Burgerama 4: The King (Khan) and his doll, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s basics and a ferocious Sunday with Twin Peaks, Ty Segall, the Black Lips and more

0

Burgerama-Sunday-20150329-01-2

Who cares about the case of the Mondays when you’ve got Ty Segall, the Black Lips, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Dengue Fever, Nick Waterhouse, Tennis, J Mascis and dozens more all playing on a Sunday night? Those who attended the second day of Burgerama didn’t seem to give it a thought. Partying on and getting their burger on, the crowd at the Observatory seemed just as packed as Saturday, if not twice the size.

One major difference between Saturday and Sunday’s lineup was that the majority of the crowd seemed to pack themselves into the Observatory main room. Bone Thugs, the Black Lips and closing act Ty Segall on the main “Rama” stage changed that, but the Observatory was the place to be before 5 p.m. It was time well-spent, with the exception of the set from T Tops, that is if you could even call that performance a set.

The duo, whose members are comprised of the Growlers’ Matt Taylor and Tomorrows Tulips’ Ford Archbold, not only had the worst hypeman in history try to get the crowd to chant “Fire It Up,” but the attempt followed a wet T-shirt contest. (It was hard to believe the venue allowed such lame behavior.) T Tops then showed a 15-minute “Spinal Tap”-like video before the they came out to do a bit about why there was only one mic before performing a mere minute of a song titled … you guessed it: “Fire It Up.” It could have been chuckle-worthy, but it was mostly a waste of time and the one downside to the festival.

But we digress … Here are five highlights from Day 2 of Burgerama Four:

Tennis keeps on playing: Following a set from Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis is a feat in itself, but the band fronted by husband-and-wife duo Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley soared with their dulcet pop tones in the Observatory. It was almost 7 p.m. and a perfect time to eat dinner while watching the two play new and old summery tunes. There was no moshing during Tennis’ set, but Moore was a vocal prowess during songs like “Needle and a Knife.” She was also a boss when it came to doing their last song despite the stage manager telling them they had run out of time. Although she originally said everyone could go hear the last song at their trailer, Tennis defied authorities and played “Origins” to close out the set.

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony bring the beat and the bass: The start of a set from a hip-hop group like Bone Thugs is almost comically drastically different from any other set at Burgerama. However, it was refreshing and frankly, quite brave for the rappers to come out and do a set before the Black Lips. There is no doubt that many of these kids didn’t even have a clue about the genius of hits songs like “The Crossroads” and “1st of tha Month,” but that didn’t matter because sometimes you just need a beat and some good ol’ tributes to Eazy-E and 2Pac to get you in the mood. The foghorn, which is used excessively in the hip-hop genre, was a bit grating, but in this case, we were all about that bass.

Twin Peaks‘ moshers reach new heights: Ty Segall and the Black Lips may have earned their moshing mountains of bodies but it was pure fun to see just how high and crazy youngsters got for Chicago’s Twin Peaks. Having only recently released their sophomore album “Wild Onion,” some kids ferociously flew, floated and glided while crowd surfing while others seriously ate shit. (You don’t dive into a mosh pit without knowing what you’re getting yourself into though, right?) When you have fans willing to endure pain in the name of music, your band had better be great. And Twin Peaks was that and more.

Craft Spells still mesmerize: One of the more sizable crowds in the Observatory on Sunday materialized just before Craft Spells’ set. “Thank you so much,” gushed Justin Vallesteros. “We got here and half of our shit is broken but we’re gonna try and do this anyway.” Despite Valestereos’ woes, it barely sounded as if anything was malfunctioning on stage and the crowd were too deep into the zone already. With fans going wild for songs like “After the Moment,” Craft Spells were eventually all smiles too.

Shannon and the Clams soundtrack King Khan’s antics: Shannon and the Clams, by far, had the most dedicated fan base awaiting their set in the Observatory. Even with a few steps on stage, Shannon Shaw elicited screams from the audience. One could hardly blame the ecstatic crowd; the Oakland-based trio served up some fine doo-wop and psych-rock during their set. However, their set was one of the many that a scantily clad Mark Sultan (aka King Khan) had crashed. Not even the dancing gorilla was considered odd once Sultan stepped on stage, and he didn’t just stay for a couple of songs. His presence almost dominated when he spent most of his time in compromising positions with a naked blow-up doll … and we’ll just stop there.