popwreckoning

Lollapalooza is celebrating its 20th anniversary and as promised, the recently announced delivers some pretty hefty acts. 

Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Muse, My Morning Jacket, Deadmau5 and A Perfect Circle will headline the annual event in Grant Park from August 5-7, 2011.

If you missed Death From Above 1979‘s Coachella reunion, Lolla gives fans another chance. There’s also many other classic acts such as The Cars to up and comers The Naked and Famous. You can see the rest of the announced lineup below:

Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Muse, My Morning Jacket, Deadmau5, A Perfect Circle, Cee Lo Green, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley & Nas, the Cars, Ween, Bright Eyes, Arctic Monkeys, Big Audio Dynamite, Deftones, Beirut, Explosions in the Sky, Death From Above 1979, Ratatat, Crystal Castles, Flogging Molly, Atmosphere, Cold War Kids, Lykke Li, Cage the Elephant, OK GO, Local Natives, The Kills, White Lies, Portugal. The Man, Two Door Cinema Club, Ellie Goulding, Delta Spirit, Beats Antique, Mountain Goats, Sleigh Bells, Manchester Orchestra, Smith Westerns, Best Coast, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, The Drums, Black Lips, Fitz & the Tantrums, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, City and Colour, Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses, Cults, Noah and the Whale, Sam Adams, J. Roddy Walston and the Business, Tinie Tempah, Lissie, Dom, The Vaccines, Foster the People, Titus Andronicus, Mayer Hawthorne and the County, Chico Trujillo, The Naked and Famous, Phantogram, Rival Schools, Friendly Fires, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Reptar, Maps & Atlases, Fences, Tennis, An Horse, Young the Giant, Los Bunkers, Imelda May, Grouplove, Wye Oak, The Joy Formidable, Lord Huron, Disappears, Walk the Moon, Gold Motel, Iration, Ryan Leslie, Tab the Band, Skylar Grey, Christina Perri, Black Cards, The Pretty Reckless, Boy and Bear, Patrick Stump, Kids These Days, Young Man, The Kingston Springs, Lia Ices, The Chain Gang of 1974, Ximena Sarinana, Typhoon, Electric Touch, Kerli, Ruby Jane, Julia Easterlin, and DJ Mel.

On Perry’s Stage:

Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, Kid Cudi, the Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77, AfroJack, Modeselektor, Skrillex, Perryetty vs. Chris Cox, Chuckie, The Glitch MOb, Busy P, Joachim Garraud, Super Mash Bros., Jay Electronica, 12th Planet, Daedulus, Feed Me, JackMaster, Collie Buddz, Savoy, Kyle Lucas and Captain Midnite, Ana Tijouxana, Midnight Conspiracy, L1ght, and Lady D.

Early Bird tickets have already sold out, but you can now buy regular priced tickets for $215 while supplies last. VIP Passes and Travel Packages are also available. A limited number of
Single Day tickets will go on sale June 7. Go here to buy tickets.

Organizers are expecting over 240,000 people.

 

Mad Rad, Das Racist and The Thermals brought the house down at the free Sasquatch Launch Party at the Showbox at the Market last night, where the lineup to the now four-day festival would be announced.

Put on by Livenation and Sasquatch creator Adam Zacks, the launch party was MC’d by Comedian Todd Barry, who kept the crowd entertained between sets with dry wit and some fake teaser headliners.

“If you love me now, you’ll love when I play a set between headliners Elvis Presley and the Beatles, and tickets are only $7!” Barry proclaimed sarcastically to the less-than-attentive crowd. But I guess that’s what you get when you have a free show.

After Mad Rad and Das Racist played their sets, the lineup was announced in a video like previous years, which was played twice over, most likely so people could get a second look because they were freaking out too much over the Flaming Lips.

So far the lineup includes:

Death Cab for Cutie, the Decemberists, Modest Mouse, the Foo Fighters, Robyn, Wilco, Flying Lotus, Bright Eyes, Flogging Molly, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Das Racist, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Iron & Wine, The Flaming Lips.Black Mountain, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the Head and the Heart, Mad Rad, the Moondoggies, Noah & The Whale, Sam Roberts Band, Secret Sisters, Twin Shadow, Wye Oak, Tig Notaro, Smith Westerns, Rival Schools, Foster the People, Alberta Cross, S. Carey, White Denim, Washed Out, Gold Panda, Dan Mangan, Axis of Awesome, The Globes, Cotton Jones, Jaill, Basia Bulat, Other Lives, The Bronx, White Arrows, Pepper Rabbit, Talkdemonic, Rebecca Gates and The Consortium, The Young Evils, Bassnectar, Pink Martini, Cold War Kids, Old 97′s, Ratatat, Wolf Parade, Chromeo, Guided By Voices, Yeasayer, Beach House, Local Natives, Matt & Kim, Deerhunter, Mstrkrft, Trailer Park Boys, Sleigh Bells, Major Lazer, Skrillex, Fitz & The Tantrums, !!!, Archers of Loaf, Against Me!, The Thermals, Best Coast, CSS, Surfer Blood, Jenny & Johnny, Bonobo (DJ Set), City and Colour, Reggie Watts, K-Os, Gayngs, Tim Minchin, The Drums, The Radio Dept., Young the Giant, The Antlers, Sharon Van Etten, Villagers, Stornoway, Aloe Blacc.

