Kevin Bronson on August 24th, 2014

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Reviews: Four Tet, Caribou, Chet Faker, Slint, Angel Olsen

FOUR TET

You Should Have Been Here Because: It was the place to be for dancing the night away. Four Tet may have gone on 20 minutes late because of Caribou’s late start, but fans were ready to get lost in Kieran Hebden’s intricate beats that involved just as much grime as they did jazz. Yes, Four Tet’s set up is the typical DJ in between the two tall speakers, but the music rippled through the crowd like an electric shock and everyone was energized more because of it. Known for his remixes, there was surprisingly a lot of original material in the set, including compositions from last year’s album “Beautiful Rewind,” and the crowd commended him by shimmying some more.
Postscript: Loved having a drink in this atmosphere, but actually getting one at the bar inside the beer garden was a battle in itself.
– Seraphina Lotkhamnga

CARIBOU

You Should Have Been Here Because: If you made it past the security, the cops and the obnoxious mob waiting outside venue (gates were put up because the venue had “reached capacity”), you nearly got trampled by the kids zooming down the walkway when things did open up. Thankfully, Caribou’s set (which fortunately started late) was a big reward. With some space to finally breathe in a room which had been completely transformed into a raging nightclub for Chet Faker and Todd Terje, Caribou’s off-kilter dance electronica was more than just music to one’s ears. It was nirvana after dealing with the world outside of the venue. With Daniel Snaith and the crew all dressed in white, it was a spectacle but also very welcomed.
Downside: The capacity issue for The Arena had worsened after the disaster during Chet Faker’s set. All doors to the Arena were closed except for the those at the entrance near the Main stage. There was only one way to go in and out when there could have been one regulated flow going through one side of the venue and another on the opposite side. Also, as kids rush through the gate when finally opened, security and police enforcement shouldn’t look as scared as the rest of us.
Postscript: I survived and I am thankful.
– Seraphina Lotkhamnga

CHET FAKER

You Should Have Been Here Because: The dark Sports Arena matched the seductive vibes of the mid-afternoon sway-not-dance party during Australian electronic heartthrob Chet Faker’s set. Crooning through his way through tracks “1998” and “Gold,” Faker and his backing band of two played cuts from his 2014 album “Built on Glass,” and had the crowd captivated with his moody and soulful Alt&B. Once the synth swirled and drums kicked in for his cover of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity,” the swaying shifted to full-blown dancing, with hips and shoulders popping all over the place. As Faker started singing, “Shorty get down, good Lord,” the shorties got down. And good Lord, it was awesome.
Downside: I guess once you get into the Arena, you should stay there or you won’t get back in.
Postscript: Standing in front of the Arena’s arctic blast, jet-engine air conditioning vents soothed all of the burn from braving the sun through the venue’s entrance lines.
– Andrew Veeder

SLINT

You Should Have Been Here Because: “It feels good in here,” singer-guitarist Brian McMahan said to the gathering crowd in the dim, cavernous, blue-lit cool of the Sports Arena, which in FYF’s late-afternoon heat feel like the belly of the beast. It was almost as if the post-rock torch-bearers were giving a secret reading, much of it from their 1991 masterwork “Spiderland” (they played everything except “For Dinner …”) Meticulously building from funereal and mournful to ecstatic and bombastic, it was quite a 55 minutes, almost surreal compared to what was going on outside. But that could have just been the cranked-up-to-11 air conditioning. Like on the album, now older than a huge portion of the FYF faithful, they ended with “Good Morning Captain.” And good afternoon.
Downside: There sure were some bored-looking girlfriends in the crowd.
Postscript: It was easy to get disoriented entering and exiting the Arena; no surprise there were crowd flow problems there later.
– Kevin Bronson

ANGEL OLSEN

You Should Have Been Here Because: If you were smart and arrived early you would have not only made Angel Olsen’s truly captivating set underneath the synthetic stars, but you would have also been blasted by the Arena’s cool air conditioning instead of smoldering out in the sun. (Although it isn’t likely that anyone’s timely arrival would have changed the pace of that long winding line.) As the first act on the stage in The Arena, Olsen really held her own despite the fact that she and Slint were the only non-electronic artists on FYF’s schedule for the venue. She teetered and tottered between soft, forlorn ballads and rollicking hits, from ones with lyrics like “Everything is tragic / It always fall apart” to “Every time I close my eyes / I feel something inside me die.” However, she didn’t spend all her time singing dramatically sad songs with upbeat tunes like such as “High Five” and “High & Wild.” Whatever the tempo, that lovely vibrato was warm and reminiscent of Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison and Chris Isaak all at once.
Downside: Before you got your bearings, even finding your way into The Arena was quite an adventure. With scant signage to inform festival-goers where to go, fans walked aimlessly (most likely following the crowd as this blogger did) until they inquired with security personnel at the escalators. The exit up the stairs also immediately gave me concern about massive crowds going the same narrow way.
Postscript: Pros of having a show in an arena: Nice bathrooms (although they would be inaccessible later on after the capacity-related fiasco), extra outlets, air conditioning and a cool, dark, club atmosphere with the professional lighting system. Con: See above.
– Seraphina Lotkhamnga

Photos: Gallery by Zane Roessell; top photo of Chet Faker courtesy of Concert Photography by Scott Dudelson