Cymbals Eat Guitars: They were victims of a bad mix. Incredibly young looking band with a HUGE sound. It was clear after the first few notes that they were better on record than live. We didn’t stick around too long. They may need some more time on the road before they play another festival like this.

Fucked Up: LIKEOHMIGOD! Simply amazing, and it came in the early hours of Day Two. As the set got off to a rather auspicious beginning when Pink Eyes smashed a Pepsi can on his head. A giant pit formed immediately. He spent the next hour at the edge of the crowd and occasionally dove in, much to the chagrin of his fellow crowd surfers (there were many). Highlights include “Twice Born”, “Crusades” and a particularly powerful “Black Albino Bones”. Pink Eyes had the best quote so far, commenting to the crowd: “You’re better then that Animal Collective record that just sounds like Phish.” AWESOME.

DOOM: Heard a ton about him before, but never really heard of any of his material before.

Side note: The crowd is at their highest levels ever since I started attending the festival. It’s remarkable to see how this fest has grown since then.

Anyways, DOOM. Right.

He hit the stage in an entire outfit that had what looked like camo leaves on it – kind of incredible to see – along with a single hype man and a DJ. It was a spectacular hour of hip-hop. I’m not familiar with his song titles, but I’ll definately be checking out his material soon. It’s always interesting to see hip hop acts at festivals like this – kind of a bit of awkwardness mixed in with surrealism. It shouldn’t though, because all bands invited to this festival belong, regardless of how much they deviate from the terrible umbrella term ‘indie rock’.

Lindstrøm: Caught the tail end of the laptopper-dude set. Lots of high energy club stuff. Nice to hear for a few minutes.

Matt and Kim: Hands down, the set of the day belongs to these two. The keyboard and drum duo is infused with so much positive energy that it’s impossible to not dance and sing your heart out. Say what you want about them being elementary or samey-sounding, but during the set ending “Daylight”, you’d almost think they would be able to generate just enough energy to keep the setting sun up just a few minutes longer.

The National: I only stayed a few songs into these guys, despite them being at the top of my list before I came. Sticking around for Matt and Kim set me back pretty far for them. I’ve yet to see them in an ideal setting – two festival gigs and no clubs. Matt Berninger’s vocal stylings are better tailored to the nuances of smaller places. I can’t help but feel that the intimacy is lost on a larger crowd. With that said, the set was relying heavily on both “Alligator” and “Boxer” tracks.

Final Thoughts:

Day Two was a total success. The weather cooperated for the most part (some drizzling here or there), it was relaxed, and the crowds, although large, weren’t terribly overwhelming. Bring on tomorrow!

Photos:

Fucked Up

DOOM

Matt and Kim