Tickets go on sale on Feb. 14th starting at $79.50 per day and $285 for three-day passes.

Go to http://sasquatchfestival.com/ for more information or to purchase tickets.

Crash Kings are a trio that could be mistaken for a side project of Jack White mixed with a little Cold War Kids and even a surprise dash of Queen, which actually makes them a refreshingly unique sound that’s still familiar enough to give you warm fuzzies when a tune of theirs pops up on the radio. With the success of “Mountain Man” on the airwaves, a tour with JET and SXSW upcoming, bassist Mike Beliveau took some time to talk to PopWreckoning about the band’s rise, dream tours and sports.

Bethany, PopWreckoning: Hi. How are you today Mike?
Mike Beliveau, Crash Kings: I’m alright. I’m getting a little sick, but doing alright.
PW: Oh no. Maybe you’ll feel better not that you have a nice day in the Midwest – you’re in Omaha tonight.
MB: Yeah. We’re on our way over to the venue to load in right now.
PW: Ok. Let’s start at the beginning. I know the three of you were in other bands before, but you were still together. How did you go from those bands into becoming the Crash Kings?
MB: Tony (vox) and I are brothers, so we’ve been playing music together since we were teenagers in high school. We had a band in high school and then Tony went off to college in Texas, but I convinced him to move back to Boston to start up a band again in college. We had two bands together and then Tony met Jason, our drummer, while on tour with Sierra Swan. They were backing her. She’s a singer/songwriter. That’s how we met Jason. So, when we were recording the Crash Kings together, Tony suggested Jason as our drummer and it was pretty much perfect from the start and a great fit. So we went with it.
PW: Ok, I think somehow I got confused and thought Jason had been in the bands before with both you and Tony from online reading.
MB: Yeah, well Tony and Jason had been in a band before from touring backing Sierra Swan. I wasn’t in that band, no.

PW: I also read you guys used to do more jazz sort of music. How’d you go from that to what you’re doing now? Was it a natural progression?
MB: Actually, we went from rock to jazz back to rock. Crash Kings, I’ve always thought of it as a return to our roots. When we were in high school, we were very much a rock sort of band and Tony was singing. Our band in college, we decided to do a more sort of jazz/artsy/organ trio thing without vocals. We were just always experiment and pushing ourselves as much as we could with odd meters and different keyboards. Tony got into playing organ and Rhodes and different synthesizers. It was pretty much all experimentation with that band. It was called Odion. And then Tony started writing songs again that were rock songs and it seemed like a great idea to have a rock band again. That’s pretty much it. So yeah, it was natural for us to play rock again. It wasn’t out of our natural vain of writing. We grew up on it.

PW: One of the first things that I think people notice when they see you live is that you have a clavinet with a whammy bar. How did you come up with the idea for a whammy bar on this keyboard basically?
MB: It’s kind of a, well the instrument found us in a lucky moment. Tony was going to borrow a keyboard from a friend and ended up with this great keyboard because they couldn’t find the original one that they were looking for, so he brought this back to the studio and was like, “Hey, Mike. You have to come check this thing out. It’s crazy. It has a whammy bar.” It’s a pretty rare thing. So we got to the studio and were both like, “Woah.” The ideas for the instrument started forming; we can distort this thing or make it sound like guitar. Basically what it is, it’s an electric guitar in a keyboard format. It has guitar strings and the whammy bar is a classic element of a guitar, so we thought it would work great in a rock band. That’s how that instrument came to be in our band.

PW: There are only three of you in the Crash Kings, so I notice you get a lot of Muse comparisons, but it almost seems to be by default as in here’s one threesome, must be like another. I’m not sure I get that as much. What do you think of that comparison, are there other bands that you think is a more apt comparison or would cite as influences?
MB: You can compare us to Muse because we’re a power trio: a rock power trio. Those elements are there. I think the songwriting is quite different and the lyrics are quite different. We’re fans of Muse and we think they’re doing great things. They brought an element to rock and roll that wasn’t there before. It’s big and they’ve got a big sound and that’s kind of what we’re going for. I can see how people would compare us to them, but people compare us to other bands as well. I don’t know who I’d want to be compared to, but I always love hearing when people compare us to bands that I like. So when people say, “Oh, you sound like Muse,” that makes sense to me. We listen to Muse and we like Muse. If they say a band that I don’t like, then I’m like, “Oh no. We don’t listen to that. Why would we get that comparison?” Everyone makes comparisons, but you end up sounding like your own in the end.

PW: Ok. If you could do a dream tour with your favorite bands, who would you bring on that—living or dead?
MB: We’d love to open for Led Zeppelin.
PW: I could see that.
MB: Another band…Muse would be a great band to open for, kind of a dream, current band.

