popwreckoning

With the summer fog and windy chill separating the locals from the ill-prepared tourists, day 3 of the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park had both moments of brilliance and powerful performances across the festival’s seven stages. If you missed day 1 or day 2, check them out now!

Matt & Kim
Almost too happy for their own good, the duo of Matt and Kim bounced through their Casio-infused set including “Daylight” and “I Wanna.”

The Dead Weather
All of the elements were in place for The Dead Weather’s mid-tempo performance on Sunday afternoon. The weather was indeed dead and gloomy and The Kills’ Alison Mosshart’s vocals were bluesy, primal and raw. While Jack White, pulling double-duty on drums and vocals, fits the personality of the band perfectly, he was overshadowed by Alison’s powerful onstage presence.

Modest Mouse
Proving that plaid may just be the new black, Modest Mouse played their set, curiously skipping their most radio-friendly tune “Float On.” While the show was enjoyable, I found that I would rather have a Modest Mouse experience which includes a comfy chair, good headphones and a copy of The Moon & Antarctica.

Loop!Station
Performing their third brilliant set in three days, Loop!Station shared part of their show with performers from the Vau de Vire Society.

Ween
Ween’s hard-core fans were out in large numbers to see the free-spirited absurdist-rockers on Sunday. Filling the spot occupied by Primus at last year’s fest, Dean Ween and Gene Ween (Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman) showed their cred as gifted guitarists.

M.I.A.
After her bratty reaction to the announcement of Tenacious D as replacement headliners for the Beastie Boys on the final day of festivities, M.I.A.’s performance did little to improve her image. M.I.A. (Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam) failed to generate much enthusiasm from the crowd, even after passing out hundreds of annoying toy horns which, coincidentally, sounded just like “boo” when played en masse. It was quite fitting that Street Sweeper Social Club’s version of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” was more inspired than her own.

Band of Horses
Shimmering with reverb, the Southern-tinged rock of Band of Horses was filled with warm and moving moments. Song such as “The Funeral” and “Ode to LRC” were part of a well-crafted and rousing set.

Tenacious D
Bringing skits, stunt doubles and shtick-heavy rock, Jack Black and Kyle Gass closed out the final night of the festival. After being named as replacements for Beastie Boys who dropped out due to the throat cancer diagnosis of Beastie’s Adam “MCA” Yauch, The D unleashed their “earthquake of rock” on the Bay Area.

We wish you the best, MCA!

For anyone who has been a rock n’ roll fan for all their lives, favoring the guitar as their instrument of choice, rocking out on the couch with an air guitar or closely touching stardom as a Guitar Hero, It Might Get Loud offers an exceptional and behind the scenes look at the electric guitar and how it has been held, shaped and molded by three prominent musicians of the past thirty years.

It Might Get Loud is a rock doc showcasing the electric guitar in the hands of Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s The Edge and The White Stripes/The Raconteurs/Dead Weather’s Jack White, and how each has utilized the instrument to shape the sound of their bands and define the use of the instrument as the centerpiece of rock. The title comes from a moment in the film where The Edge is about to shred some licks, warning us that “it might get loud for a second.”

Oscar winning director Davis Guggenheim does an excellent job in keeping the story far removed from the history of the bands and their prominence in rock lore; i.e. he avoids the sex, drugs, history, the Robert Plants and the Bonos and focuses solely on the three featured musicians and their personal histories with the guitar, what inspired them and how they came to define their respective signature styles.

The film is centered around a small, unscripted summit that takes place on a sound stage in Los Angeles, where The Edge, White and Page three musicians meet together for the first time for a very cool jam session, showcasing their talents and spontaneity, all the while throwing back and forth chatter about how they develop ideas and discussing how they created guitar riffs for some of their classic songs. Each immediately falls into their appropriates space in history: Jimmy Page is clearly the Rock God and the most proficient, the idol to the other two; The Edge takes his spot as the ever creative sideman; and Jack White is the brash young new comer trying to prove himself, evidenced by an early statement of his in the film, “I’m basically going to trick them into teaching me all their tricks.” The doc also branches out into side chapters, focusing on the story of each musician, their beginnings and growth and how they manipulate the guitar to do what they want it to do.

Jimmy Page is the soft-spoken, English gentleman, distinguished and charming in his dialogue and demeanor. He takes us through his beginnings as an extensive and highly coveted studio guitarist, his start in The Yardbirds and finally his development in Led Zeppelin. We are given insight into his self taught hard rock techniques, a tour of his record collection and the sounds that inspired him as he sings a long to some of his favorite songs and air guitars the licks. We are then blessed with a tour of the country house in which the legendary Led Zeppelin IV was recorded followed by an impromptu version of “The Battle of Evermore” on his mandolin.

The Edge takes us back to U2’s roots through a tour of their old school, the room in which they practiced, and the concrete slab outside where they played one of their first shows. We then visit his studio littered with effects electronics, laptops, showing us just how he is truly a sonic effects architect, as Page describes him. He makes a poignant note in the film that is otherwise lacking in the documentary. He plays an incredible U2 anthem riff, and then unplugs everything to show that the actual riff is in fact bare bones, uninspiring and hardly worth note. It highlights exactly how he is able to turn that basic sound into something incredible, which shows why a guitarist himself is responsible for the sound on his instrument.

Jack White’s story takes us back to his Tennessee roots, how he prefers minimalism and despises the use of technology on such an instrument, all the while showing us that you need not more than a piece of wood, some wire, nails and a coke bottle to make an electric guitar. His intensity is displayed in concert footage whereby he strums the hell out of his guitar so hard that his hands bleed, red pouring all over his six string, while he continues to passionately drive the wires till the end of the tune.

The highlight of the film is the summit where the three meet, discuss and play and we note the personalities of all. Page steals the spotlight with his character and ability to play the guitar as an extension of himself, effortless, as if it’s another arm. The Edge is the modest instrumentalist, while White is the most aggressive bundled with the most attitude and urgency to show his worth. A smile inducing moment is that no matter how successful and prolific The Edge and White may be, when Page starts ripping out “Whole Lotta Love”, the other two grin like little boys, awe inspired by the Guitar God they have always idolized.

The film succeeds aesthetically as well, from featuring old concert footage, photos, and amazing close ups of various guitars, at smooth angles and vibrant colors, dents and bruises of love and use, broken strings and shining perspiration. It Might Get Loud is a light and insightful look at the electric guitar from three of it’s greatest handlers, that any rock aficionado or musician alike will take pleasure in.

Watch the trailer:

It Might Get Loud opens tomorrow, Friday, August 14, 2009.

It Might Get Loud: website | show times