Kevin Bronson on July 23rd, 2017

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By Andrew Veeder, Shay Mehr, Britt Witt and Jordan Kleinman

There was Frank Ocean.

And then there was Brad Pitt.

And then there was a cover of a Carpenters song. Wait … what?

It was all part of the fabric on Saturday’s second day of FYF Fest 2017. The enigmatic singer, who canceled at the 11th hour when he was scheduled to perform at FYF 2015, proved worth the wait on Saturday, giving a rapturous performance that included some musical theater — a cover of the Carpenters’ 1970 hit “They Long to Be (Close to You),” with Pitt standing on the side of the stage (and larger than life on the big screens) talking on his cell phone. The moment, Ocean explained, was an attempt to replicate a video the singer found on YouTube of Stevie Wonder covering “Close to You.”

Ocean performed his own hits, too, and splendidly. The festival had everything dialed in on Saturday, from Thundercat early to Nicolas Jaar late.

||| Photos by Zane Roessell

||| Our Day 1 coverage

Here’s Team Buzz Bands LA’s chronology of Saturday:

5:05 p.m. — Is it us, or are sparkly elevator boots a thing? Are those things comfortable?

5:15 p.m. — Mitski inhabits the stage with glacial confidence, externally unfazed by her present situation: both the setting and new-found fame. Internally, though, it might be a different story as she melts, “I know it’s about you guys having fun, but I really appreciate it.” She trudges on as a punchy bass line introduces her single “Happy.”

5:20 p.m. — Princess Nokia’s set was a flaming Venus symbol in the darkness, which represents the current political climate and a commentary on some prevailing but less forward-thinking attitudes towards women. The 25-year-old New Yorker, clad in a flowery dress, doesn’t skip a beat, delivering sharp verses defending her “melanin” and even crowd-surfing as she ran through songs such as “Green Line” and “Bart Simpson.” It is easy to admire her ferocity, and the audience is squarely behind her, as it turns out to be the rowdiest and loudest set of the entire day … well, except for Frank Ocean’s. (— S.M.)

5:33 p.m. — Once again gracing The Lawn stage, Thundercat is nearly defying the space-time continuum with virtuosic playing, making it even hotter in the late afternoon sun by how fast his fingers are flying up and down his 6-string bass. Backed by his tried-and-true band of Justin Brown on drums and Dennis Hamm on keys, the trio power through a collection mostly culled from this year’s excellent album “Drunk,” including “A Fan’s Mail (Tron Song Suite II),” “Jethro,” “Friend Zone,” “3AM,” and “Them Changes,” allowing them the framework to go on insane interlude tangents but then snap right back into the chorus. Bassist and singer Stephen Bruner is only 32, but plays with the wisdom of a musical wizard. Almost a full sweaty hour later, Thundercat takes it up to 11 and closes with “Lotus and the Jondy,” as if the band has undertaken a mission to see how many different notes they could try to cram into four minutes and change. 
(— A.V.)

6:34 p.m. — It’s a tough call to leave Thundercat to snag a decent spot at MGMT, and apparently most people didn’t make it. On the Main Stage, MGMT is finishing “Pieces of What” and going into “Brian Eno” for a psychedelic sunset. This set is extremely subdued, dropping the tempo on “Time To Pretend” to render it almost undanceable. People are yelling obscenities at MGMT as they turn “Kids” into a 10-minute track, lay down on the stage and tell the crowd, “Don’t worry, Frank is coming out in a couple hours.” (— B.W.)

6:53 p.m. — It’s getting crazy at The Club stage, Cap’n Jazz just threw gaff tape into the crowd and hit a kid in the face. (— B.W.)

7:38 p.m. — A small but dedicated and decidedly older crowd gathers at The Trees stage, where Built to Spill, who released their first album before many FYFers were born, have convened to perform their 1999 album, “Keep It Like a Secret.” The band launches into its crunchy, catchy goodness, laid-back as ever, with the diehards up front and many taking comfort in the area’s ample shade. Doug Martsch leads the troops through a hard-charging set. We play spot the ’90s indie band T-shirt. And then check Twitter, where a young African-American woman has commented: “My inner middle-aged white father of two is really enjoying this Built to Spill set right now.” (— J.K.)