PW: Ok, you’re about to go out on tour with JET and you’re hitting up SXSW, do you have like a festival or tour survival kit? Like do you have essentials that you have to have with you on the road?
MB: Essentials is exactly what it is. We try to not bring too much stuff. The essentials are just what you’d think they are: clothes and toiletries. Something unique to the band…it’s hard to say. Water? Five-hour energy! That’s a good one. A lot of times, we’re driving through the night and that helps whomever is driving stay up through the night. Cough drops. Those are kind of essentials.

PW: What are some of the advantages of playing with your brother in a band and what are some of the disadvantages of playing with your brother in a band?
MB: Musically, there are no disadvantages. It’s just pretty much that Tony is my favorite person to play music with because we know each other so well. I know exactly what he’s going to do almost before he does it. We just have a strong chemistry that way. We have very close musical influences, so when it comes to writing and arranging the songs, we can do it pretty easily 99 percent of the time. Musically, it is great. A disadvantage, as anybody that has a sibling knows, there’s always sibling rivalry. We always end up getting at each other’s throats at times, but we’ve grown in that a little bit and found ways of being tolerant of each other. It can get hairy, as you can imagine, with your sibling on the road. You find little things that bother you that wouldn’t bother you in anywhere else.
PW: Haha, yeah. I have siblings. I love them, but I can’t imagine touring with them.
MB: Haha, yeah.

PW: I know that you and Tony are both really big into skiing, but I don’t think Jason is quite as much – I think I read that during the “Mountain Man” video that Jason hung out in the lodge drinking cocoa rather than ski—However, with winter drawing to a close, do you have summer sports that you’re really into?
MB: Yeah. Tony and I are both surfers, but we’re not as big surfers as we are skiers. We love going out into the water. Tony loves to mountain bike and got me into it recently, so mountain biking is sort of our summer skiing. It’s pretty similar: going down a mountain and all that. Those sports and I’ll take part in a game of soccer every once in awhile.

PW: Nice. Is there anything that you wish people knew about your band that they don’t now and you’d like to share while you have this open forum?
MB: Um. Good question. Maybe people don’t know that we don’t use any backing tracks in our band, which is becoming more and more common with bands these days. One thing we try to do with our band is keep it really raw, simple and alive. So everything you’re hearing at the live show is what’s being played on stage. Not that that’s better or worse, but I think it actually makes our band unique these days because so many bands do use backing tracks today. We try to keep an old school feel like you’re getting an old school live performance.
PW: Nice. That is good to know and it really becoming so common with the backing tracks that people are probably just assuming that bands are using them. It shows in your live show, too. I saw you a few weeks ago with OK Go and it was more raw and authentic. It was better than hearing you on the radio.
MB: Yeah. Excellent.
PW: Well, I know you’re trying to do load-in, so I’ll let you go do that.
MB: Thank-you very much.
PW: Thank-you, feel better and have a great show tonight.

The coasts of the United States never seem to be at a shortage for festivals, but travel to the heart of the country and festivals are scarce. Chicago does have Lollapalooza, which is a fun festival, but very mainstream. So the addition of Monolith Festival has been a haven for the Midwest hipster to see new buzz indie bands and some classic gems in one of the most beautiful venues in the world: Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado.

The first day of the festival was a cold and rainy mess, but the bands stuck it out with smiles and were gracious to all the people who stayed the whole day. Store bought ponchos and trash bag made ones became the must have fashion accessory and one stage emcee quipped he would give a prize to anybody who could pull off the most creative, hipster rain outfit.

I wore two jackets and a poncho and wrapped my camera gear in a bag and despite only operating on an hour of sleep, I made it through the festival and loved every minute of it. Monolith fortunately has one of the best indie line-ups with few disappointments, so it was easy to lose yourself in the music and forget that you couldn’t feel your toes anymore.

Generationals // Woxy.com Stage @ 12:20 – 1 p.m.

Like I said, it was ridiculously cold out and off and on sprinkling, so heading to the indoor stages early seemed like a good plan when I arrived at Monolith Amphitheatre. Turns out it was. I started at the Woxy.com Stage, a stage that ended up having the best line-up of the day and hosting a majority of the best acts that I saw. Generationals were among those acts.

Generationals had a rock sound with folksy inclinations. The singer was a lot of the reason I liked them because he had a sort of nasal boldness to his vocal that made me think a bit of Tokyo Police Club without ever thinking that the band sounded like them. The female keyboardist balanced out his vocals, but I wasn’t as thrilled with the band when they gave her the lead vocals on a song. She was a fun support member to watch, switching from keys to keyflute (I have no idea what those mini-keyboards are that you blow air into, but that is what I’m calling keyflute.)

As I walked off from their set, I made a mental note to check out this band’s music at home. I quickly learned that I’d be making a lot of these mental notes.

Stars of Track and Field // Radius Earphones Stage @ 1:00 – 1:40 p.m.

I’ve been dying to see Stars of Track and Field since a few years ago, my local radio station, 96.5 the Buzz, played “Moons of Antarctica” on air and I went out and actually purchased their album. “With You,” my favorite from that album, was actually the last song I listened to in the car ride before the fest.

