THE BANDS
[FRIDAY]
EMA: A great way to start it all off. EMA is simply badass, as if her chain, shades and fishnets didn't already give that away. She also gives zero fucks, as evidenced by her microphone crotch-swings and alleged pit hair. She was simply in full and complete command, even in the undesirable spot of playing to a just-arriving crowd. "California" was one of the highlights of the day. A harbinger for the great music to come. {MORE VIDEO HERE}
tUnE-yArDs: Okay, fine. I think it's time I get past my ears' confusion and my brain's prolonged stubbornness and finally admit Merrill Garbus is a girl, mustache and all. After seeing her in person, however, I don't care if she's a monkey if she can hit those ridiculous high notes on "Powa." I was already in love with w h o k i l l, and this set just cemented it even further (How do you cement it if it's already cement? I don't know. Maybe by drawing pretty designs on it with sidewalk chalk or something.). It was equally fun — Merrill seemed to be having a blast, as did the band with its effervescent saxophonites and Coke-bottle percussionizers — and impressive — Merrill's live vocal-looping was a sight to hear. It was one of those turn-around-and-smile-at-your-friend-because-this-is-just-a-blast kind of shows.
Curren$y: I only saw the last five minutes of his set, but what I heard sounded good. Apparently he looks like Donald Glover, but I don't see it. Also, way to be original with the Jordan jersey. Should've gone with Kukoc. {MORE VIDEO HERE}
Das Racist: "You chief cheeba? Hey yo, dawg, me too!" someone joked before the set, signaling partly the remnants of the Curren$y set, but mostly the entertaining set about to begin. While every article written on the rap group seems to begin with, "They aren't just those 'Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell' guys anymore. They're actually good!," it seemed like everyone at this show knew damn well these guys are talented. And their talent shows just as well on stage as it does on a mixtape. These distinct rhyme-spitters delivered their ever-clever verses authoritatively and with plenty of potency. And they had a ton of fun doing it. The best part of the show was probably just watching Heems, Kool A.D. and Dap interact on stage. Danny Brown stopped by for a guest appearance that was equal parts sag and swag. (They also won the "best band T-shirt" contest, judging by how quickly these sold out.)
Animal Collective: I'm really glad I didn't come into this show expecting to hear tons of Merriweather Post Pavilion and Strawberry Jam tracks. Thanks to a friend's research, I knew that they would play lots of new stuff and avoid most of the expected songs. So my mindset entering was simply to trust AC to do their thing — I had more than enough faith for that. I knew it would be trippy, and sure enough, the psychotropic Halloween stage decorations let me know very early that I wouldn't be disappointed. And, sure enough, they didn't play much of their popular stuff; I only recognized two songs, "Brother Sport" and "Taste," in the time we were there (we had to leave a tiny bit early due to train times). At just about any other concert, this would be disheartening, even if I knew it was coming. Not so, at an Animal Collective show. For some reason, once you're into AC, you don't really have to "know" the music to fully appreciate it. You just need to experience it. And what an experience it was. While the neon bats and glittery skull on stage seemed to fit the AC vibe, I think one of their main purposes is simply to provide something visual, as the band really doesn't supply too much movement during the show. And that's what was so interesting about this set: It was really just the music — which most of us had never heard — that was taking charge, and it was still an incredibly engaging and consuming performance. {MORE VIDEO HERE}
[SATURDAY]
Dismemberment Plan: [Note: I came late to Day Two of Forkfest due to tubing duties, so I only saw two shows.] The only band I had never heard before seeing at the festival, Dismemberment Plan was a surprise in all the best ways. Originally, I simply was glad they had such a fun, poppy sound. Then I gradually became more and more impressed. First by that sound, then by their impressive strength in choruses, then by the speed and dexterity of lead singer Travis Morrison's sing-talk delivery, then by the band's simple rock-jamming ability and finally by the fact that they incorporated lines from tUnE-yArDs' "Bizness" and Robyn's "Dancehall Queen" in their final number (the last piece of the admiration puzzle probably could have won me over on its own). They slowly transformed from a band I had never heard of to a band I needed to look up as soon as I got back to St. Louis, a band that I suddenly wanted to have a big spot in my rotation. And another reason for me to cherish this set: They have no more reunion shows scheduled.
