We'll start day by day.
First up...
Saturday:
First things first there's a mainstage show with Crowded House and the Shins.
Crowded House:
Plain and simple, this was not a good show. I was bored, and I hadn't heard them before. I was hoping they';d be OK but I guess I should have known that a one-hit-wonder band from the 80's might deliver a live show of this caliber. The songs were just plain old rock ballads that all sounded the same. Sorry if I offended any fans. Interesting fact though, Eddie Vedder came onstage. It was just kinda like, "oh hey, that's Eddie Vedder". To be honest I'm not a huge Pearl Jam fan. I used to be but it seems every day I like them less and less. Here's a picture (or the best one I could get)
The Shins:
They started pretty strong with Sleeping Lessons. That's just such a stellar opening track. But the whole time James Mercer just looked a little tired and like he didn't really want to be playing that show. They just kinda went through the motions, you could tell that they'd been touring that set for awhile. That plus the sun directly overhead us made the show a little bit of a slow start. But morning gigs on that huge mainstage is just a shit gig in general. I could see the Shins doing a really good show some other time, when the mood was just right. I really wanted to hear their cover of Breathe by Pink Floyd but it was taking awhile and they weren't playing it, so we left a bit early, and then as we were leaving I them strike the song up. Damn, I missed out. Oh well. But as we were leaving we heard someone mutter "they're song stealers!" which made my laugh.
I took a little break and met up with tons of people I didn't want to see. Soaked in the festivites and food and made my way over to my friend's neighbor's band...
Lillydale:
These guys are alright. But it turned out this was their last show ever. I don't think they had a very long run. But they're kinda fun live. Their music is a bit mediocre but they've got a nice vibe going on. But man, the skychurch's background animations kept distracting me. There was this one pattern I just couldn't figure out what was happening. It was some sort of thing spinning but there was like 100 things going on at once. I love that venue though. I saw Cloud Cult there last year and that was one of the best show's I think I've ever seen.
Next we dashed over to the KEXP stage for
Menomena:
!!!!!!!
I was most excited for them today. I forgot they were bringing their choir. Turns out it was only their second show with the choir. Man was it stellar. The choir came on in sweet outfits singing Rotten Hell (or what sounded like it), and then they tore into The Pelican. I only know the material from Friend & Foe so I didn't recognize every song, but I enjoyed every one. The choir really brought the songs to new heights, especially on My, My and the epic closer of Rotten Hell. Man are they cool.
(Youtube's not liking my videos right now, I'll put these up soon)
Afterwards, our next few shows were at the same stage with 30 minute gaps between each set so we got to relax in the grass and rest our backs and feet. Next on our list was....
Aqueduct:
To be honest I wasn't expecting it to be all that great, I was sort of into his music and I had a CD but I got tired of it quick. Something about their live show really gets me into their music. Now I've had Or Give me Death on my speakers constantly this last week. The crowd was so psyced for them, the energy was great. The highlight was their cover of R. Kelly's I'm a Flirt. They said they learned it on their van ride to Lollapalooza but now they've mastered it, so I think it was one of the first times they played it live. They finished their set early so they were just pulling songs out of thin air I think for the last few. And another bonus: I think this was the only time I've ever seen a band play a song requested from the audience (they played Heart Design). Unfortunately I did not get some of the best moments on video but these should suffice:
So after that we took a longer break. We tried to peak in to see Rodriga Y Gabriella but it was packed to the limit, I couldn't see anything. So we sat in the food court for awhile and saw some friends and talked. But before we knew it Devotchka was starting!
Devotchka:
I honestly did not know what to expect, I hadn't heard much before. But man, oh man, they blew me away! Serious theremin playing and whistling from the lead guy, and when the time came his fingers flew across the strings. And the violinist played like nothing I'd heard before. The only part I didn't like is the tuba. Tuba's sound terrible, I don't think I'd enjoy any tuba part in a song. But it just played the bass part which blended in easily, and the other 3 memebers attracted enough attention to themselves. It was epic and danceable at the same time. I think they did an encore but we had to leave a bit early, when their first set ended. I couldn't get any video or pictures from where I was, but here's a great one of "How It Ends" I found.
