Kevin Bronson on August 26th, 2013

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The Melvins, Baroness, Touché Amoré, Chelsea Wolfe, Mac DeMarco, Jonathan Richman

• ||| Photos by Carl Pocket

After the jump, more photos and capsule reviews:

CHELSEA WOLFE

You Should Have Been Here Because: It would have been a nice test of how powerfully you can imagine you’re somewhere else. Wolfe’s powerful, dark incantations felt especially out of place in the late-afternoon sun, even on stage that faced a small grove of trees that mercifully offered shade. Her beige garment flowing in the breeze (sometimes held with arms outstretched to give the impression of wings), she held a large chunk of the crowd mesmerized with a selection of tunes from her forthcoming album “Pain Is Beauty.” Even with a clutch of heavy bands to follow on the Miranda Stage – Touché Amoré, Baroness and the Melvins would shake the leaves later – Wolfe’s felt like the most metal music on the stage. Metal in slow motion, deconstructed in the bright sunshine.

Downside: Did we mention that the stage faced a grove of trees and that trees have been known to obstruct views? In past years this stage faced southeast, not northeast. Just a mild complaint.
– Kevin Bronson

MAC DeMARCO

You Should Have Been Here Because: It made you feel young. Or Old. Either way, you were surrounded by the youth of FYF, all of whom surprisingly made it out to a rather early set for the day. (And who said, kids these days don’t have ambition?) Even for a musical staple of the “slacker rock” genre, Mac DeMarco kept his end of the bargain up with breezy nearly-there-power-pop tunes like “Cooking Something Good” and “The Stars Keep On Calling My Name.” But it was when they went into the title track of his first album “Rock and Roll Nightclub” – preceded by a perfectly disgusting belch into the microphone, of course – that the kids went absolutely bonkers. Even the rubber padding couldn’t prevent the dust cloud these kids were conjuring up via moshing. A pack of cigarettes were thrown up to DeMarco as a gift at one point, to which he replied, “Thanks, but I don’t smoke. At least not these kinds of cigarettes.” A great sing-a-long erupted once they spilled over into “Ode to Viceroy” and once more when they began to do the big closing numbers such as “Baby’s Wearing Blue Jeans.” In all, Mac DeMarco’s set was a nice kick-start for the festival day, but it’s funny how kids got worked up over songs that were written as if he almost cared.

Downside: Bass player Pierce McGarry’s thought to give out free Red Bull was a nice gesture, but I sure was glad I wasn’t within distance of being smacked in the head by one of those cans.
– Seraphina Lotkhamnga