Monster and I mean MONSTER hangover. I suppose that’s what you get after a night of heavy drinking with some of the best music in my opinion on the planet. Ears ringing and throat dry as a bone I woke up to the burning sunlight of 1pm. I felt like I was back in college. My bud Saylor, an early riser, was out at the pool. Trunks on, I went for a dip. Who needs a shower when you have an over chlorinated pool anyway? Cooled off, we ventured into what was to be an epic day of music. Stopping by my buddies much more well equipped pool at a resort near the venue we decided to continue the ongoing attempts to cool off in the blaring midday heat avoiding the sun and crowds. Snobby move I know, but I don’t care. Entering the venue we walked past campers, some of which had been living in these sweltering conditions for more than 24 hours. I felt their pain… oh wait no I didn’t. We were on a mission toward the music and so we trekked through the throngs of tank topped bros and scantily clad women all of which could have easily jumped out of the pages of an Urban Outfitters catalog. First stop of the day was the Outdoor Stage for one of my favorite bands of last year, Tune-Yards.
With her crazy looping drums and vocals New England native (woot woot!) Merrill Garbus plowed through a 45 minute set using songs like “Gangsta” and “My Country” as books ends to a great show. Backed by a bassist and a horn section she filled the second biggest stage appropriately. It was an epic way to kick off day two. High energy is all we could have asked for.
With the water spray/ cooling guns manned by stage security out in full force the crowd seemed alive. Blue skies and music blaring from every direction we made our way to the main stage to catch a couple of tunes from Kaiser Chiefs. I think we used Kaiser Chiefs as an excuse to walk back over toward the VIP food area because we didn’t stay at the main stage for more than a tune or two. The music however was quite good and I know their following is die hard so they will be a band I will be looking into soon.
In an attempt to start some sort of sick, twisted and delicious tradition we hit the Kogi Truck again. Ryan, pictured above, prepped for his Spicy Pork and I licked my lips for what was the best short rib burrito on the planet. So delicious. As we sat on the grass looking over the schedule and literally housing burritos and beers (hair of the dog, what can I say) we realized our day was about to get even better.
Saylor and I play in the ONLY 90′s tribute band in LA. Click here for more info. Shameless plug, whatever. That being said we are also completely obsessed with all things Oasis and now that they are no longer we have resorted to an obsession with the “better” of the two Gallagher brothers, Noel. With his new album and his High Flying Birds he took the stage and ripped into two Oasis covers, “(It’s Good) To Be Free” and “Mucky Fingers”. I was standing way to close to front row for my own good. Taking full advantage of my photo pass I stepped in front of the rail to take it all in. He played a bunch of tunes off his new record. Most importantly “If I Had A Gun…” which he dedicated to his wife and also “AKA What A Life” which is probably my favorite new tune he has released.
Closing the show Noel played a pitch perfect rendition of the Oasis classic “Don’t Look Back In Anger”. Everyone and I mean everyone was singing the words. Even the assholes who were just talking through the whole show next to me stopped and sang along. With what looked like a smile the normally disgruntled/ coolest dude on the planet Oasis frontman left the stage leaving an ecstatic crowd in the dust.
On a complete and total high we looked to keep it going. A top priority of the day was to see the elusive Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel fame. He wrote the songs of Neutral Milk Hotel many years ago but has gained a massive cult following. Sitting in a chair at the center of the massive second stage he gave each song the treatment it deserved. Ryan was more familiar with the record/ band, but as Jeff moved through songs such as “King of Carrot Flowers Part 1″ and “Two-Headed Boy” I remembered the one time many years ago someone introduced me to Neutral Milk Hotel and I stupidly ignored them.
Never to late to get into a ‘new’ band right? He stopped his set mid way through to make sure someone who had passed out in the front row was ok. Very caring, conversational and appreciative of his audience he played until he ran out of songs. I must say I think this set was a surprise favorite of the weekend for me. I know the band hasn’t been around for many years, but if Jeff Mangum comes to a town near you you better get your buns out there and see him. I haven’t seen a show on that level for a long time. People care about his music and it was easy to see by the energy of the crowd that the tunes he has written are important and special. With a horn section and a drum backing his final chords Mangum serenaded us into the evening of day 2.
Here’s the part where I tell you my day load of free beer turned into night beers turned into I can’t write the rest of this blog because I have no idea what happened. NO. We were good and paced ourselves as to try and remember the night of music ahead. Schedule in one hand and frosty brew (not brews like last night) we marched into the guest viewing area for The Shins.
Opening with the energetic tune “Simple Song” my interest was immediately peaked. I knew The Shins as “the band from ‘Garden State’” which I now regret. James Mercer has assembled a sick line up including LA’s own Jessica Dobson on vocals and guitar who has played with Beck and her own band Deep Sea Diver. She shreds hard. To see her play up close was a treat. One thing that really took me by surprise was James mercer’s vocals. The soaring tenor commanded the stage and was appropriate for all of the songs especially the mellow cover of ‘Helpless’ written by Neil Young. A great treat. Before that they played the hit “New Slang” and finally ended with a new tune off their new record called “Port Of Morrow” to end yet another surprisingly awesome set of music.
At this point in the day we had a choice. We stay put and see Bon Iver who has been just massive on the indie circuit and had just come off a best new artist win at the Grammys despite putting out one of the sleepiest records (in my opinion) ever or we could go relax somewhere else and watch from a distance. Watching from a distance won out over potentially falling asleep on top of the diehard Bon Iver fans. I snuck up front to snap a couple of photos, but I’d be lying to you if I said I was into it and or stayed up front for more than 30 seconds. His stage set up however was really impressive and the live sound was really good, just not for me at that moment in time. I was way to geared up for Radiohead’s headlining show.
Lounging on the grass being lulled to sleep we took to the schedule to see what was what. Do we risk a good up front spot for Radiohead and see Miike Snow? Or do we just chalk it up to that old festival motto that ‘it’s impossible to see all the bands you want to see’. We opted for spots for Radiohead. To be honest I never really gave Radiohead the time of day until recently. OMG! What? Huh!? Yea I know right? I just never got into them. It took a lot of coaxing by my other musically obsessed friends to turn me. Needless to say I was very excited for my first Radiohead experience. We fought the crowds leaving the Bon Iver show to secure a good spot. Considering I was completely hammered and claustrophobic as was the night before, the 45 minutes we waited for the band to start seemed to go by in a flash. At 11:05 on the dot Thom York and Co. took the stage, ripped into ‘Bloom’ and ’15 Step’ and we were off.
I don’t know too much about Radiohead, but I know one thing. They are the tightest live band I have ever seen in my life. The ability to start and stop on a dime and with duel drumming and all kinds of poly rhythms my mind was blown. They played crowd favorites such as ‘Karma Police’, ‘Pyramid Song’, ‘You and Who’s Army?’, ‘Exit Music (For A Film)’ and ‘Paranoid Android’ and during the second encore they played one of my personal favorites from “In Rainbows” a tune called ‘House of Cards’.
Content and satisfied we walked with the masses through the parking lots and camp sites. You could still feel theheat coming off the cars as radio’s blasted the albums of the bands that had played earlier in the day. For some it seemed the party was only beginning as the Silent Disco tent was going off and people were ready to just drink their faces off. Tired and weary I however was not one of them. If there is one thing I have learned from years of music festivals I learned that Sunday is the hardest day to get through but is always the best as grande finales often are. Stay tuned…
By: Steve Rippin | Beat-Play Ambassador Los Angeles | @stevewithMWL|Music Without Labels & Beat-Play, LLC
