Saturday
I was skeptical at first. I was ready to dub Cymbals Eat Guitars as just another whiny boy band. Man, was I dead wrong! Starting out with their breakout track “And the Hazy Sea,” the trio from Staten Island (Not Brookyln, for once!) took everyone in the crowd to their own special world where having a quick attention span is actually a good thing. That one song alone soothed the raging emotions each and everyone of us has in us. Check out their debut album “Why There are Mountains.” Please and thank you.
Holding true to their name, Fucked Up is really fucked up. First of all, the big burly man you see sprayed Pepsi all over us photographers (not cool!). Sensing our anger, he started to deflate beach balls with his teeth and put them on his head. Pure photo candy. I’ve always had a love for hard-core music. Such music leaves me in a satisfied yet far from a “fucked up” mood as the band wants you to think. These Canadians are awesome and makes Toronto (where they’re from) look totally bad-ass.
Never in my entire life have I seen a band smoke on stage as much as The Dutchess and the Duke. Seriously, in between songs, nearly every band member would take a break to smoke. As unhealthy as smoking is, I found it to be incredibly tasteful: attached to something that can kill you, yet utterly independent and free-willed enough to create amazing music that can soothe you. Lead singer Jesse Lortz gave an aura of complexity that was hard to descipher. Maybe it was her glasses, the yearning voice of her partner, Kimberly Morrison, or simply the chill Seattle attitude.
Ponytail is my guilty pleasure. They are nuts, simply nuts. As I mentioned in my preview article, Ponytail creates the kind of music that tyrants would listen to before invading a city. At first glance, the Baltimore band seemed pretty normal. But once they started singing, they were anything but normal. The crowd went nuts when the lead “singer,” Molly Siegel, jumped off stage and greeted them with her classic “KEEEMMMPPHH” and “OOOOAAAHHHOAH” noises. It was quite a sight, and quite the tune.
Last fall, someone said to me that the Pains of Being Pure at Heart were going to be the “next big thing.” They pretty much had it right. The darling band! Great performance by all of them. The dreamy, pop driven band from New York were very photogenic to the crowd and the photographers. You could just tell by looking at them that they were some pretty cool folk. Peggy Wang is simply adorable while playing Keyboard and the other three, Kip Berman, Kurt Feldman, and Alex Naidus were just as talented and emotionally charged.
“Oh, I hope Nathan breaks down during the first three songs so I can get a good shot of him,” a fellow photographer muttered to me before Wavves came on. This comment, admittedly, did not come as a surprise to me. I, too, was secretly hoping something ‘exicitng’ would occur. I knew about Nathan’s breakout in Barcelona, but hadn’t really given it much thought on the well, artistic level. Unfortunately, us photographers were not allowed in the pit. I’m still not sure why, although many suspected that Nathan would not have been able to handle it.
I don’t know how they do it. Matt & Kim are not only are in a band together, but they have also been in a relationship for six some odd years. Simple yet elegant, their music, and attitude, riled up even the snobbiest of music lovers. They do have quite the potty mouth though. Between songs Matt would shout out something like “Let’s fucking play till there’s nothing left!” or Kim would yell “Beyonce gets really low like, vagina against the floor low!” and would then start to, well ride low. Even us photographers were chanting “yeah, yea” along with the crowd.
Black Lips.
Black Lips hands down gave the best performance of the night. After us photographers were kicked out after the third song, many of us decided to stay and dance, including me. I found my friends who were visiting from the CU area and we danced — thrashed — to “O, Katrina” and “Cold Hands.” the Black Lips truly put on a stunner. The crowd got so large toward the end, that many of us simply fell backwards, without falling. One of the greatest experiences I have ever had.
After safely arriving home and sensing a high, I ended the day tweeting that I “reeked of pot, cig smoke, PBR, and awesomeness.” It was the truth.