I don’t know why, but for some reason, I always figured the group had a girl in the band because of the records’ harmonies, so I was a bit surprised when three guys came out wearing tight pants and leather jackets. Despite the gray day and playing indoors, the singer had on bug-eyed sunglasses. He also adorned a scarf and their whole look reminded me of the time I saw Barcelona and their musical sound isn’t that different from each other. Perhaps they’re all friends–they are both bands from the Northwest, and maybe they do their shopping together.

Once I got over my surprise that a weird falsetto was the actual harmonizer, I got really into their set. They had a few pitchy problems, but it was still good. The new songs fit perfectly with the old and it was fun to watch the guitarist take random dips and jumps as he rocked out. Another cool thing that I discovered about Monolith watching them is that to the side of the Radius Earphones Stage, there was an artist that was painting them. I guess this was happening all day and it was fun to see a mixing of the two art genres. Stars of Track and Field just released a new album about a week ago. Go check them out.

Set List:
Movies
EOAT
Static
Bright Fire
With You
The Aviator
Arithmatik
Now You Lift
Lacuna
Lights

The Antlers // Woxy.com Stage @ 1:40 – 2:20 p.m.

The Antlers were yet another amazing discovery for me. I really hadn’t heard much about them until this past week and had no idea what to expect. What I got was the product of if the singers of Cold War Kids and Passion Pit had a baby that then the kid was raised by Fleet Foxes in some mountain cabin in the heart of the Rockies. This group had that sort of classic sound meets modernity.

The vocalist was a crooner and he would crawl up the scales at the end of the verses, hit his high note and add a beautiful, yet different vibrato touch at the end. Gorgeous. As a whole, the group had the Fleet Foxes vibe with that sort of blending and harmonizing that the Foxes do so well. Also gorgeous.

A warning though—the musical subjects are very sad–hospitals, death and cancer.

Set List:
Bear
Sylvia
Shiv
A Trophy
2
Epilogue

Lydia // Radius Earphones Stage @ 2:20 – 3 p.m.

I’ve seen these barefoot indie pop musicians multiple times and they always give warm fuzzies. Piano, pleasing guitars and a perfectly happy band that never stops smiling kind of does that for you. They’re like Straylight Run, but happier.

These United States // Woxy.com Stage @ 3 – 3:40 p.m.

I think this band might win for favorite new artist of the day. PopWreckoning recently raved about them in an album review, and now we continue the raving by declaring them fucking amazing live. It was like being at a barn party with your closest friends gathered and just as you hit the tipsy point, somebody whips out an acoustic guitar and just starts jamming. It’s the kind of party where you love your friends and the music and are having such a good time that you think you could be eternally happy holding your beer and listening to your friends play forever.

These United States made every person in the room feel like they were all close friends at a party such as that. Their crowd interactions made it seem like if you did have a request, they would have tried to fulfill it. In fact they tried to do something like that. A person in the audience asked where they were from and after responding, they want on to say that they had a question box on the side of the stage because nothing was as important as responding to what the people want. And as for the crowd, whether they knew the bands very, very, very new music, they would still try to sing along.

When I left the room, I was still singing, “Get yourself home, boy, get yourself home.” The little jamboree at the packed Woxy.com Stage was hands down one of the best sets of the festival and maybe one of the best sets that I’ve seen in my life.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros // Southern Comfort Presents Stage @ 3 – 3:30 p.m.

I only caught a bit of this group, but it was exactly like the Letterman performance. Smiliing hippies dancing to the feel good “Kumbayah” like music that a bajillion musicians on stage were performing. It was good, but it is hard to give a complete review of a band when you only caught a song and a half.

Frightened Rabbits // Esurance Music Stage @ 3:30 – 4:15 p.m.

This Scottish act was the first of three that I would see at the festival and the Scottish acts came to the festival to show the American audience who was boss.

Accents made it difficult to really follow lyrics, but it didn’t matter. It sounded great and the people loved it. Some fans got really, really into it:

Pains of Being Pure at Heart // Southern Comfort Presents Stage @ 4 – 4:45 p.m.

Pains of Being Pure at Heart was a band that I was really excited and really nervous to see. I loved their self-titled debut, but one of the critics I respect in Omaha gave them a mixed review about two days before this festival. He basically said something along the lines of PoBPaH as one of those groups that has a great band, but a singer who can’t sing.

After seeing them for myself, I have no idea what he was talking about. The singing was perfectly fine and a nice cheery spot in the extra dismal weather. Kip, the singer, even quipped, “Today we’re the Rains of Being Pure at Heart.”

I think the band’s genuine glee at playing for Monolith made the set just that much better. It would have been easy to be wallow in misery that I could see my breath,  couldn’t feel my extremities and was now at risk for pneumonia, but then I would look up and see Pains’ smiles and I’d smile too and forget the cold and get lost in their noise pop.

OK Go // Esurance Music Stage @ 4:45 -5:45 p.m.

