So, Because of both the Treasure Island Music Festival and Free Yr Radio, I had to make two trips from Long Beach to San Francisco in a week. Why not just stay up there, you ask? Well. For TI I had to head up in Bessie, which meant getting up before dawn to make it over the Grapevine without overheating. When I got back, I had to take Bessita back up for FYR. That, my friends, is another story. This one begins with my arrival in San Francisco.
Last year, Sarah and I headed up north for the inaugural Treasure Island Music Festival. Being put on by Noise Pop and boasting a great lineup and an awesome location, I couldn’t pass it up. Despite a few communication problems, it ended up being a blast, so when they invited us back, I was happy to do it.
Driving the truck that far is never a fun prospect for me (I don’t know how Matt drove it around the country in previous years) but knowing that once we were settled I wouldn’t have to drive it for a couple days was a relief. I got in town Thursday and got Bessie locked in on Friday, so smooth sailing.
I spent Thursday and Friday nights out on the town with Matt Chen, eating good food and drinking not quite as good beer. The first day of the fest was Saturday. Matt would be coming along and Crash and Paige, our photographers for the weekend, were meeting us there.
The festival has a pretty ingenious shuttle service to get people to and from the island. Charter buses leave from AT&T Park and take people on to the island. While this works really well, we were still relieved that we had a parking pass for the weekend and could pile into Matt’s car for our own personal shuttle.
As last year, the lineup from day to day was quite varied. Sunday was the more “rock ‘n’ roll” day with headliners The Raconteurs among other indie luminaries like Tegan & Sarah, Vampire Weekend and Okkervil River. Saturday was slanted more towards the dancey side, with Justice headlining and Hot Chip before them, but also featured an eclectic mix with TV on the Radio and Antibalas in the mix.
There wasn’t really much I was interested in seeing the first day so I spent most of it bringing ice cream backstage periodically and enjoying some free beers. I did get to check out a little bit of Chester French, which was kind of entertainingly ridiculous and some of Mike Relm‘s DJ set which included a remix of the Charlie Brown theme song which won him some points with me.
Antibalas seemed to be the band with the most buzz from what I was hearing, so I made a point to go check them out. They have an afro-beat sound with a lot of influences from early reggae and soul. Frontman Amayo is probably what really makes the band. Besides his flamboyant getup, he injects an incredible amount of energy into an already energetic band. I gotta say, they aren’t something I’d normally listen to, but were definitely worth checking out.
After enjoying that and having some more drinks, I was ready for some more ridiculous outfits, so headed to see CSS play. There’s been plenty of opportunities for me to see them over the last couple years, but I’ve never actually made it a point. This time, after so much buildup, I decided I’d check them out. Yes, leader Lovefoxxx came out on stage in a goofy outfit (think in the vein of Bjork or Karen O), but the energy didn’t seem to be there. It just came across as uninspired to me. I’m sure the hardcore fans were delighted though.
I figured out the theme for this day: costumes. Goldfrapp was next in line with an outfit apparently made from streamers. I guess it did go well with the increasingly high winds. They put on a fun show, almost a more electronic Polyphonic Spree. Alison Goldfrapp, for whom the band is named, has a lovely voice and it made for some great ambient music.
Matt was most looking forward to Hot Chip that day, so despite my ambivalence I headed out with him. Again, it was something where I found it surprisingly good, yet not enough that I wanted to see the whole set. I have a short attention span after all. They did manage to be one of the most “rocking” sets of the day.
The surprise entry in the day’s festivities was TV on the Radio, probably the most straightforward “rock” band on the bill (although still with plenty of electronic elements). They put on a good show. At least, when they were good, they were excellent, when they were bad, they were still pretty ok.
Justice, who apparently are the second coming by how ravenous their fans are, ended the night. I get ending the show with DJs, let people have a late night danceathon to finish the Saturday night. What I don’t get is how Justice are any better than any other DJs. After hearing them play the same song for ten minutes and then starting it again, I had enough and headed to the truck to start getting ice cream out to the people leaving the fest.
After some much needed sleep and watching some football (San Francisco killed Detroit that day, hooray!) we rolled in to the fest in the early afternoon, along with Matt’s friends Chris and Ryan, just in time to catch Fleet Foxes. At least, they caught FF, I busied myself bringing ice cream to the fest workers and to people backstage. I did get to hear them and they sounded pretty much as they do on the album.
I made it a point to miss Spiritualized, as I’m not a fan. I heard some of it while I was backstage, but, eh. They have a pretty dedicated fan base though, so I guess there’s something there.
Most people there were really excited to see local boys The Dodos. Once again, I didn’t get to see the whole set, but what I did was pretty awesome. For being a two piece band, they have an amazingly full sound.
The band I was most excited to see was Vampire Weekend. I’ve started listening to them recently and have become a fan. Their live show seemed to be lacking something though. The songs sounded great, but there was just something missing. Maybe they’ve gotten too big too fast and just aren’t Main Stage material yet. I don’t know. I did enjoy it though.
Another “buzz” band was Dr. Dog, who responded by putting together one of the highlights of the weekend. They drew a pretty huge crowd to the second stage. Maybe the biggest of the festival.
Tegan & Sara were cute and talked through most of their set. Sorry I don’t have more insight than that.
The Kills, well, it can be summed up best I think by the fact that two separate people asked me, “so, is the girl in The Kills hot or something?”
Jack White’s side project, The Raconteurs, were the headliners for the night. There are some people out there that are made to be rock stars, Jack White is one of them. The band was pretty much a Led Zeppelin rehash, but White commands attention on stage and everybody in the band is incredibly talented, making them one of the biggest surprises of the fest for me. They kinda blew me a way, although they did jam a little bit too long.
After giving out the rest of our ice cream to the thankful fans leaving, we packed up and headed back to Matt’s house where I got some rest for my long drive back to Long Beach.
Thanks to Blue Bunny for donating the ice cream, and thanks to Stacy & Noise Pop for having us out.
