Seraphina Lotkhamnga on April 17th, 2011

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Who: The Joy Formidable in the Gobi tent
In 3 Words Or Fewer: She’s how old?
I Won’t Forget This Until: Another little blond girl surprises me by shredding and making ferocious guitar faces when I expected her to be excited about her first box of school crayons. The Welsh trio fronted by petite beauty Ritzy Bryan quickly found success from their first EP prior to this year’s debut full-length, “The Big Roar.” And the Joy Formidable’s early-afternoon set suggested more be on the way. Boy/girl harmonies brought the pop out of the textured noise and made it easy for fans to sing along yet mosh as hard as necessary. Bryan and Rhydian Dafydd are pretty gentle when it comes to their vocal delivery, but when drummer, Matt Thomas, laid the drums in an almost metal-like manner, the entire band fed off of one another and this only invoked fans to cheer their approval. Strings went beyond strummed and the beats got heavier and bolder. After slaying favorites such as ”Austere” and “Cradle,” the adorable Bryan departed by smashing her guitar (and, as it turns out, drawing blood) on the jumbo screen.
What I’d Tell My Friend Who Was At Francis and the Lights: Not only can Ritzy Bryan probably rock the lace better, but she probably rocks harder than Francis in general.
– S.L.
Photo by Scott Dudelson