Day 1, Phil Pickens
Before I go any further, I have to say – Get your ass to the Treasure Island Music Festival at least once. This festival has “it”; and on every level. Tickets are limited, so unless you want to be pressed up front, there is plenty of room. There are thirteen bands each day and there is always music going; when one band ends on the Bridge Stage, another begins on the Tunnel Stage. It’s small enough that you can walk around and still experience the music – and who really needs to stand facing forward watching Four Tet (who was brilliant by the way) juggle his technology table? Dance, walk around, visit the stool shed (give that one a minute, it’ll come to you). [ed. note: gross] I guess what I’m saying is that if you don’t want the stress of trying to see 70 acts a day, for three days, then this is your festival.
Day one was (and traditionally is) the pop/electro/dance/hip hop day. I called the band of the day, Die Antwoord a while back and they brought it and more. This is NOT Spinal Tap. In fact, Die Antwoord have the same endearing quality that the classic short film Heavy Metal Parking Lot has. The viewer can plainly see aesthetics which are fun to make fun of, but can also see the passion which lay beneath the mullet. Die Antwoord are to be taken as seriously as they take themselves; they have a message, but have fun delivering it. There were only two bands who, good or bad, were a guaranteed spectacle. My old ass was up front jumping like a crazy person. It was involuntary, I was possessed. If Ninja (I know, guys) and Yolandi are reading this – thanks for easily the highlight of my year. Fun, honest and compared to most of the other bands at the festival, unpretentious. Great work!
Day one had plenty of new discoveries and acts everyone braved the cool-ish temps to see. Wallpaper was a great start to the day. Their song about pre partying before the actual party (aka the prefunc) was as fun and infectious as “Dick In A Box” which I suspect they may have actually been going for. The duo’s singer, Eric Frederic (see?) has a tongue in cheek Justin Timberlake quality about him. It was just after noon and I was shakin’ my butt like it was 2 A.M. Just one look at my program reminded me to pace myself, drink plenty of water and eat when I felt like it; LCD Soundsytem, !!!, Deadmau5, and nine other acts were still in line.
Day 2, Ice Cream Man
I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to Treasure Island this year but once we realized we needed a truck up there to pick up 1700 Ben & Jerry’s treats and to move our push cart around town my decision was made for me. It wasn’t a hard sell though, the lineup was solid on both days and I really liked the way they split things so that ‘dancey’ stuff was on Saturday and ‘indie’ stuff was on Sunday. Camino was running the project so I skipped out on Saturday after Holy F_ck so I could sling at the Frisco Freakout in the city. I returned on Sunday and got my fill of music though.
When we arrived I could hear Phosphorescent in the distance. I’m a fan of him/them and was bummed I didn’t make it over in time to catch their set. The songs I heard while approaching sounded great though, sometimes stripped down, solo, acousticy music doesn’t work so well with a full band. This was not the case with Phosphorescent and I hope to catch them again before too long (go Bama!).
I would have hoped to learn not to miss a band I really wanted to see, but somehow made the same with Papercuts. Argh… how’d I mess that one up? We were getting things setup backstage and it took me a while before I realized they were on the far stage. I did get to catch a song or two but it wasn’t enough. Good thing I have tix to see them at the Troubadour next month with Dean Wareham, who’ll be playing Galaxie 500 songs!
My favorite set of the day goes to Superchunk. The weather was finally clearing up when they went on and they rocked out a mix of old-time favorites like “Hyper Enough,” “Throwing Things,” and “Slack Motherf_cker,” with new songs, “Digging for Something,” “My Gap Feels Weird,” and “Crossed Wires”. I love when a band doesn’t lose any steam transitioning between new and old material. They win the award for dancing the most on Sunday too, unless you’d count what Monotonix does as ‘dancing.’
I didn’t see too much of The Sea and Cake or She & Him but they both sounded good from what I heard. I had forgot that I used to listen to Sea & Cake a bunch and wished I would have caught more of their set. I’ll blame it on the $5 veggie fried rice… yum.
As I passed the small stage I saw Monotonix setting up their gear on the grass in front of the stage. A crowd hadn’t formed around the drumset so I got their early so I could be close to the mayhem. Some bands seem like they try to be crazy and I don’t think the guys in Monotonix have a choice, it’s hardwired into everything they do. Somewhere between the first and second song everything got crazy and the whole band, including the drum set, end up getting moved about 30 feet out into the middle of the audience. I was having a great time but wanted to make sure to get posted up for Broken Social Scene who was going on the main stage next.
BSS is one of my favorite bands and they always put on a good set. It started getting crowded early and I lucked out to get right in front of the soundboard where I could see and hear well. You could tell they had been out on the road for a long time cuz their songs sounded so tight. The set was what you’d hope for for a festival including the new ‘hits’ as well as some old favorites. The talented Lisa Lobsinger, who has been handling the female vocals for most of the tour, was joined by Ariel Saldivar for some songs, most notably “Anthem for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” and “Almost Crimes.” If you’re a fan of BSS I highly recommend you check out their set on KCRW a few days later, one of the best in-studio sets I’ve ever heard.
The rest of the night was rounded out by Surfer Blood, The National, Rogue Wave and Belle & Sebastian. I caught a bit of Surfer Blood and was impressed at how well they’re doing for being quite young. I had already seen The National twice in the past week so hung out towards the back while catching up with friends. I still had to do numerous double takes because they were putting on such a good show. We ended up splitting before Belle & Sebastian went on, anyone stick around? how was it?
Thanks to Stacy, Another Planet, Noise Pop, our SF crew, Paige and everyone who made the weekend a success. oh… did I mention we gave away some ice cream? ha