Destroyer: I actually only saw them on the screen across the lawn (the Red and Green stages were close together and shared a big screen), and I could hardly hear them, but I did see them in a smaller setting earlier this year, and Dan Bejar still doesn't know the words to "Bay of Pigs." {MORE VIDEO HERE}
Fleet Foxes: Sometimes, everything you want out of a concert comes together perfectly. The band sounds great, has a fantastic stage presence and plays all the songs you want. That's what happened Saturday night. This was the best concert I've ever heard. Period. I've had better concert experiences (LCD Soundsystem), I've had more fun at a concert (Chiddy Bang? lolz), but I've never been at a concert where the music was better. This was the first concert I've ever attended where I knew every song. I wasn't especially close to the stage, but I got the perfect blend of sound where I was standing. It sounded so perfect that I wouldn't even trade it for a performance in a more intimate setting (ironically, they played in St. Louis last night). The most spectacular point for me was the song "Blue Spotted Tail." It was simply the most perfectly beautiful song I've ever heard performed live. "Why in the night sky are the lights hung?" Robin Pecknold sung. I looked up at the city sky at the two stars not swallowed up by the city lights and smiled. "In the city for a while... I heard you on the radio and couldn't help but smile." In the words of some dude screaming in the crowd: "THIS IS REALLY GOOD!" {MORE VIDEO HERE} {AND HERE}
[SUNDAY]
Yuck: This British group's distorted '90s punk sound is often compared to Dinosaur Jr, but — although I was really into dinosaurs in the '90s — I have no idea if that's accurate (although with the frequency with which it's used, it must be). What I do know is that I really really like Yuck, the group's first/only album. Thus, this was the second concert I've ever attended where I knew every song. Strangely, I've never been super into significant distortion. But the group's fuzzy feel plays a perfect counterpart to its steady flow of dead-on hooks. This is apparently a great formula for a live performance, and I wish I could've attended their after-party show that night. The only thing keeping this set from being one of those near-perfect, Fleet Foxes-like performances was its brevity and the fact that "Operation" was shortened by mic failures. Nonetheless, 'twas a personally memorable set for me, even if lead singer Daniel Blumberg still looked a little pissed at us for the whole War of 1812 thing.
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All: I don't know why, but I like to do stupid things for no reason other than to prove that I can. I'd say staying in the mosh pit for an entire Odd Future concert was probably one of those things. This was probably the set with the most buzz, as the rap collective's blatant abrasiveness accrued some gathering protesters (to whom the rappers brought cupcakes) and a sizable crowd of agressive, mostly white, adolescent fans chanting, "Kill people. Burn shit. Fuck school." Well I found me and my notorious street cred right up front for this forthcoming explosion (technically I was second row, but I was squished to the same viewing space as the front-rowers, so I'm sticking with front row status). I knew it would be rough, but I don't think I realized the how intense it really would be. Sure there was bumping and shoving, and I spent the entire show trying to stay on my feet and toward the front, but the biggest problem was the heat. Temperatures reached at least 95 degrees that day and the sun was blazing straight down on the aptly-colored Red Stage. Not that you needed to be in the crowd to see how hot it was; there was a human thermometer of about 40 bodies (conscious, mind you) being surfed over the crowd and past the front railing in hopes of an early exit to avoid heat exhaustion. At a certain point, the people still in the crowd were so hot and tired that they weren't exactly up for holding human bodies, so the occasional surfer flopped down to the ground for a few moments. Thankfully everyone left okay, but, needless to say, it was a challenge sticking the concert out. Oh right, the concert. Well OFWGKTA's Syd — the group's member with the most swag (lots) and X-chromosomes (two) — kicked it off with Bob Marley's "One Love" and The Black Eyed Peas/Justin Timberlake's "Where is the Love?" and Tyler, the Creator, whose alleged theme of the day was embodied in his tie-dyed peace-sign shirt, gave a backstage shout-out to the protestors. Tyler had a cast on his broken foot and was confined to a stool, except for when he was somehow stage-diving into the crowd. He had more stool presence than most performers have stage presence. Tyler was the crowd favorite (and he responded, signaling hearts, taking photos and looking way too lovable to be the dude who made this), but Hodgy Beats was seemingly the star, especially with MellowHype's BlackenedWhite recently released. Hodgy threw his shirt, toilet paper and his own spiraling self into the crowd (I touched him and Left Brain and I think some other guy who wasn't Tyler!), keeping everyone entertained, as if they weren't already. As for the music, well it was kind of hard to hear over everyone screaming in the crowd. Although, I suppose it's appropriate that many of the lines were audibly rapped from the crowd (between yelps of "Let me out!"), making the whole thing even more of an experience — albeit, not necessarily an enjoyable one — than a concert. {MORE VIDEO HERE}