8:25 p.m. — A large group of friends has convened and joined the masses at the Main Stage for A Tribe Called Quest, celebrating the memory of their fallen friend, an avid Tribe fan. Which is somehow appropriate, as TCQ comes out to an image of the late Phife Dawg (whose vocals were overdubbed into the set) and launches into “The Space Program.” En masse, the crowd raised their voices to “Oh My God” and remained firmly in the ’90s for “Common Ground,” “Busta’s Lament” and Q-Tip’s “Let’s Ride.” Q-Tip would later inquire of the crowd, “Do you know who A Tribe Called Quest Is?” and the answer was, uh, affirmative. “Dis Generation,” from last year’s “We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service” sounds as crisp as it it relevant, and just past 9 o’clock Ali Shaheed Muhammad joins in an a capella version of “You Caught My Heart for the Evening.” Then Q-Tip announces that this is Tribe’s final L.A. performance, acknowledging the waves of grief he’s felt after the loss of Phife and talking about how this performance is cathartic: “We had to come to L.A. and do one proper one before we’re gone.”

9:25 p.m. — Raphael Saadiq joins Tribe on stand-up bass, painted in Tribe colors and patterns, twirling it around to reveal an image of Phife. They end with “Check the Rhime,” exiting calling out “R.I.P. Phife.” And then they’re back, asking “Can We Kick It a Little Longer” and doing a three-song encore of “Can I Kick It?,” “Award Tour” and “We the People.”

9:37 p.m. — At The Trees stage, The Drums are bathed in a sea green haze as Jonathan Pierce dives into a four-minute speech explaining that his fourth record “Abysmal Thoughts” was “like therapy… lifted something I was carrying for a very long time.” He calls out to the LGBTQ community, “If they don’t love you for exactly who you are, unless you’re a mass murderer, I’m not saying fuck them but I am saying let them go… You’ll make space for people who fucking love you. More than anything else, I just want you to love and respect yourself.” “Blood Under My Belt” immediately commenced among a burst of supportive cheers.

10:10 p.m. — Erykah Badu is 20 minutes late to The Lawn stage … Is this Erykah Ba-don’t?

10:20 p.m. — After a 30-minute delay, Badu takes the stage dressed in what looks like a patchwork quilt of flags from across the world, and a chic 12-gallon hat. One of the first tracks she plays is coincidentally called “Out My Mind, Just In Time,” but it’s dynamite. Her classic “On & On” follows, where at one point she inquires, “All the people in the back, what the f*ck you looking at?” (— A.V.)

10:45 p.m. — Remarking on the 20th anniversary of her debut “Baduizm,” Badu told the crowd she wrote it for the ’90s babies, implying that all of the present millennials’ parents were listening to it when they were conceived, so she is glad to finally connect with them. She says she’d like to catch the audience up on the last two decades, “but keep in mind, I’m an artist and I’m sensitive about shit,” which leads into her heart-on-sleeve song “Me.” “Appletree” and “No Love” are up next, showcasing how tight her eight-piece backing band is, and how strong her voice is. (— A.V.)

10:51 p.m — The strobes, the volume, The Faint singer Todd Fink is jumping all over stage, and the crowd does not stop moving for almost a solid hour. Does everybody here know every song on The Faint’s retrospective (which covers 17 years of music) that came out last year? It seems like it. Every song sounds like a hit. (— B.W.)

10:55 p.m. — Sleep is shredding The Club tent. Their heavy riffs are hypnotizing. Such a change of pace.

11:10 p.m. — It appears as if the Frank Ocean set is actually going to start. Is that a slight synth hum emanating from the speakers, or is it the sound of giddy squealing girls up closer to the stage? (— A.V.)

11:14 p.m. — The most hyped act of the weekend is present and begins playing his mellow ballad “Solo” to one of the largest crowds of the festival. A trio of new singles, “Chanel,” “Lens” and “Biking,” follow before he performs most of last year’s long-awaited sophomore album “Blond.” The screens play like an intimate home movie shot up close by a cameraman slowly gliding around the stage, catching Ocean and his small backing band from every angle.

11:56 p.m. — Ocean’s first and only guest of the night is… Brad Pitt, sitting on stage with a cell phone to his ear as Ocean croons The Carpenters’ “(They Long to Be) Close to You.” “Blond” standout “Ivy” is next, then a new song which he performs for the first time, a cover of Steve Monite’s Nigerian disco banger “Only You.” Ocean’s voice is a treasure, best exemplified by the only track from his 2012 debut “Channel Orange” to make the cut, “Thinkin’ Bout You,” drenched here in sitar twang grounding the song from its soaring studio version. Following the historic A Tribe Called Quest’s final performance in Los Angeles, Ocean’s headlining set took the energy down a notch or two, for better or worse, but his performance was sublimely satisfying. (— A.V.)

12:48 a.m. — Nicolas Jaar’s subtle IDM-electro set at The Trees stage is a moody and propulsive dreamscape that happens to be the perfect nightcap to an action-packed day. The tempo changes and synth-y nuance are captivating to both the molly-popping masses grooving up near the stage and the weary travelers sitting on the grass. (— A.V.)