started that kicked off the slow build to Dance Yrself Clean. I lost my mind and waited with the rest of the crowd with bated breath for the breakdown that comes in minute 3 of the song. When it hits, the pavilion and the surrounding lawn area explodes into a golden dance party, glow sticks flying, and everyone moving in unison. Continuing with This is Happening, the band played Drunk Girls, to a crowd that was now thrashing with the pop-punk power that was hammering from the stage. One of their first hits, Daft Punk is Playing at My House, came next and I could already feel my becoming complete. Perhaps my second favorite song off This is Happening, I Can Change, was played next. I had completely lost myself in the show. It was as if there were no one around me. This trance-like stage only became apparent when it took a direct yell into my ear from my friend that the rest of our little troupe had arrived on the other side of the pavilion wall and were trying to get our attention.

In order for you to understand what I felt in the next two minutes I would like you to imagine the following: Gentleman you are spending the night with the most beautiful woman you have ever met. Ladies, you are with the most handsome man you've ever met. You've had dinner, coy small talk all night and now things have moved to a more intimate setting. You've made your way through some intense foreplay and you are in the gasping throes of mind shattering love making. Now imagine your father comes in, grabs you by the hips, and rips you out of her (or him out of you) and throws you into a cold shower. This is what happened to me when my friends yell into my ear, "The bus is leaving soon, we have to meet up with the rest of the group".

After some failed attempts to contact some other friends at the show in a last ditch effort to go home with them instead of being relegated to a bus bumping shitty house music all the way back to Virginia, I resigned myself to the fact that I was not finishing this set. We very regretfully walked out of the pavilion to the sounds of You Wanted a Hit. The bus was just as disorganized leaving the show as it was getting there and as a result I sat on the bus waiting for an hour or so for some jackass I saw turn back to the venue on our way back to the bus. I could have stayed, finished the show, and still have likely beaten this guy back to the bus. What more? We were told that we had to get on the bus because we would be forced to pay an additional fee for going past the time of the booking. No one told us that this fee would amount roughly to $2-5 (which I would have gladly paid if it meant that I could watch the rest of the show). Lesson learned, never trust amateur douches with the totality of responsibility of me being able to enjoy my show.

I'm never riding a drunk bus anywhere unless I know the people who set it up, personally.

Overall the experience was great. I am however continually brought back to two particular instances in the festival. During Matt and Kim mentioned that they were charging for the pavilion seats and that maybe Virgin should consider freeing the Freefest. As I stated above, they eventually opened up the pavilion to

I Like My Cake Moist, but This is Ridiculous

When I saw that Cake was on tour again, I was disappointed to discover that they did not have a single date in DC. Then in thinking about a plausible trip, I began considering a trip that was based around a concert in either Boston or NYC. Given strong arguments for the latter, I ended up taking an extra day off work and came to New York Thursday night for a show at Rumsey Playfield.

I have some experience with the venue, having seen Passion Pit, and Phoenix there last year. It's an open air venue in Central Park right by 69th St. The acoustics are decent and there's ample space to move around. Drinks will run you from $6-$8 depending on the beer you choose (first time I've ever seen cans of Blue Moon or Corona).

First off, I should note that while it was not a torrential downpour, it was raining for nearly the entire show. Much like the 9:30 Club Double Set "Evening with Cake", Thursday night's show was a double set. Lead singer, John McCrea came on stage with white conductor's gloves. And the show began almost immediately with Comfort Eagle. McCrea began immediately with the crowd participation leading claps and throwing his gloves into the audience. McCrea's dry, sarcastic wit was in tip top form all night, pointing out that the rain which had been nearly torrential only an hour before was a mere drizzle asking the audience if they were merely lucky, or perhaps chosen people with their own personal god. He immediately denied it after the customary cheer from those who believed the latter. Cake played a song that has some of my favorite Cake Lyrics in it, Wheels, the third verse about the karaoke bar on the banks of the Bosphorous River. The imagery in that verse is so clear and bizarre. Crowd participation and sardonic criticisms of American culture continued in a new song. The "escapists" were on stage left, singing "I want to fly away" while the "angry people" on stage right sang "I'm so sick of you so sick of me, I don't want to be with you". He mused that escapism and random crazy anger were too of the most prevalent approaches to problems in American culture today.

