i am at the virgin free fest in columbia md
Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 10:14 pm
The sun has finally set. Lots of half naked women. Rack that. Bout to see pavement and lcd soundsystem. Rack that. Yeasayer was great as well.
The day, overall, was fucking incredible. The festival was at Merriweather where I saw Belle and Sebastian in 06. There were three stages in all. We got there about 3:30 in the middle of Yeasayer's set. If you don't know who Yeasayer is, you need to get with the program because those dudes are fucking sweet. It was 95 fucking degrees and NO SHADE anywhere basically, so we camped out near the west stage for a while. Caught Yeasayer and Thievery Corporation. If you haven't heard of Theivery, they are a couple DJ's who have a bunch of supporting musicians play instruments while they spin. It's pretty cool. They are from DC and they have a HUGE following here.
Of course, even though we were all suffering through the 95 degree heat, the upside to that is it encourages women to wear less clothing, and of course, at a festival, they comply. It was the sickest shit I've seen in forever. It was almost like the techno festivals in Detroit.
During the middle of Thievery, we decided to move over to the main stage to set up for Pavement and LCD because we assumed there would be a big fight for space for those shows and my friend wanted to see Matt and Kim. Well, we were wrong. There was a big fight for space for Matt and Kim. If you don't know who they are, they are basically a shitty version of Mates of State. Man and woman, husband/wife music do, etc. But they blow balls. They are like a teenybopper duo. But the hill at the pavillion was PACKED for them, and when they finished, EVERYONE filed out, leaving tons of prime real estate for Pavement. I don't get their appeal. Anyway, they got done and the sun started to set, so things got better, weather-wise.
Pavement had a great set. Shady Lane was a highlight. Unfortunately, they didn't play Silence Kit. WTF? Then everybody started to file in for LCD Soundsystem, which as predicted, blew the doors off the place. It is a real shame that James Murphy is going to dissolve the band after this year to do other stuff. I'm sure his new stuff will be great, but man, LCD is just sick sick SICK live. They didn't play Us vs. Them, which is a staple, but he hit pretty much everything else. Didn't listen to his new album before the show, but the new songs are strong as well.
Show got done at 10:45. Traffic was a breeze when we left, unlike when we arrived. All in all, I rate the day a 10 out of 10. Rack Richard Branson for sponsoring the show, rack 9:30 Club owner and local promoter Seth Hurwitz for putting together a great lineup and rack Merriweather for supplying 24 oz beers for $8. You know the theme of hipsters wearing old school NBA jerseys? I wish I had my old Hakeem Olajuwon Rockets jersey because I would have wore it. Yes, I'm serious. Comfort is optimal at music festivals where it is 95 with no shade.
Rack the Free Fest.