Day 1: Margot and the Nuclear So and So's @ Black Cat
Roctober really started in earnest on October 1st with Margot & the Nuclear So and So's headlining at the Black Cat. They're openers included a side project by keyboardist, Cameron McGill (Cameron McGill & What Army) and The Lonely Forest.
I had the pleasure of being joined by two friends John and Gabby. John had just rediscovered his love for Margot & the Nuclear So and So's and had introduced them to his girlfriend who was the other friend in attendance. I had to say that I found Cameron McGill & What Army wanting. Even more to the point, all of us agreed that one of McGill's back up vocalists had a better voice. Gabby went over to the merch table after their set to express this to him. The fat bass-player merely blushed and shrugged and looked away from the pretty girl paying him a compliment and offered non-committal agreements. Easily one of the funnier things that happened that night. The Lonely Forest was far more catchy and entertaining to me. They have a good pop sensibility and good instincts about when to just plain old kick out the jams.
The last time I saw Margot was over a year ago, when they opened for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. Tonight was a bit of culture shock. I had only given the new album a cursory listening before being able to see them. From what I gathered they had gone for a heavier sound dropping aspects of the baroque pop they had adopted for their first album. What I saw was a band that had whittled itself down from the giant collective it had been from a year ago, to a band that was still relatively large but as I assumed, lacking the baroque pop pieces that they had used on their first tour.
I have to say that I was very pleased with the new sound. I felt that despite losing that softer sound, the band still sounds uniquely like Margot and the Nuclear So and So's. There were only a few songs that were played from the original album, which normally kinda torques me, but since the new material was so solid and accessible, I still had a great time. My friends' greatest complaint with the first album is that they never really rocked out at any point. This was not the case at this show or the second album for that matter. The show was fun, but I was shocked that the clear hits off the first album My Baby Shoots Her Mouth Off, German Motor Car, and As Tall as Cliffs, were missing from the show. I feel strongly that My Baby Shoots Her Mouth Off is a perfect closer for the group because it hits all the different volumes they go (especially with the way they were changing the songs from the first album to fit their new style); satisfies the crowd participation itch; and the haunting "ooohs" is a powerful way to end a concert. Again, still a good time, just not the concert I expected. I'm actually more likely to recommend people see them now. I believe the new sound is more accessible in a way that will appeal to a more mainstream market.
Day 2: LCD Soundsystem and Sleigh Bells @ Charlottesville Pavilion
This was a last minute decision for me. I was perusing the weekend picks on BYT's weekly e-mail and saw that LCD Soundsystem and Sleigh Bells were playing the Charlottesville Pavilion. Given my curtailed experience at Freefest, I was somewhat tempted to go, but by myself that trip sounded a little intimidating to me. I mentioned this to my friend, Val. She told me that I should go and bring her boyfriend, Eugene (she'd purchase the ticket as a gift). And that was all it took. I invited my friend Kyle who had to leave Freefest even earlier than Eugene or I did. He joined our little carpool to awesomeness and we were as good as on our way to C-ville.
I'd never been to the venue before (I've only been to two shows in C-ville before) so I didn't know what to expect. I was worried because the tickets were general admission; but was pleased to find that the only seats were folding chairs that were set farther back with a huge pit in front of the stage.
We arrived just in time for the lights to go down and Sleigh Bells to take the stage just as we slid into place just right of center 20 ft. or so back from the stage. Sleigh Bells performed with the same crazy energy I've seen them utilize in the last two shows. I don't know what it is about this group, but they have now consistently impressed me more in a large open venue than they have in a small venue like the Rock and Roll Hotel. They played exactly the same set list they have for the other two shows. I feel ambivalent about this. On one hand, how can you possibly have that much variety with just the one album to go off of. On the other hand, some variance would be good. I lean toward the former because despite the lack of variety in the set list, I rock out like a mofo every time I see them. Alexis Krauss' sugar pop voice delivering sweet bouncy rhymes and rhythmic uh's and ah's over the raucous guitars and beats of Derek Miller is a new kind of loud that anyone can appreciate.
