Two days of peace, love, music, sweat and B.O. aren't exactly the best way to psych yourself up for the last week of summer employment. Still, I had an absolute blast, despite the oppressive weather. Some snap impressions:
Art Brut. Makes me. Want to rock out. Sure, they're a one-trick pony, but they're damn good at what they do. Sadly, Eddie lost the 'stache, but I think the band will go on, especially with some awesome new material. "Blame it on the Trains," indeed!
The Walkmen are better in small spaces. They're also better when "Blizzard of '96" doesn't sound like such a tease to the thousands of sweaty people in line for ice cream during the set.
Ted Leo was probably good, but my Chicago friends don't like him and I didn't want to be separated, so we hung back on the sidelines.
The Futureheads are much better suited to large crowds. They were really good. I was fairly tipsy.
Tapes n' Tapes started Sunday off with a fairly good set in front of a fairly small audience. Still, I was sweating bullets a half hour into it.
Bonde do Role brought some biale funk energy to the second stage, energy that was cut short when the lead singer took out her arm during a nasty fall following a failed crowd-surf-to-stage transfer. CSS finished the BdR set.
CSS was freakin' awesome. Talented? Ehh. But energetic and exciting, absolutely! Best Brazillian web-design related band ever.
Spoon came off as really, really flat. Also, how do you play a festival in Chicago, at night, without playing "Chicago at Night"? How do you avoid playing anything from Girls Can Tell? WTF?
Os Mutantes was a big of a mixed bag, but I'm really glad I got to see them. Call me short-sighted, but I think that bands have a shelf life, even if they do spend three decades in cold storage.
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