It was in the fourth song in the set, Guitar, my friend and I noticed some timing problems. These issues seemed to persist through the show, and to be honest, it didn't seem like the band was terribly into the show. I don't want to say that they phoned it in, but it certainly lacked the polish of their show at 9:30. This may have also been a function of time constraints due to being outdoors.

They gave away another tree true to form. The person who won it, answered a question about the percentage of the world that has running, drinkable water.

All in all the show was still pretty good, they played three new songs none of which I know the precise name. They did promise an album due out in January, so I'm already very excited for it because if the three songs played during the show are any indicator, it will be pretty strong. I laughed. I sang. I clapped. I had a fun time; just not as much as 9:30.
B

Black Keys: Deserve a Standing Ovation

Most of you readers know my view on DAR Constitution Hall: I think it's great, acoustically speaking. There's really not a bad seat in the house; but that's the key word: "seat". It's a seated venue, and unless you're with a really, really good crowd, chances are you're going to have to spend some portion of that concert in your seat or feeling like an asshole for standing up in front of people who are clearly sitting down. Aside from your ability to really "get into it", tickets to shows there usually cost you an arm and a leg.

It is for this reason that I generally will not see a show at Constitution Hall. I will make exceptions for the following reasons:
1) I have never seen the band before; and I really want to see them right then and there.
2) I feel that being seated will not take away from my experience.
3) I can get a ticket for less than face value.

Now, as I've indicated in both my review of Sea of Cowards and Brothers, I have really come to appreciate the garage rebirth movement, especially in bands that put an emphasis on blues components. It is for that reason that I've fallen in love with the Akron duo, The Black Keys. Their bare bones, stripped-down approach to rock infused with working class blues is something that moves me to the core. It's not the most complicated music. But it's loud, it gets me moving, and with the release of Brothers, it's soulful. When I found out that they were playing Constitution Hall I begrudgingly bought a ticket to the show.

We were located at the back of the auditorium in the stadium seating about 6-7 rows back. I took note already that the people in front of me looked like "sitters" and that I would likely be relegated to my seat for the duration of the show. The venue was surprisingly full for the opening band, The Morning Benders.

I mentioned the Morning Benders ironically, in my blog of my most significant music bender I went on a few months ago. They have a strong pop sensibility that gives you an idea of the Shins with a dash of Beatles. This is actually a band, that having listened to their album, that I feel I could watch seated. I was expecting a decent set, but was really blown away by their live performance. They seem a much more subtle band on their album, with usually soft sentimental songs. But live, they really bring the noise. They were loud, with lead guitarist/vocalist, Chris Chu, dropping to kneeling power stance for heavily distorted solos. I was impressed and slightly tempted to check them out headlining at the Black Cat later this year.

After the Morning Benders and some real quick set up, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney sauntered onto the stage. I have to say, that the cost of the ticket was money well spent. Right off the bat, they ripped into Thickfreakness. It was incredible. Auerbach's guitar playing is something to be seen. He's able to shred as he kicks out acorss the stage. In the documentary, It Might Get Loud, Jack White says that he likes guitars with imperfections because he likes the struggle and the idea of bending a guitar to your will. Auerbach's style seems to be more like he bends with the guitar in what is truly an amazing dance. Carney's drums are loud and go perfectly with the music. I never really paid attention to the drums on any of the albums; but was really impressed with his live performance. The band played a good mix of old stuff and had the touring band come on in the middle of their performance to start with Everlasting Light, off of the new album. The band stayed with them until the last two songs, Your Touch and I Got Mine.