I was super-excited for LCD Soundsystem because I was the most excited to see them because of how great the new album's been. My appetite was only whetted by the truncated set I was able to see at Freefest. Just as at Freefest, the light drum beats and pulsing keyboards signaled the slow build of the intro to Dance Yrself Clean. You could cut the tension in the pavilion with a knife as all those people palpably waited for the breakdown to hit. When it did, a flash of golden lights and a rain of glow sticks signaled the beginning of a nearly 2 hour dance party.
LCD ripped from Dance Yrself Clean into Drunk Girls and showed that they can rip fast paced post punk just as well as it does incredibly layered electronica. Other highlights in the game included Yr City's a Sucker providing maniacal ha ha ha's throughout the entire audience. The piano intro to All My Friends (the very first LCD song I've ever heard) is so much of a crowd pleaser I can't explain it adequately without repeating many of the sentiments I had for Dance Yrself Clean. Movement ended in what is one of the craziest ways I've seen a guitarist end a song. Guitarist, David Scott Stone, had removed the guitar strap from off his shoulder and was only holding onto the guitar by only its strings and shaking it violently to achieve ridiculous reverb. The encore finale of Home was fun and moving all at once, and reminded me why I was so eager to see them again after only one week.
Day 3: Foals @ Black Cat
I came across Foals around the same time I found LCD Soundsystem. At the time, I had only downloaded their first album, Antidotes which is an infectious avalanche of math rock. Songs like Cassius, Two Steps, Twice; and The French Open being good examples. This year's release, Total Life Forever was a big step away from Antidotes and to be honest I wasn't sure if I was going to buy into it at first. The band applied a very strong editing ear to the avalanche and have tamed it a great deal on some songs leading to a significantly different sound that yields something between Local Natives and Minus the Bear. I have strong feelings that by next year, they'll be where Local Natives are right now.
I have to admit, that due to the subdued sound of the new album I was afraid that the concert was going to have none of the energy of the first album. Full disclosure: I was running on something like 12 hours of sleep in the last 72, and spent the entire day at Buffalo Wing Factory in Fairfax for the football games. I've never been to a show by myself before, and this would be the first. I started going to shows with my first girlfriend, and so for the longest time, going to shows has been a shared experience. As time has past I've found that show going has become an increasingly singular experience starting last year. Physical exhaustion coupled with the idea of having to go it alone almost kept me from going, but I'm really glad I went.
The energy at a Foals show is incredible. Their following is inordinately loyal with people coming from other cities to see this show yelling lyrics for nearly every song. The show was a perfect balance of the two albums' styles and creates a sophisticated sound with incredible energy. Lead singer, Yannis Philippakis, had two bottles on stage. One was almost assuredly whiskey the other likely water. He drank from one more than the other, and as the show progressed, I expected it to get sloppier, but it only got harder. He only became more at ease with the crowd, coming out of his shell to interact with crowd members.
One of the many highlights of the show were the very strong drum duets played throughout the show. At one point Philippakis was whipping his water out into the audience and whipping them up into a frenzy. Later, he took his drumming on tour, climbing the speakers on the right side of the stage and playing off the pipes hanging from the ceiling while crouched between the top of the speakers and the ceiling itself. For the finale, an young audience member was pulled to perform half the drumming duties with drummer, Jack Bevan, when Yannis was nowhere to be found for almost half the song. It was only until someone pointed that I noticed that he was standing on the stage left bar shredding away.
That was another thing. I didn't expect them to be so loud. They were raucous and thrashing on certain solos whipping the floor into a giant pit of dancing bodies enraptured in musical catharsis. The concert left me spent and ready to come home and crash into a waiting bed.
Opening weekend of Roctober was hardcore and didn't let up. Roctober was only going to take its boot off my throat for one night before I headed to 9:30 for The xx.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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 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
Monday, September 20, 2010
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
