Quick Pitchfork recap

I will have some pictures to post but they're nowhere near ready yet. It may be a while before I have them so I want to get down some quick thoughts about a few of the bands that I saw.

Boris

I've not heard much Boris before this, and I haven't listened to very much metal of any kind, but this was really entertaining show. The drummer would hop out from behind his kit and yell at the crowd ("wooooooooaaaaaa!") with this crazed look on his face, like we were all on a roller coaster or something.

Health

Saw these guys by accident because we thought it was time for King Khan. After Boris' polished rock attack, it was pretty disappointing to see these LA boys jump around stage and try to act hard. When the dust settles on all this new noise music people will see how wide the influence of Liars will have been - but they've moved on to chase other sounds of course. Health sound (and act) like they wish they had thought of They Were Wrong So We Drowned... but they didn't. Read on for more on their general lameness.

King Khan and the Shrines

A good performance, the highlight was King Khan asking the crowd to wave dollar bills in the air for "Welfare Bread." I'll have a picture or two of that, KK jumped into the front and started throwing/ripping/eating bills. I saw the bassist later and he commented, fairly, that KK + Shrines are "not a festival band," but even performing at 3pm it was still a great time.

Spiritualized

This was a totally epic performance. I wish that Spiritualized was the headliner so they could have played at night with a real light show, but it was still beyond great, and there was pale twilight on them. I was way up front, it was SO LOUD but I didn't mind. They played "Shine a Light" and it was beautiful. At the end of the show Jason knocked over the mics with his guitar, destroyed an amp and threw his guitar at the drumset before stamping off stage. I think he was pissed off about the sound, at one point the whole PA cut out and at the end something went wrong with the guitar I guess. This was by far my favorite show though, well worth the price of admission by itself, and Jason came out after the band finished up the song to thank the crowd. Watching Spiritualized live is *actually* like being on a roller coaster. From the beginning, the sound they create is so powerful, but it seems so effortless to create on stage that when they really start to hit the next gear, you're really taken along with it. My stomach was in my mouth for all "Come Together," although maybe that was also because it was one of the loudest things I've heard in my life...

Dinosaur Jr.

I enjoy Dino Jr. quite a lot. They're super old by now but they sounded great.

Bradford Cox + King Khan

I guess Cut Copy were late for their gig or something, but as I was on my way out of the festival I noticed that these guys were up on stage playing random punk songs. It was pretty great, but there must have been a bunch of Cut Copy fans who were not amused, because at one point Bradford Cox said something like "hey, I wish Cut Copy were here too, you didn't choose us and we didn't choose you either, so let's just make the best of it." I think someone backstage must have just asked them to play some music to entertain people during the delay. Jay Reatard came on and played a song with them, the keyboardist from the Shrines got on the bongos, and someone else was on drums. At one point the lead singer from Health wandered on stage (to give B Cox a bottle of water or something?) and King Khan turned to him with a microphone and said 'hey man you want to sing a punk song?' It was pretty clear that he was giving him a challenge, but the dude walked off as if he hadn't heard him. REALLY LAME.