They had a three song encore with the full band. After an entire concert of hard loud songs, I needed them to come back with something soft. They did not disappoint and came back with a soulful rendition of Too Afraid to Love You. They also played Sinister Kid (one of my favorites off of Brothers) in a manner that was way different from the album version, but it was still incredible. I had a great time, despite having to sit through over half the concert. The people in front of me were standing for the first three songs or so before what I assume was the girlfriend sat down. Not wanting to leave his girl alone, the boyfriend followed suit making me the asshole who would be standing in front of seated people. So I sat, casting dark, soul-shattering stares at the girl who had damned me to seated hell. Regardless, the Black Keys in concert is something you need to experience. If they ever come back to a smaller venue, I'm in, or I'll try to get floor tickets next time because it looked like they stood for the entire show.

Late Morning Scramble

*written Thursday morning, 9/16

I've barely been awake for two hours today and already it's starting to get on my nerves.

I have been making a half-assed effort to see Cake at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park tonight for the last three weeks or so. I only just bought my bus ticket last night, and made arrangement for a couch on which to crash even later last night. I packed my clothes and even a towel as the last time I was there I was forced to use a pullover to dry off after a shower. I had designs on waking up early today and purchasing a blanket in case I'd need one, and some toiletries for my overnight stay.

Instead, I decided to stay up late last night hanging out with friends as I'm wont to do when I have no (important) responsibilities the following day. This resulted in me forgetting to set an alarm and subsequently waking up at 11:10 AM with a bus leaving Metro Center at 12:30 PM. I woke up to my ride slapping my shoulder asking me why I didn't wake him up this morning. He informed me that he had class and could not take me. Luckily another trusty friend was there and was able to give me the lift to the metro I required.

Now, if a train left as soon as I hit the platform I would have had plenty of time to get to the train, however the train would not leave for another 7 minutes which made my arrival at Metro Center in time for the bus a little dicey. The train stopping between Dunn-Loring and West Falls increased the unlikelihood of my timely departure. I sat nervously bouncing my knee (as I am also wont to do), obsessively watching the minutes slip past from stop to stop. Four stops from Metro Center it was 12:24. Even with a generous 2 minutes between each stop, I would not make it in time for the bus so I resigned myself to a fate of waiting for the 1:30 PM bus hoping to get on standby status and put my phone into my pocket.

I emerged at F and 12th even though the signs I followed said G and 11th; but whatever, it's not like I was anywhere near the departure time. I walked briskly to the giant parking lot where the buses are only to find a some kind of low-rent carnival there. Where will the buses be? I thought, Will i possibly miss the next bus, simply because I don't know where the alternate stop is? As I walked through this carnival of garbage (although decent smelling street food), I noticed that the buses were still on the ohter side. Much less, a Bolt bus that looked as if it were still loading luggage. I ran over to the young lady checking tickets and noticed another Bolt Bus leaving the parking lot. Those that know me, know that I hate to interrupt two people in conversation but my desperation got the better of me, "Is that the 12:30 bus to New York?"

"Yessir."
"DAH!", I made to run for the bus.
"Sir, do NOT run after that bus. It was late, and unfortunately you were even later, and you running out there will only make it later. Now you're, just gonna have to wait here with me until 1:00".
"Fair enough."

She let me know that I would get on the bus, no problem assured me that I'd probably even have room for a seat by myself, if not all the other passengers. And surely, she was correct. For here I am now, dear readers, plugged in and typing out this harrowing (for me at least) narrative, my hoodie on the seat next to me; me sprawled out like some kind of typing bus chair afghan (well as much as one can sprawl in these miniscule seats).

The disappointment did not end there, however, True Believers. As turned on my laptop to start typing the promised yet heavily delayed Black Keys review, I tried to find the WiFi for the bus. I couldn't find one named Bolt Bus or whatever it's called. I found hpsetup, which almost never is what you need, but hey try it anyway, right? Wrong. Wireless fail. Shortly, the bus driver informed us that the WiFi is not functioning, so I am typing this out on Word Pad and will copy and paste it as soon as I get to a place where I can connect. Let us hope (or at least I hope), that this is the worst thing that happens to me this weekend. *knocks on wood and all that*

NOTE: Since I wrote this: It rained during the concert, slept through ticket sales of D-Plan reunion tour (sold out now), lost my wallet. Maybe NYC hates me, or wants me to hate it more than I already do.