The first day of Treasure Island started off a little rough. The truck was parked on the island already, so we caught the festival provided shuttle, which got lost a little before we finally arrived at the front gates. We packed some ice cream in the hand carrier, and gave it out to the VIPs before catching a few acts. Zion I rocked the main stage while I waited for Honeycut, a local San Francisco dance rock quartet, to start. The band had a 70’s funk sound, which was only heightened by the energetic dancing of all the band members, but mostly the lead singers popping and locking and the keys player frantic jumping. They asked the crowd about Rennaisance Fair and Burning Man, to mild applause. The band ended with a smooth harmonica and bass driven song, aptly titled “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life.”
Ghostland Observatory, the second band on the main stage, was a name I had heard a lot, but never knew much about (besides that they were a duo from texas). What I got was unexpected: two guys, one in a cape, one with long, pig-tail braids making electronic music with screaming vocals that sounded a bit like MSI. I also noticed that the photographer’s pit was cramped as they all tried to capture the spastic dancing: a cross between Mick Jagger, a raver on ecstasy and the occasional dropping-down-get-your-eagle-on. Aaron Behrens was effemenitate, but also seemed damn crazy – like he could hurt you if he wanted to.
After GO, I decided to stay in place for MIA. The little lady took the stage and the bass was so loud I could feel it in my heart. MIA donned what looked like a peacock bra over her outfit for about a minute before she opted to swing it into the air, revealing the letters M I A in shiny gold that matched her leggings. She yelled at the crowd, “I know you can get freaky!” and everyone stepped their dancing up a notch or two. She then encouraged some ladies to get on stage, which ended up being about 20 girls and one boy, including a few people on stilts. After the stage cleared, MIA climbed the rafter of the stage, prompting on of the stage hands to look worried and follow her (what was he planning on doing, catching her if she fell?). I also noticed Gil, the leadman for Mexican group Kinky, on the side of the stage, singing along to “Bucky Done Gone” and looking very happy.
Flosstradamus, a DJ duo, mixed songs and caused everyone to dance. When one person dances alone, it can look pretty stupid, but when you’ve got that giant crowd of dancing people, it’s just an awesome mosaic of movement, colors, and flailing limbs. The duo had 30 minutes to rock the crowd, and told them they were going to give it all they got (which included Daft Punk and Ying Yang Twins’ ever popular “Wait” bassline that DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist had just used in their set about 20 minutes before).
Kinky was the band I had been itching to see. Backstage, I had just met their singer Gil, and told him I would be in the front row to watch him play. The band opened with Stan Ridgeway’s “Mexican Radio,” which is not only a great song in my opinion, but also seemed like a well-practiced joke to the band. The whole crowd picked up on the joke, and smiled and laughed along with them. I realized it would be loud set during soundcheck, but Kinky literally made my eardrums rattle (I’ve still not recovered). One of the things I always liked about Kinky is how every member looks like he should be in a different band. The keyboard/synth player looks like he should be in a Madness cover band, where the bassist always dons a cowboy hat. I counted over ten cymbals on the drum set, and at least three cowbells. Gil yelled “estan listos?” and “are you ready” over and over during the set. He also said, “I know you might be tired, and I know you might be cold, pero estamos aqui para calientarlos!” The frontman also happens to be a hugely talented trumpeter, and showed off those skills during the set. “Ejercico #16” was especially good, as Gil rolled his head according to the directions in the song. “Mas y Mas” caused the energy to peak, as the chorus, “vamos quieriendo mas y mas” repeated over and over, each time making the audience jump higher. Two things of note: the lighting was amazing during this set (kudos lighting guy), and Kinky also kept referring to San Francisco as San Pancho (why I haven’t exactly figured out yet)ed. note: in Spanish Pancho is a common nickname for Francisco].
Day two of the Treasure Island Music Festival definitely had a lot more people in attendance, and less of these people were on drugs, which made my day a little easier. After meeting up with some friends, we all went to the small stage to watch the [Trainwreck Riders, a local San Francisco group that I’ve seen rock basements and large venues equally. The crowd was a-moving as the four piece blasted through the thirty minute set time allotted to all Tunnel Stage performers.
Two Gallants was the second band on the bigger stage, the Bridge Stage. I was pretty excited to see this band, and they definitely did not disappoint. I saw many familiar faces, including people who had driven far and wide to come to this festival just to see 2Gs. The band started off with a sad song I didn’t recognize (“Despite What You’ve Been Told”), and I really did feel that the two boys seemed pretty sad, though admirably clean shaven. In a couple of songs, the boys utilized a wonderful fiddler by the name of Anton. He basically changed my whole conception of fiddlers, as he was just as emotionally attached to the songs as the other two, and sang along, or screamed. Anton rocked the fiddle, then unplugged and ran offstage, never to be seen again during the set. Two Gallants played a lot of crowd pleasers (anything these guys play usually will please a crowd) including “Seems Like Home To Me” and “Summer Day”, which had everyone singing along and dancing. Tyson echoed the sentiments of so many people I met during this festival when he said, while thanking the crowd for coming, “we grew up here, but rarely came to the island.”
