It was a close one, but I’m gonna give the Day Two trophy to Wild Flag, with Cloud Nothings pulling in a close second.
One of the most striking moments of the day involved Schoolboy Q, who, midway through his song “Blessed,” said, “This is high power. I don’t care if you’re black, brown, white, Asian or what the fuck ever – we all on this hussle together, so say it with me. And then the mostly white, teenaged crowd chanted “you blessed, my nigga.” Imagine the looks on the faces of those 500 white kids who’d just been ordered by a black rapper to shout “nigga” at the top of their lungs over and over. Everyone over the age of 30 was pretty much speechless.
Also… Atlas Moth rocked hard in true metal fashion. Psychic Paramount made me think of Steve Reich. Danny Brown was really friendly in person and really funny in his show. He’s clearly got a good handle on the “Danny Brown” persona that people wanna see. Chromatics sounded nice but lacked charisma. Hot Chip were exuberant. Theirs was the music I was most happy to hear on a hot summer day when my feet hurt. Lotus Plaza’s singer wore a funny t-shirt. Bradford Cox AKA Atlas Sound dressed like Rolling Thunder Bob Dylan – complete with the white face paint. He sounded fantastic, until the rain started fucking with his equipment. Liturgy had an ascetic aesthetic (What’s more metal than long hair and ugly glasses?) and were punishingly loud. In fact, the sound guy told them to turn down their drum machine because it was loud enough to blow the breakers. Did I mention that Wild Flag were awesome? Carrie Brownstein is one hell of a rock star. Sleigh Bells are the Kiss of this generation – take that as you will. Time and photographic demands being what they were, I missed almost all of Nicolas Jaar’s set. In the little I caught, he had a guitar player and saxophonist with him. Flying Lotus was undeniable and he finally answered the age old question of what the Chipmunks would sound like covering Schoolboy Q’s “Hands on the Wheel.”
Speaking of covers… Chromatics covered Kate Bush. Hot Chip covered Fleetwood Mac. Schoolboy Q covered Kendrick Lamar. And Wild Flag opened with a cover of Television’s “See No Evil.” That one made my weekend.
Youth Lagoon was great. Their (his?) album is pretty sleepy, but it really comes to life in person. I guess Cults do what they do very well, but I don’t like that thing at all. Blech. Cloud Nothings were fantastic. They gave the crowd one of their few opportunities all day to really sing along. And then they shredded. Godspeed You Black Emperor started with about 15 minutes of drone, and didn’t acknowledge the audience at all. When they got loud it was awesome, but when they were quiet they were drowned out by Grimes’ set, happening over at the Blue Stage.
Speaking of Grimes – she was charmingly odd. She brought a friend who appeared to me a large man in drag, and a pair of back dancer/singers in furry bras and hot pants, who undulated during the set, occasionally crawling to the front of the stage so we could find out what big Beastie Boys fans they were. One had “Michael Diamond” scrawled across her belly. The other had written “RIP MCA” on her thigh.