You know them for their dance moves whether in front of funky wallpaper, on treadmills or in a backyard, but OK Go is so much more than that. They are a talented band that cares about their fans and really understand the art of performance.

One member walked out ahead of the group and struck out a large clear sideways bass drum. He was the herald to singer Damian Kulash‘s entrance. It was an attention grabbing opening.

The band proceeded into a set filled with all their well-known songs and some brand new ones. There was lots of confetti and cute little anecdotes.

What I liked the most about OK Go was that the band really was all about the people. Red Rocks is an epic amphitheatre, but there is a big gap between the main stage and the front row of the audience. Kulash bridged that gap and carried his mike stand to the heart of the audience for a love song.

“Denver, are you lovers?” Kulash asked. To which the crowd cheered a yes. “Good. Our next one is a love song. We’re going to give it the 60s treatment and wave…or you got lighters? Those allowed here? Hold up you cell phones and let them get fucked up in the rain.”

They had a playful edge about them that just made it impossible to not like every moment of the set.

“This next one is a new song, but I need your help singing. This is in C er G no D…Pitch perfect. We’re pitch perfect.” said Kulash. “You’ll sing, ‘Let it go, this too shall pass.” The audience had a miserable attempt at repeating it back. “That was a bit fast, but we’ll give it a try.”

Kulash does not have a future in teaching because that was the worst attempt at giving directions I have ever seen. When the song finally got to that part, it sounded nothing like what he sang in the practice run, resulting in a kind of pub like singalong on the audience’s end. Fortunately I think Kulash has a secure future in music so he won’t have to toy with the idea of education as an alternate career.

Set List:
Shooting
Get Over It
Million Ways
White Knux
I Want You
Oh No
BFK
Don’t Ask
HIGA
Last Leaf
Skyscrapers
Disaster
TTSP
Good Idea
Invice
DWYW

The Walkmen // Southern Comfort Presents Stage @ 5:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.

I couldn’t bring myself to leave OK Go and I was dreading trekking up the stairs again, so I was strongly contemplating skipping the Walkmen to wait to  see M. Ward, but others at the site have said this act was the shit, so I embraced more soreness to add to my calves and jogged up to see the Walkmen. It was good, but kind of blah. After the last few really solid and crowd-welcoming performers, it was hard to get into this set. The Walkmen’s downfall? They could sing and play well, but the performance was lacking in the entertainment value. Sorry other editors at this site. I just didn’t feel it.

M. Ward // Esurance Music Stage @ 6:15 – 7:15 p.m.

M. Ward had a similar problem to the Walkmen, except, unlike them, I felt really guilty that I found his set a little blasé. He is a fantastic guitarist and singer, but I think he would have been better off either earlier in the day or playing one of the smaller indoor stage. His act was nice because it diversified the line up a bit and I think some of the older audience members really got into it, but the younger kids had a hard time staying awake.

Ward just had a tough act to follow after OK Go’s set and like I said, his problem wasn’t that he isn’t talented. Simply poorly placed in the line up.

Set List:
Sad Sad Song
Chinese Translation
Requiem
Epistemology
Fool Says
Poor Boy
Some Lucky Night
One Life Away/Lullaby Rag (acoustic)
Poison Cup
Four Hours
Magic Trick
To Save Me
Fahey/Fisher of Men
Nobody Like You
To Go Home
Vincent
Big Boat

Beethoven

Girl Talk // Esurance Music Stage @ 7:45 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Anybody who has heard of Girl Talk knows that Girl Talk tears it up every time. My friends had never experienced Girl Talk and I had to rush off to an interview before this set, so I gave them a little tip: stay close to the front before this set and keep your eyes open. Why would I give this tip? Because Girl Talk is a DJ that likes to be surrounded by people, toilet paper and lots of confetti…sometimes blow ups and balloons, but those were missing this time around.

Anyways, my smart friends took my advice and soon noticed a line toward the side of the stage and hopped in the line. This line was to get on stage with Girl Talk and to dance your heart out. So as Girl Talk blasted his spin on modern and classic hits, my friends got to dance up close and personal on one of the most epic stages in the United States.

I got out of my interview to join the rest of the audience getting covered in the rain, toilet paper and confetti and I loved every messy minute of it. Girl Talk has to be the love of everyone…well, maybe not the security and clean-up crews, but still, you know what I mean.

Of Montreal // Southern Comfort Presents Stage @ 8:45 – 9:30 p.m.

It is weird to say this, but Of Montreal was kind of tame this time around. No guitars were given out like at Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza at the end of the set. No guest performers. No balloons. Even the costumes weren’t quite as crazy as usual. They still had the gas mask Christmas story and they had the little dance bits with the people in black.

So since I wasn’t as distracted by the other stuff that usually accompanied their set, I was actually left to focus on their music this time around. Guess what? It was still fucking amazing. Great keys, falsettos and guitars and all while every band member moved around and danced.

Set List:
Intro
Mingusings
Fashion
Seine
Cato
Forecast
Rapture
Id Engager
Faberge
Elegant Castle
Touched
Eluardian
Heimdalsgate

Rejector

Yeah Yeah Yeahs // Esurance Music Stage @ 9:30 – 11 p.m.

