Devendra Banhart played the Fulana Stage. He was seated while the band played around and seemed more bored than he was making the audience. We returned to the Casbah where San Diego’s own Waaves made an incredible racket. Drummer Zach Hill is a madman, flailing around like Animal from The Muppets. Guitarist and vocalist (because that ain’t singing) Nathan Williams uses a lot of effects. They are fun to hear on stage, but I would hate to have them playing in their garage next door.
The Green Stage trumpeted the fact that it is solar powered although it was a poor demonstration as the stage had issues whenever I came by. Holy Fuck was two DJs, a bass and drums. Their club vibe felt odd outdoors, but the crowd was dancing. The main speakers went out, but they keep bringing it.
Back over at Zarabanda, Mastadon, the heaviest act of the weekend, took the stage and rocked it hard. The Senora had never heard them before and she couldn’t decide whether she liked them or they frightened her. After 30 minutes of head banging, we headed back to Fulana where Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band played, including “NYC-Gone, Gone” and the Johnny Cash/punk rock hybrid “I Don't Want Die (In The Hospital)." Jenny Lewis came out and they played Rilo Kiley’s “Portion for Foxes.”
We switched ends to Fulano where Cake played a set of rather average alternative rock. Lead singer John McCrea complained throughout about the technical difficulties that were not apparent from our seats. I remained unimpressed until their big hit “The Distance.” Announcing there was one song left drove a majority of the audience back to Fulana to grab a spot for Modest Mouse, the indie rockers who left me wondering what the fuss was about.
Back at Zarabanda, Girl Talk was throwing a huge dance party. The stage was packed with people getting their groove on to his impressive mixes comprised of snippets ranging from Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer” to Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” If you didn’t recognize a song, a new one would be up momentarily. The visuals really needed some work because they were rather pointless as was the guy with the toilet-paper gun.
Article comments