Blake Hazard has a smile that could ward off a thunderstorm, and when the Submarines singer exhorted the crowd to imagine plants and animals springing up amid all of downtown’s ugly concrete, it didn’t even come off as sappy. The music she makes with husband Jack Dragonetti is like having a date night in the middle of the afternoon. Vibes. Flowers. Bubbles. Moms dancing with their kids. Yeah, and even old guys dancing with their inner demons.
Things got strangely and wonderfully sensual a bit later, when Bitter:Sweet plied its Portishead-on-a-tropical-island trip-hop in the waning light. The electro-oriented collaboration of singer Shana Halligan and producer Kiran Shahani showed up as a seven-piece, with horns, strings, a DJ and a harpist. You just don’t get enough harp solos at festivals these days — in fact, the band’s set highlighted each musician at one point or another. Halligan’s schexy voice (and her orange-red gown) captured much of the attention, but musically Bitter:Sweet’s 45-minute set was nothing less than a tour de force.
Maybe it’s because I was coming from the exotic sounds of Bitter:Sweet, or maybe it’s because the Black Lips have been around a few times this year, but the Atlanta quartet’s set seemed a little pallid. If there were any of the shenanigans for which they’re known, I missed them. (Commenters? Fill me in.) As a group, their fans are best at maintaining the handclaps, and the garage-rock gem “Katrina” got everybody bouncing.
I’m pretty sure I was the only one not completely swooning over Hercules and Love Affair, the Brooklyn-based phenomenon unleashed by DJ Andy Butler and Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons. Hercules’ house disco-with-horns seemed a bit contrived to me, but, as somebody pointed out to me later, it might have been the fact I was standing amid a gaggle of misbehaving out-of-staters who’d obviously spent their trust funds on fancy vintage clothes and gold-encrusted marijuana pipes. (Somebody said, “Well, you just don’t like gay disco,” but I can count a lot of record in my collection that qualify.) I’d guess Hercules is a lock to play Coachella this year, and they will go over really big.
The Black Lips crew tossed toilet paper rolls in to the crowd for the song “bad kids”. It didnt get messy until the guitarist wearing the Pilgrim hat shamelessly vomited on and off the front of the stage at the end of their set. The road crew used the TP to clean the mess up before Gogol went on. I’m willing to bet the kid was sick from working so hard after delivering one of the best shows I had seen this year, the night before, at the detroit bar in costa mesa. The Black Lips were my headliner yesterday.
Kevin calling the Detour fest a “Sampler Platter” is dead on. I did more half sets yesterday than any other fest and never felt like I missed a thing.
Great Job! to those who booked the acts. The bands that played yesterday are all great live bands, in most cases, better than on their albums.
I thought the booking of many local acts was a classy decision too. LA is home to a very eclectic base of musicians and a lot of those talented artists performed yesterday. Made me proud of the city I live in.
The cash card thing was a pain in the ass. Are they going to try to pull that shiz at Coachella?
The Black Lips crew tossed toilet paper rolls in to the crowd for the song “bad kids”. It didnt get messy until the guitarist wearing the Pilgrim hat shamelessly vomited on and off the front of the stage at the end of their set. The road crew used the TP to clean the mess up before Gogol went on. I’m willing to bet the kid was sick from working so hard after delivering one of the best shows I had seen this year, the night before, at the detroit bar in costa mesa. The Black Lips were my headliner yesterday.
Kevin calling the Detour fest a “Sampler Platter” is dead on. I did more half sets yesterday than any other fest and never felt like I missed a thing.
Great Job! to those who booked the acts. The bands that played yesterday are all great live bands, in most cases, better than on their albums.
I thought the booking of many local acts was a classy decision too. LA is home to a very eclectic base of musicians and a lot of those talented artists performed yesterday. Made me proud of the city I live in.
The cash card thing was a pain in the ass. Are they going to try to pull that shiz at Coachella?