I want to be Karen O. This is a woman so creative that she can wear jackets more colorful than Joseph’s technicolor dreamcoat. So bold she has no problem spitting like a man. And so talented that she can be caressing the vocals to a love song one moment, “They don’t love you like I love you,” and then going into a loud yowl, “I do! I do love you!”

Karen O owns the stage and uses every square inch for her dance moves and she never tires as she hops around. Watching her, it is almost easy to forget that Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a band and there are other people on the stage. I’ve seen this band multiple times and tonight was the first time that I really watched the rest of the band. Nick Zinner has some great guitar lines, but I finally noticed him as a performer tonight. He often just stands off to the side in a too cool for school leather jacket with his lower lip out in a concentrated pout as he plays. This show he seemed to finally interact and Karen and Nick even came together in an embrace at one point.

Each song was better than the last as the band went through old and new hits. “Cheated Hearts” into “Headz Will Roll” into the normal full version of “Maps” just made for a non-stop dance party and singalong.

It was  a great way to end the night and left the crowd psyched and ready for day two of the festival.

Set List:
Runaway
Dull Life
Honey Bear
R Tung
Shame
Gold Lion
Zero
Miles Away
Skeletons
Hysteric
Soft Shock
Cheated Hearts
Headz
Maps (full)
Dates

Look for the Sunday follow-up soon!

Monolith Festival: website

Arriving in the Seattle Center on Sunday proved that people don’t give a shit about the weather when good music is involved. It reminded me of a movie I recently saw – “Taking Woodstock,” where the famous Woodstock festival was almost put to a halt because of a terrible rainstorm.

We’re Seattle, it doesn’t affect us much.

But in defiance of the sky’s will, the rain did stop and start during various times during the day – the most ironic one actually was during the Cold War Kids set on the main stage when they started playing their hit “Hang Me Up To Dry.” Seriously. Everyone had just put on their hooded raincoats, and the sun came out all of sudden. It was magical. Even the front man Nathan Willett noticed it – “clothes are just coming off all over the place.” For being the first set on the main stage, the Cold War Kids rocked Memorial Stadium. Guitarist Jonnie Russell brought a lot of the charisma to the stage, switching instruments, and beating a cymbal with a maraca. It took a little while for the crowd to build up their energy, seeing that it was early in the day, and wet, but the Cold War Kids didn’t really give a crap about the rain. They played some old songs and some new songs, but since I was pretty close to the stage, I noticed that the crowd sucked compared to Saturday. But it was early yet, so I didn’t mind.

And they were great warm up for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who were next on the main stage.

Holy crap, I’m so glad I had a second chance to see them. They came to the Sasquatch Festival back in May, and I missed them because Bon Iver played at the exact same time, and when I saw that they were playing at Bumbershoot too, I jumped to joy.

Let me tell you – that is one live show you can’t afford to miss. Karen O came bounding on stage in this multi-colored stringy, almost harness-like get up, with a equally colorful cape, and Nick came out with his ridiculously awesome hair and dark pair of wayfarers, and they killed it. The rain had started again by then, but I couldn’t count how many people crowd surfed in that hour-and-a-half. A few people around me actually were dropped because people weren’t paying attention to them enough to remember to hold them up. Karen said over and over how awesome the crowd was – and I couldn’t argue with her. We were singing along to slower hits like “Runaway” from It’s Blitz! and frantically jumping and dancing to older heavy hits like “Date With A Night.” Karen O is the epitome of a front-woman, with her melodic singing, fantastic shrieking, and something that sounds almost like an orgasm, especially during “Date With A Night” as she shouts “I’ll set you, I’ll set it off!” At this point, I was thinking to myself, “why are they playing at 2:30 p.m. in the afternoon?” The scheduling for Sunday didn’t make much sense, having Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the early afternoon and Jason Mraz being the headliner at 9:30 p.m. But that’s a testament to how great a show Yeah Yeah Yeahs put on.

During the last half of “Skeletons,” where Karen O wasn’t singing, and it was just a powerful keyboard solo, a huge gust of wind blew in and tossed the tarps lining the stage around like sails on a boat. I might have been the only one who thought it was cool, but it fit perfectly into the song. But the best part of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ set came when Nick switched to an acoustic guitar and we all knew “Maps” was coming.

“This is a song about love. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Seattle – Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Seattle – love.” And Karen O put her hand on her heart. Her stage presence reminds of Freddie Mercury – with her wild outfits and insurmountable amount of energy. It’s amazing. And on this day, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs could feel the love from Seattle, and Seattle – for sure – could feel the love from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

After my sister and I left the main stage, trotting through puddles and slowly ascending the wet stairs, we took a breather to have some lunch and shop around to give my sister’s back a rest. At 6 p.m., we headed over to the Broad Street Stage to catch the Vivian Girls. The audience was quite a bit smaller than Matt & Kim or Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head from the previous day, but the crowd they did have were really into it. But I think the Vivian Girls music is more fit for smaller clubs than large festivals. I haven’t heard much of their music, but oddly enough, they were very reminiscent of late 90s indie chick rock, but with a little more grungy edge. I’d like to think that Kurt Cobain would enjoy their music. That’s basically how I can describe it, with everything from their vocal stylings, fashion, and stage presence. My sister made some odd comparison as, “the less poppy Donnas.” I personally wouldn’t go see them again live, as I like my live shows to be slightly more energetic, but I listen to their self-titled record a lot. I’m a 90s kid, so the Vivian Girls are my kinda nostalgia.

