popwreckoning

While Friday’s staggering lineup kept spirits pumped despite the slosh, Saturday’s sun was a fresh start with bikini tops and fedoras aplenty. We started the day off proper by discovering the backstage VIP Media area, as well as the VIP bathrooms and VIP booze. Kicking ourselves for not discovering this music Mecca when the monsoon hit the day before, we didn’t hesitate to take shade when invited to enjoy a refreshing Grey Goose with Mr. Kool Keith himself. Wrapped in a silvery-sequined-babushka and sporting a deer-in-headlights vibe, Kool Keith, Dr. Octagon, and all of his multiple personalities of dysfunction and smut, mingled backstage with Ice-T who made a special appearance during Keith’s set.  Adrian Grenier chilled out back there before his set with The Honey Brothers, as well as members of My Bloody Valentine…and all their kids.

Lured by the sounds of sweet St. Vincent, we ditched backstage and caught Annie Clark making beautiful noise. It seems as if only she can make distortion seem elegant. Then we moved on to Chairlift, a band which has unfortunately ended up being a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. While I really like their debut, I couldn’t help but feel kind of silly as tweens, in their braided headbands and high-waisted stonewashed short shorts, bum rushed the stage. Maybe it was the iPod commercial (look what happened to Santigold after her Coors commercial) or maybe it’s the fact that there are lots of bands, past and present, making dream pop with a synthesizer and a Brooklyn-based siren doing it a lot better, but I lost interest after the third song and headed over to the Main Stage for My Bloody Valentine, with a brief stop off to check out Neko Case.

I can only describe My Bloody Valentine’s set as a music geek’s wet dream. If you didn’t do your homework, you just won’t get it and I think it’s safe to say many Tool fans played hooky that day. There’s a certain danger to the music. It’s challenging, both physically and mentally. It’s deafening, ear bleeding, soundscape is an almost violent experience, yet there’s something thrilling in the sheer destruction of the sound, something refreshing in the utter obliteration that the music promises.

Crystal Castles hands down stole the night for me. Everyone showed up to see Alice Glass and Ethan Kath blow the big top off All Points West including John Norris and the MTV crew who were broadcasting from the side of the stage. Dear Alice & Ethan: please don’t do a beer commercial no matter what Norris and his ridiculous turquoise skinny jeans tease you with. Wielding a strobe as her weapon of choice, Alice fired and screeched from the top of gigantic booming speakers and revelers gave over to the piercing thrash of electronica’s reigning king and queen. Worship I did.

Educated by Tool as a teen and never having seen them live, I was hungry for a peek at Maynard James Keenan’s mug and wanted to feel the Undertow. Unfortunately, the notoriously private troupe denied photo privileges and Maynard remained cloaked in shadow throughout the entire set. While I understand that graphics and visual art play a large part in the band’s schema, there was definitely an element of disappointment. We came to Jersey to see you, not a video of a stone baby melt into some sort of unidentified arthropod. We rode the subway for an hour and a half, took the stank PATH train, a shuttle, and then walked 1.5 miles in the sulfur-simmering mud to see you.  You. There’s nothing wrong with giving fans what they want. You wanna rock about transcendence? Show Your Bones, like Karen O.

Photos: Dese’Rae Stage

Welcome back, readers!  I’m really excited to write any of the long overdue posts dedicated to one of the many musical loves of my life, Mr. Bob Marley.  He’s been there through the good times, the bad times, the fun times whether I was by myself in my room, at parties, or on vacations to the Bahamas.  His music is universally known and unlike anyone else’s, so I am happy to finally share with you Under Cover – Bob Marley Edition.
–

.Bob Marley – “I Shot The Sheriff” (original 1973)
I remember hating this Bob Marley song when I first heard it as a kid, but that’s just ‘cuz I didn’t know any better.  “I Shot The Sheriff” is about as awesome as it is hysterical.  There was all this controversy when Ice-T‘s group Body Count put out “Cop Killer”, a song with similar themes, and he reportedly was perturbed Marley’s song never hit the same nerve.  Hmmm… that’s probably because his version must be the happiest-sounding reggae song about killing cops and facing potential punishment ever written.  How can anyone get mad when the background singers pop in with their high-pitched “oohs” and try to appease the situation by reminding everyone that even though he swore it wasn’t self defense, still he “did not shoot the deputy?”  With all that twangy guitar just try slapping handcuffs on the man… you’ll be too busy getting down and busting a groove.

.Eric Clapton cover (1974)
Sometimes I get annoyed when artists release covers too soon after an original version to provide any groundbreaking new perspective, but I’m willing to overlook my peeve for Eric Clapton.  With all the same attitude and swagger of Stevie Wonder‘s “Superstition”, Clapton conjured up a soulful rendition of the bluesy rock persuasion that would most certainly do Marley [or any Marley enthusiast] proud.  He incorporates slick piano and organ licks, sassy background vocals, and the same killer guitar riffs that make the original so memorable.  His version makes Marley’s reggae-tinged track more palatable for non-reggae lovers or newcomers to the genre who need to slowly work their way into the world of reggae.  I can’t seriously believe in Clapton as much when he sings that he “shot the sheriff,” but I can’t deny that he is and always will be one serious instrumentalist.

–

.Bob Marley – “Waiting In Vain” (original 1977)
“I don’t want to wait in vain for your love.” Oh Bob!  Have you ever felt that a song was so good it actually makes you want to cry?  Well, enter “Waiting In Vain”.  I may sometimes tell people “Redemption Song” is my favorite Bob Marley song, but for the most part that’s a lie– it’s actually “Waiting In Vain”.  It’s sweet, beautiful, melancholy, all that great ambivalent stuff and the lyrics are as simple as the message of love is true blue.  I can relate to this song on many levels.  Being one of those “born ready” types, I feel like much of my life has been waiting on something, on someone.  So, I enjoy laying around in my imaginary hammock to this song on full blast since the dulcet tones coo in my ear and utterly soothe my soul unlike anything else.  And if the way he genuinely sings “In life I know, there’s lots of grief / but your love is my my relief / tears in my eyes burn, while I’m waiting for my turn” doesn’t tug at your heartstrings just a little bit, you may need to see a heart specialist… to make sure you do indeed have one.

.Annie Lennox cover (1995)
As if the last week‘s Annie Lennox lovefest wasn’t enough for you, I’m back with her gorgeous rendition of “Waiting In Vain” that some readers may recognize was featured in one of my favorite movies of all time Serendipity during that very memorable proposal scene (sigh!) with Kate Beckinsale.  Her voice is full of such yearning, desire, and love that it’s hard to believe she’s singing somebody else’s words because she makes the song sound entirely her own.  Lennox’s version ups the dramatic factor from the original as she sings with much more intensity, adds her signature moody synth, and there’s much more pick up that culminates with a blaring melange of vocals and horns.  It’s just a super lovely interpretation that I just wish I’d known about sooner.  Talk about waiting in vain!