Yesterday was Live 105's BFD.
The Main Stage didn't start until the Festival Stage was over, so there was no need to worry about overlapping. Also, they actually had two Festival Stages right next to each other, and alternated bands on each one so we didn't have to wait half an hour between sets for the next band to set up. (Especially since most of the Festival Stage acts were only half an hour.) THAT was a brilliant idea and I'd like to see more shows set up like that.
But, the Local Stage and Subsonic Tent went on all day, so we had to make a couple of choices of Subsonic vs. bands in the Festival or Main Stage. Crystal Method got sick and had to cancel and the "Secret Guest to Be Announced" ended up being the Stone Temple Pilots with Chester Bennington on Vocals...
(Who we opted not to see in favor of C2C.)
We saw the entire (or most of) sets for:
Gold Fields: We saw them first and they actually moved them over to the Subsonic Tent, at 1 PM. Great way to kick off BFD. Reminded me of a somewhat shoegazey Talking Heads.
Atlas Genius: They looked good, had good energy...but just sounded ok. A little bit of a disappointment as this was one that I had high hopes for.
Capital Cities: Amazing. High energy, great sound, trumpet was awesome, cute choreography, and kept things classy (i.e. no random F-bombs every other song, which seemed to be required from just about every other band here, and at most music festivals for that matter.) They had their act together extremely well...I wouldn't be surprised if they headlined this in a few years.
Airborne Toxic Event: Higher energy than last time I saw them which was in 09, but IMO it didn't entirely get put to good use. 1/3 of their half hour set was unnecessary remakes, including a cringeworthy version of "American Girl." (Then again, there aren't too many versions of that song that aren't cringeworthy, including the original.) I mean if you're doing a full set then that's fine, but they had a couple of singles they should have played instead...like "All I Ever Wanted," "Timeless".
Fitz & the Tantrums: I'm so proud of them because they finally pulled it off. Last time I saw them (about two years ago) "Moneygrabber" was a complete failure (and virtually every live version on AAA sampler CDs doesn't sound too good), he flopped around stage awkwardly, although their other tracks sounded fine. But this time, they got everything right.
Awolnation: Perhaps the only real disappointment of the event. Not that I was expecting much...but they were pretty awful. Granted most of their songs are pretty odd so they'll sound weird anyway, but they'd have to pull them off live...and they didn't. Even the not particularly odd "Not Your Fault" sounded bad. They were the opening act on the main stage. They should have been on the Festival stage (maybe swap with Jimmy Eat World, who was the last act on that stage) or even in the Subsonic Tent.
Wallpaper: Wasn't sure what to expect from these guys (and girl), but they were a lot of fun. H1pst3rs from Oakland that had the crowd dancing the entire time.
C2C: They were a real treat to see. They looked pretty similar to the setup from turntable.fm, but with real Euro-hipster deco clothing and people going through real motions! LOL. Their noise was pretty interesting, they sampled a LOT of different styles of music (blues, techno, accordian, smooth jazz even) and mixed in turntable scratches and effects...and it somehow worked. I couldn't find too many other US tour dates for them--only KROQ's weenie fest--so I'm so glad they played at BFD.
30 Seconds to Mars: They were supposed to be the headliners but Passion Pit came late so they switched them. 30 STM really should have been the headliners, though. A bunch of their music is hit or miss to me but they put on a really good show and were great at getting audience response. I'm glad they played "Night of the Hunter" and "Closer to the Edge." Along with the confetti they blasted out during "Up in the Air" they even brought on a couple DOZEN people from the audience onstage at the end and had them sing along! LOL!
Passion Pit: We saw them at Not to Silent Night and IMO he was a little better but he's still nowhere near ready to be a headliner (or next-to-headliner.) His band sounds good, as before, but he's still a little awkward (but better) and doesn't really pull off the bells & whistles that 30STM did.
Bands that we partially saw: The Neighborhood, Jimmy Eat World, Of Monsters & Men. We opted not to see Silversun Pickups or the Stone Temple Chester Benningtons on the main stage in favor of Wallpaper and C2C in the Subsonic Tent who were going on at the same time. The former because the SSPU's seem to appear in about 90% of these events and the latter...well, yeah.
We had lawn seats for the main stage (all of the other stages are standing room only) and during 30 Seconds to Mars's set, these very nice people suddenly came up to us and gave us their tickets (which were front center row 12 seats) because they had to leave! That was a complete surprise, and of course it made the day that much more awesome!