At that point, the batteries in my camera died, so I had to run down the street to OfficeMax and pick up some more AAs before we got in line for Patton Oswalt at the Charlotte Martin Theater. I’ll just say this – I haven’t laughed that hard in…well I don’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. And I’m so glad I got to see him Sunday, because his set on Monday is during Franz Ferdinand – which is the one band I’m not missing for anything.

The last act of the night – Jason Mraz, I went merely to appease the wishes of my sister. I own one Jason Mraz album from when I was 14, and since then, my musical taste had changed a bit, so I wasn’t nearly as excited to see him as the thousands of girls and frat boys packed inside Memorial Stadium. It’s almost insane how much ladies go crazy for Jason Mraz. He has the appeal of a younger Dave Matthews, certainly with the instruments he works into his live performance. Even though it took me awhile to warm up to him, he’s awesome live. He’s way better than on his record, without a doubt. But it took him a long time to get to the more upbeat, crowd-pleasing songs. At the beginning, I was almost bored, as the songs didn’t fit the enthusiasm of the crowd and the greatness of the venue. This is where I questioned the scheduling again.

His beachy, surfer-dude, chill persona didn’t fit at 9:30 p.m. Chill music doesn’t work well with people who are already tired. But once he got to the second half of the show, and busted out with some Lionel Richie, everyone sang along to “party, karamu, fiesta, forever!” It didn’t make much sense to me, but I sang along as well. He played some more upbeat songs, “The Remedy” and “Coyotes,” which kept the energy up. By then, I was having fun, but what made me and the rest of the people around me extremely frustrated were the constant stream of people leaving. Now, we were towards the front of the crowd, and people who were much closer than we were left 20 minutes in. And they kept leaving throughout the show. I ask you – why squeeze your way to the most crowded area of the venue if you’re just going to leave halfway through? I don’t get it. The father with his 3-year-old standing right in front of me stayed all the way through. And it was adorable, especially during “I’m Yours,” when the 3-year-old sang all the words. That’s how big a spectrum Jason Mraz appeals to. You’ve got middle-aged women, frat boys, boy-crazy teenage girls, and fathers and their young sons.

By the end of Jason Mraz’s set and he played a wicked version of “Butterfly,” I was dancing along like the uber fangirl standing right next to me. From starting slow, to picking up the tempo and getting the crowd more involved, and ending with a bang – Mraz did not disappoint me. At that point, the scheduling made more sense having him as the headliner – because his fans love him.

I’ve still got one more day of this. Yes.

Bumbershoot: website | day 1

Written by: Abby Williamson

As much as I love music, sun and Chicago, it is a very fortunate thing that Lollapalooza is only a weekend long. Next year I am wearing a pedometer just so I can see how much I walked, although I’m not sure why this festival was so much more brutal when I have survived SXSW, Bonnaroo and even Lollapalooza before.

Though it was early in the morning and the final day, a large crowd had already amassed for Sam Roberts Band. Canadian flags with pot leaves in place of the maple were in no shortage as the jam rockers played their songs. While I doubt that I’d go out of my way to buy an album, it was fun to pick up on the choruses and singalong.

Friendly Fires was next on my agenda and I must say that the Brits (oh Los Campesinos, why couldn’t you play every day?) and all the other European bands that crossed the great pond for this fest owned it. Friendly Fires didn’t have that large of a crowd, but they had everybody dancing as they sang “Jump into the Pool” and other tunes. It was difficult to pull away from their set, but I knew my beloved string players in Ra Ra Riot had started their set at the opposite end of the festival.

Usually when watching Ra Ra Riot, I geek out over the strings, but today I finally saw how talented of a performer singer Wes Miles is as he was practically skipping about then even ran out to sing as close to the crowd as he could get from the barricade. Even though lyrically they can be a downer band, I was beaming as I watched his glee at performing at Lollapalooza.

Bat for Lashes tried to mystify with ethereal vocals, creepy angel dolls and shiny spandex.  The only thing I was really mystified by was why she played the piano by just poking it with her pointer fingers. I mean even if that’s all the song needs, the norm is to record the pattern then let it loop. It was just confusing. But she does have a great Bjork voice. I do think their stage show just might fit a little better in a foggy club than the bright outdoors.

I really wanted to see Cage the Elephant after Joshua told me their Bonnaroo made him think they were the next Nirvana. Not only were they late to the stage, but it was just a messy performance. I couldn’t even force myself long enough to hear the radio tune “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked”.

