The festival has now reached a good balance in the festival realm in terms of crowd size and control, food and drink options (mmm…Spicy Pie), and quality of bands. This year's lineup looked really good on paper, what with the reunions, rare performances and prime up-and-comers. But when I got up to the stage, ready for a “fuck yeah!” I was left underwhelmed. I'll chalk up my perpetual disappointment to the fact that I missed early-birds Avi Buffalo, Tijuana Panthers, OFF! and the Smith Westerns. A special thank you to our friend security for the delay… So with out further ado, a look at some bands that played after 3 p.m. (See Brandon Ferguson's additional, more positive, coverage here.)
Austin's the Strange Boys have gained moderate success riding the wave of the surf-influence garage rock revival. They returned to FYF this year for the fifth time, but veterans or not, their set ran monotonous and varied little from their signature sound. This isn't to say their signature sound isn't a good one, but forty minutes of the same tunes with minimal showmanship to at least try to break it up? No, thank you. They're a band that didn't seem to fair well in the sun-lit open air of a festival. Perhaps they would be better in a small, dark, sweaty venue where the audience excitement is palpable enough to bounce off the walls and on to the stage.
They attempted a cover of Sly and the Family Stone's “Everyday People” which could have been fun, but fumbled and giggled through the intro and aborted after about 45 seconds.
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another band we were wrongfully excited to see. We believed the hype.
Their set began abrasively with screeching feedback and not singing, but
more stylistic caterwauling. They had a very primitive punk sound,
similar to one a thirteen-year-old who just discovered Black Flag might
start. In between caustic explosions of noise-making, they delved into
long bouts of droning cacophonies.
performed a rather enthusiastic karaoke session, complete with off key
vocals, generic alt-rock instrumentation and everything! Would they have
been asked to play the main stage at 8 p.m. if they were
judged solely on their current stage performance and not their former
glory? No, probably not. They should thank the Descendants, who went on
right after them, for ensuring a crowd stuck around. “Some Drilling
Implied,” was the closing song and a few lyrics summed the our take on
the performance: “Of course I'm not complaining/ I'm simply dying/ Yes
I'm waiting [for this whiny set to be over].”
reunited this year after nearly five years of inactivity. They've made
up for lost time by playing just about every major music festival of the
summer. They played their dance-punk with the high-energy they're known
for despite troubles with the sound. They both had difficulty hearing
through the monitors and playfully sassed the sound guy to turn
everything up until he got it right. “Break that amp,” Sebastian
Grainger (vocals, drums) said. “It's okay. We're the last band.” They
handled it with good humor and didn't let it effect their performance.
see Death From Above 1979 live is to experience a sonic assault. The
experience similar to someone grabbing you by the shoulders and trying
to shake you out of your hysteria. Grainger was noticeably more high
pitched live than in their recordings, which at times lessened the
assault feel. They were as tight as if they had been playing the songs
all through their five year breakup. Sebastian closed out evening by
jumping off the main stage and singing atop the crowd.
one hell of a dance party. They played such intensely infectious
electro tunes that it's hard to stand still through one song. The set
began with an incredibly endearing welcome from Claire L. Evans
(vocals), claiming that in all honesty, Los Angeles is her favorite city
in the universe. After just a few songs it became apparent that their
recordings are incapable of capturing the vibrance of their live energy.
They seemed as if they were having as much fun as the audience and
indulged in a fair amount of audience interaction. For example, Evans
asked, “Do you guys have any questions?” One audience member yelled out
and asked what program they used to make the collection streaming images
behind them on stage. The video images ranged from ecstasy pills to
wild, blowtorch-like flames and all of which had a giant yellow triangle
with a smiley face placed in front of it.