M. Ward did some serious musics on the main stage. There were so many people I couldn’t even get close to the front. So I actually went and ate lunch backstage while listening to M. Ward and his band (he had five or six musicians that sounded just as talented as the leadman). While eating, I looked around and noticed a good percentage of people tapping their toes to the music, which is as great an achievement as any, since most of the people back there were either musicians or touring folk, long since bored with a lot of music. I got back out into the crowd for the end of M. Ward’s set (after I had Chris Chu crush a ping pong ball with his hands) right in time to catch the reactions when he said that Portland was the greatest city in the world before slowly adding, “besides San Francisco.”
The next band on the Bridge Stage was Sea Wolf. They were definitely well practiced and sounded great, cramming six people onto the stage with ease. The band consists of two guitars, synth and keyboard, a cello, drums and bass, and crafted soft tunes, similar to what you might hear playing in the background of college student’s dorm room during finals (I know that sounds weird, but it’s the first thing I thought of).
I want to take this time to mention that whoever hired the entertainment, creepy people on stilts along with creepier, bug/vegetable-costumed accordion players and singers, is either a genius or crazy. I can’t figure it out yet.
I headed backstage for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah because there was no way I could get through the crowd. Someone occasionally addressed the audience in what sounded like happy banter, but I couldn’t understand it. “What did he just say?” I asked my friend, “I dunno,” she replied, “his speaking voice is like that too.” This band definitely got the crowd into their set; I clearly remember someone getting the audience to yell Satan a couple of times before going into a jam.
I somehow worked my way to the front of the main stage for Built To Spill. This is a band I’ve always heard about, but never really listened to. I can see why everyone seems dedicated to this band, they seem to have the sound that a lot of other bands are influenced by. Built to Spill definitely had their act together, and although I couldn’t really judge them due to lack of knowledge on the material, all the fans surrounding me were definitely happy with the performance.
I got out of the crowd early, and headed over to the free photobooth. I love how these free photobooths keep showing up at festivals, it keeps me entertained to no end. Treasure Island Music Festival also had a ferris wheel (not free) and lots of booths, including one that put in hair extensions and did face painting. I definitely had all the Vitamin Water I could drink, both backstage and at their booth. By the time Built to Spill ended, I was hyped up on a shot of Vitamin Water’s new energy drink, and ready for Film School at the Tunnel Stage. However, I didn’t feel so good because of the same energy drink, and sat at a comfortable distance from the stage. I do believe that Film School referred to themselves as Chopped Liver, which confused me at first, but I figured that they were just feeling ignored, being sandwiched between Built to Spill and Spoon.
Spoon definitely got the rockstar thing down. When they hit the stage, it was daylight, and when they finished it was night time. The screaming girls were there and never left, keeping the screams coming between each and every hit. Spoon basically rocked. One of my favorite moments backstage was watching Spoon’s singer, Brit Daniel, jump off of a moving cart; it wasn’t very dangerous, but it was pretty badass. “I Turn My Camera On” sounded perfect to me, and I could see Spoon getting down. It was during that song that I turned my head skyward and noticed a plane with a flashing advertisement about the upcoming Arctic Monkeys show; it prompted me to think, how much does that kind of ad cost and who paid for it? It was also during that song when I saw a misleading hat and thought that the singer from Kinky had returned to TI just to see Spoon, which was not the case. C’est la vie, right?
I headed over to Earlimart right before Spoon finished to get a good spot. I’ve always wanted to see Earlimart, as I’ve been a big fan on all things nautical, and they play a big part in LA icon/recording studio, The Ship. The band was good, and I felt bad that so many people were either leaving before Modest Mouse played or were just waiting at the main stage to see the Mouse and had to miss out on Earlimart’s tunes.
By this time of night, everyone I ran into was drunk. That’s why the art installation I got trapped in was pretty fun: lightpoles with buttons on them that made sounds, press a button, the pole lights up and a weird sound hits your eardrums. Needless to say, it was appealing to me and I was sober – the intoxicated didn’t even have a chance; I saw many people just running around from pole to pole laughing and screaming with delight. I was all the way back by this art piece when Modest Mouse started playing, and I thought, “boy this is loud, even for being far away.” I headed through the loudness to meet up with the crew backstage to roll out before MM was finished, and noticed that when the huge rows of speakers aren’t pointed directly at you, the sound is pretty decent! I also noticed that Modest Mouse wasn’t starting off with any hits, or even songs I recognizedeveryone wants to play new stuff I guess.
We headed outside the festival in the hopes that we would be able to get into the truck and give out tons of ice cream. Boy, we didn’t fail there. The zombie crowd tried everything but storming our truck to get at sweets we were slinging. Dave held the hungry and drunk back with pure grace, occasional yelling and charm. It was kind of scary. But we emptied one freezer and almost emptied the other one. All in all, it was a successful night, and capped a pretty successful weekend.