Severely disappointed, I went to the Airborne Toxic Event, whom have always impressed me in the past. The sound seemed off and I was in need of some more tunage that wasn’t so nostalgic, so I again band jumped to the Kaiser Chiefs.

I had an interview scheduled far too many blocks away, so I missed the next few acts, which was a bummer because I couldn’t even find the band I was supposed to interview and by this point, all the walking was making me feel like I would never move again (I later learned that my body aches were a bit more severe than I thought and not quite from the walking, but other problems. Eeks!).

The Raveonettes greeted me as I walked back into the fest. Finally, a band that was worth the hype! The vocals were amazingly powerful and I immediately was bummed that I didn’t run to see them in their entirety. Alas! Perhaps in the future, they’ll swing through my neck of the woods.

Preppy indie darlings Vampire Weekend came out in thick shades and brightly colored shorts in contrast to their usual khakis and cardigans. A more appropriate dress choice in the unbearable heat. They started off with a new number, but one I had heard before and as Ezra led the crowd through his little yelps and he rocked up on his toes, there was one clear thought I had about this band: they have the most tone deaf fans ever. The audience tries really hard to singalong with this band. They try really, really, really hard, but they are awful. At least the band is good. I know that it is just as popular to hate on this band as it is to love them. I happen to love them and find them and their tunes absolutely adorable (plus I’m a communications major and let’s be real–who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?).

The next bit of the festival is a bit of a blur as severe dehydration started to set in, my leg problem worsened and Ezra’s brilliant idea to make the crowd dance turned into a mosh pit that caused me to get pushed all the way to the front of what would later be a 200,000 person crowd. Exciting, but scary. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I felt about my new spot by the barricade. On one hand it was exciting. On the other, it was sad because there was no way I could get back through the crowd and see bands on other stages.

I did get to hear Cold War Kids and Silversun Pickups, but I couldn’t really see them. It was hella fun to be stared down by Snoop Dogg‘s guards on stage and be able to see his phenomenal drummer. I have to hand it to Snoop, he really knows how to work up a crowd (especially considering everybody up front seemed to be waiting for the Killers.

I guess I missed out on some excitement at the other end of the venue. Lou Reed went well over his set time, cutting into Band of Horses‘ set. A pissed off crowd apparently yelled “Fuck off, Lou” and “Boo,” but Band of Horses politely started their set and even kept playing after “The Funeral” ended and Jane’s Addiction started.

I doubt that anybody is surprised that I wanted to see the Killers over Jane’s Addiction and reports of crowd sizes between the two headlining stages make it sound like I was not in the minority. It also sounds like from other reports that I picked the better of the two shows. Perry may have started this festival, but it has outgrown him and his gaudy tactics.  A helicopter shined a spotlight on the audience, the band was joined by vaudevillian (cough prostitutes cough) characters and even invited Aerosmith‘s guitarist to join them for “Jane’s Says”. Yes, I am very glad I missed that abuse of music.

The Killers have a big stage show and lights, but at the heart of their performance, they don’t rely on the gimmicks that the night’s other headliner used. Their stage show was more so used to compliment the theme and vibe of the latest album. It enhanced the music instead of detracting. They had their palm trees and lights, and in the heat, it really did feel like the Killers transported all of us from Chicago to their home of Las Vegas.

The band has really grown into their element and while they have headlined countless European festivals, just this past year have they received that same honor in the States. I think this might have been their largest audience on U.S. soil.

As the Killers played, each song got better and bigger than the last. Singer Brandon Flowers seemed especially chatty and happy this night as he told the tale of how he and Dave Keuning first met and wrote “Mr. Brightside” (true story) to a mystical tale of the band’s travels to get to Lollapalooza (slightly exaggerated). Flowers’ extra happiness might be attributed to the fact that his second son was born the week prior to the festival.

Though I’ve seen this band many times before, they still brought out a few surprises like an extra verse addition to “Bling”, a song that was never a single, but has easily become one of their most popular live hits. And while there was no Lou Reed guest spot as many–myself included–speculated, this set still took Lollapalooza out with a a nice “twist with a shout.” Reference to obscure? Get yourself to an iPod or a Killers show asap.

Lollapalooza: Sunday in summary:
Best set of the day: We know I loved the Killers. What a great way to end the fest. I guess I’ll throw Friendly Fires a bone here, too.
Best surprises of the day: Aerosmith members during Jane’s is a surprise, but not a good one (please don’t let them headline 2010 like Perry joked). Band of Horses making up for Lou Reed stealing their set time and playing against Jane’s Addiction is pretty awesome.
Breakthrough of the day: Friendly Fires.
Biggest let downs of the day: Cage the Elephant. Ugh. Lou Reed. And no Lou Reed at the Killers, but my understanding is that again was Lou Reed’s fault and the Killers tried to get him to join them. Oh and that the root of my pain was not all the walking, but was a spider bite that has caused my leg to swell, turn red, give me a fever and is serious enough that I need to go the ER like asap.
Crazy crowd moment: Let’s just say that Snoop Dogg made some people who had just met feel extra close. I feel a bit scandalized.

Lollapalooza: website | schedule | set lists

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