Most people wonder how it’s possible for me to give away free ice cream, but nobody seems to question exactly how a free newspaper can throw a free festival for tens of thousands of people. Somehow Village Voice has done it for six years now with the Siren Festival at Coney Island in Brooklyn.
Last year we sent Jeremiah out to cover Siren. He did an amazing job and, once all the shots were posted, I knew I had to be there the next time around. We tried to work some backstage cream slinging into the mix, but it wasn’t happening.
Jon pulled a triple last weekend and shot the Avett Brothers on Friday, Siren on Saturday, and the Pool Party on Sunday. It took a little convincing to get him out to Coney Island but after a late brunch, we were good to go. The first thing I noticed upon getting off the train was a HUGE mural by Os Gemeos from Brazil. I could have stared at that wall for an hour, but we were already behind schedule a bit.
It sounded like Celebration was rocking the Main Stage and Dirty on Purpose had just started playing “Light Pollution” on the Stillwell stage. We caught a little bit then tried to track down our photo and media passes. Once in hand, we went down the ramp behind the main stage to get in position for Tapes ‘n’ Tapes. The nice thing is that there is a good-sized area set aside up front for press and VIPs so you make it back and forth to the stages to get pics without fighting your way through the 20,000-plus people in attendance.
Tapes ‘n’ Tapes have got a good thing going. They were one of the bands that blew up at SXSW and a bidding war erupted for their self-released album, The Loon. I’ve listened to the album probably a dozen times but had yet to catch them live. “Cowbell” and “Just Drums” were two of the highlight tracks that got the crowd moving. I was surprised I was moving as much as I was considering a hangover from the Avett Brothers was still in effect.
We wanted to see more Tapes ‘n’ Tapes but Serena Maneesh were playing across the park and you never know when a band from Oslo, Norway is going to be stateside again. As I tried to walk in front of the speaker I think I felt my eardrum burst. Thankfully Jon had brought an extra set of plugs and I moved to center stage to catch most of their set. There are so many bands out there that list My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth as influences but so few ever touch upon the energy of either. Serena Maneesh does it right, mixing up all kinds of crazy sounds and beautiful, blistering noise.
The Stills are the poster boys for a perfect rock band. They’re cute, they rock, and there’s so little not to like. They mixed their sound up a bit and have been playing a lot of songs off their new album, Without Feathers. “In the Beginning” is a great pick-me-up and “Helicopters” somehow seemed fitting with so many things (roller coasters and such) flying over head. I leaned over to Jon and said, they’re like The Band— pure American music (even if they are from Canada).
Grabbed a quick beer and ran into Russell, who I met at Intonation. He’s doing a crazy MTV/Rolling Stone show and has been even more places than me recently. Damn I wanna go to Denmark. The
buzz was on for Art Brut and people were leaving early to get the
prime spots. They closed out all of Coachella this year and I couldn’t think of a better band to do so. The moment Eddie and the band jumped on stage, everyone was in for a treat.
Eddie is always spouting off that everyone in the crowd should start a band. He insists that if he can lead “an international touring pop band” than anyone can. They tore through a bunch of their hits, “Top of the Pops,” “Emily Kane,” “Moving to LA,” as well as playing one new song that was quite groovy (first word to come to mind so I’m sticking with it).
Scissor Sisters were getting ready to take the main stage and it was packed. We barely made our way up to the edge right as things were getting going. They started off with “Take Your Mama Out Tonight” and the novelty of their act wears off quickly… once you realize how good the band, and the music, is. The next song featured an electric banjo that somehow fits perfectly into the funk/disco/rock mix. It was a bit too crowded and Stars were about to go on so we made one final jaunt back to the Stillwell stage to finish things off.
I’m still not sure how to describe Stars. They’re yet another talented band from Canada that play ethereal pop music that their fans go absolutely nuts over. I recognized a couple tracks and dug the trumpet and violin. The young girls behind me, who were singing along to just about every word, made me smile. Since I’m such a big fan of so much of the music from Canada these days, I’m gonna make a vow to check out one of their albums. Any recommendations on where to start? For the encore, Torquil came out then had the DJ play Lou Reed’s “Coney Island Baby” for everyone as they wandered back to subway and points north.
Check out our Siren Festival Review from 2005