Superchunk: While Dismemberment Plan was technically the only band I hadn't heard before, I must admit I had only heard one Superchunk song, "Digging For Something," before this concert. The reason I was at this set was because A) I wanted to keep my front-row spot for Cut Copy and B) I had heard things — good things — about Superchunk. And those things rang true. Superchunk's straightforward dad-punk was impressively energetic (dare I say, "Hyper Enough"?), especially for a group of forty-somethings whose last album before 2010's Majesty Shredding was released in 2001. The group, comprised of the two founding members of Merge Records, the drummer from The Mountain Goats and a Pete-from-30-Rock lookalike, was already likable enough, but they won me over for sure when lead singer Mac McCaughan pondered how anyone could not like sports when commending USA women's soccer on their second-place finish in the World Cup. Yeah, sports! {MORE VIDEO HERE}
Deerhunter: This was another concert I only heard across the field, but I could hear Deerhunter much more clearly and entirely than I "heard" Destroyer. It was really nice, as I still leaned against the security railing, still recovering from the Odd Future set. "Helicopter" sounded awesome, and at some point Bradford Cox and Co. jammed into "Horses" by Patty Smith. Resting while unexpectedly hearing a great concert was one of the weekend's best bonuses. Plus, Cox provided one of the best soundbytes of the weekend: "It's good to be back in the USA. Fuck anybody who tells you it isn't the best country in the world. Fucking crypto-facists!" {MORE VIDEO HERE}
Cut Copy: This was easily the concert I was most looking forward to headed into the third day of Forkfest. I knew I would be front row one way or another by the time this concert started. I was a huge fan of their latest album, Zonoscope (meaning, if you count seeing Animal Collective as seeing Panda Bear, I got to see the top five artists who had my favorite albums of 2011 thus far). And, most importantly, I had heard their live shows described frequently using the terms "awesome" and "dance party." Well I was in the front row, I had already bought my Zonoscope shirt, and I had finally recovered from the Odd Future set. I was ready. The show was a ton of fun: the guys in the band were really energetic and nice (giving shout-outs to Superchunk and TV on the Radio), and there was plenty of dance worthy alt-disco. So did it live up to my hype? Well, no. See, by standing in the very front, I found myself in an extremely vocals-heavy area. Usually I can't get enough vocals at a live show, but here there was just a little too much words and not enough beats. I didn't get that perfectly balanced mix of sound like I had at Fleet Foxes. (Maybe it's best not to stand front-row? Somebody look into that.) Nonetheless, it was a very fun show. I would compare it to the Boston concert I went to a long time ago (and by long time, I mean three years). Entering both concerts, I was pumped for the bands, whose material I knew well. Leaving the concert, I was slightly disappointed, but for reasons that weren't the bands' faults (Cut Copy: me standing in poor spot; Boston: they all got old, and their lead singer killed himself so they had to replace him with a guy from Home Depot). I also left both shows even more intrigued by the bands' music and started diving right back into their studio stuff with even greater intensity. So this will surely be a concert for which I will have a growing fondness as time passes, and hopefully I'll be able to catch Cut Copy again in a better setting. {MORE VIDEO HERE}
TV on the Radio: This was another concert that was a fantastic bonus for me. I was planning on staying at Red Stage all day (which I did), and just catching the end of TVOTR's set at Green, so their set was hardly factored into my anticipation for the day. But, due to the schedule and layout of the park, I actually got to catch the entire set, albeit from a distance. I'm a huge fan of TVOTR's 2008 release, Dear Science, and I liked 2011's Nine Types of Light. So, seeing how most bands tend to play their newest stuff, even/especially when you'd rather they not, I was expecting a whole lot of Nine Types, a little bit of Dear Science and "Wolf Like Me." Instead, they took the route fans usually wish for but don't get (and of course this was the one time I was actually wishing for the usual route...) and played more older stuff with a cool cover (Fugazi's "Waiting Room"). Now, this was probably the dream of hardcore TVOTR fans, but, I must admit, there was a pretty significant drop-off in enjoyment when I didn't know the song. Of course, I don't want to let my solipsism brew too much negativity: It was still a really really good show. The Dear Science tracks were even more awesome than expected, and I liked the live versions of the new stuff way more than the studio versions — "Will Do" was my personal favorite of the set. Even when I was mindlessly bobbing to unfamiliar jams, it was a great feeling to be among the thousands of people covering every inch of Union Park for one final show; one last dance at this magical festival.
BY THE NUMBERS
Top 5 Sets
1. Fleet Foxes
2. Animal Collective
3. tUnE-yArDs
4. Yuck
5. Cut Copy
Top 5 Bands I Wish I Could've Seen
1. James Blake
2. Gang Gang Dance
3. Toro Y Moi
4. No Age
5. Ariel Pink and the Haunted Grafitti
3: Number of Festival Shirts Bought
3: Buses Taken
4: Taxis Taken
11: Trains Taken
$IDon'tEvenWannaKnow: How Much Money I Spent
12: Percent of Sweat on My Body After Odd Future Show That Was Actually Mine3: Bro-Tanks Worn
1: Times Robin Pecknold Dissed Dizzee Rascal
9: Bottles of Water In My Stomach At Any Given Time on Sunday
43: Number of Times the Lead Singer of Cut Copy Danced Like Napoleon Dynamite
$1 Million: Michael Jackson
24,000: Hipsters Seen
24,000: Times I Got Punched For Saying "Hipster"
12: Age of EMA's Drummer/Sister
17: Premature 'Golf Wang' Chants
1: Harry Potter Movies Seen
7: Number of College Friends Seen
Lots: Amount of Fun I Had
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I liked the number parts. Also, 24001 coming up.
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