Now, where was I? Oh, right. LouFest! It's a two-day festival in Forest Park in downtown St. Louis. Now, as a St. Louis native, I'm used to the ol' STL sucking at pretty much anything and everything that isn't baseball or murder rate, so naturally I was excited to hear a legit music festival was coming to town. Last year, the festival boasted She & Him, Titus Andronicus and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, among others. I didn't attend due to being all obsessed with my newfound college freedom and whatnot. But this year, I decided not to miss it — thanks in part to an even stronger lineup. So some friends and I decided to pack up and take the two-hour drive to the Lou, where we found a pretty damn idyllic music festival.
The size was just right; you could switch between the two stages and see every band (theoretically, one could watch 18 bands in two days for about $60). The lineup was impressive — at least to me (seeing these high-quality bands sent a shock to my generally pessimistic view of STL.) Sure, the early acts weren't comparable with corresponding openers at a larger festival, but it was nice how you could sleep in, show up at 4 p.m., and not regret missing anything. Overall, I was thoroughly pleased with the quality of the festival, and while improved depth could probably magnify the scope of the festival, I'm not so sure I'd be disappointed if it didn't.
THE BANDS
[SATURDAY]
Dom: Dom's "big" hit is "Living in America," and its moderate popularity, I assume, owes a lot to the fact that Gucci Mane remixed it and laid a verse on it. (A pretty shitty verse, according to Dom, the lead singer of Dom.) So, as a Dom newbie, I entered this set with Dom represented by this sound, which, obviously, is stupid, because it's a remix. Nonetheless, I was still pretty excited for Dom, and they blew my expectations away. The Massachusetts group has their live sound down to a science — surprising, considering they give off an interminable you-can't-divide-a-number-by-the-number-of-fucks-I-give vibe. Their succinct surfer fuzz tunes are impressively strong melodically, and their bro/punk stage presence is a perfect accompaniment. Unfortunately, I would compare these guys to Walk the Moon: stunning, near-perfect live shows with a recorded catalogue that just doesn't match. The funny thing is, with Dom, their lo-fi production — which at times sounds more like a hindrance than a stylistic choice — might actually be the result of them being legitimately unable to afford high-quality recordings. After covering "Alejandro" for Billboard.com, apparent little monster Dom said, "I would love to see Lady Gaga in concert, but, unfortunately we're all poor, so we can't afford to see a show that's over $30. So we just hang out on YouTube and dream."
Surfer Blood: Surfer Blood dropped a great release last year with Astrocoast, which found an impeccable niche with its upbeat surf (surprise) rock and soaring vocals. Those soaring vocals seemed to take its toll on Surfer Blood lead singer John Paul Pitts at times, and the band's set was be held up by the sheer quality of its material. Now, if some occasional vocal difficulties (it's not like it was embarrassing or anything) were the only problem, I wouldn't care that much. Unfortunately, the set was rather flat — lacking waves, if you will. And for some reason, I wasn't exactly getting good vibrations from Pitts. But again, that's not a dealbreaker or anything. But the sound just didn't have the hop or swagger I was hoping for. Then again, this was a few of my friends' favorite set, so maybe I'm just an asshole.
DJ Questlove: The Roots were supposed to headline Saturday night, but because of Hurricane Something-or-other (not being insensitive; just don't remember), they had to cancel. Luckily, Questlove was already in town or something like that and did a DJ set in place of The Roots' absence, which was apparently only their fourth ever. "Seventy years of music in 50 minutes" was what Questo and his hype man promised. He meant it too, it seemed; there was plenty of jazz and oldies mixed with the classics. It was a fun set, although it seemed he was fully aware of his audience (The few remaining not-white people ditched as soon as he played "Walking on Sunshine."). But as nice as the music was, the coolest thing for me — as a big Jimmy Fallon fan — was just seeing Questlove up close. If I was one year older, I'd tell you all about the LouFest afterparty Questo deejayed with Deerhunter, but apparently 20-year-olds aren't mature enough to enjoy such awesome things.
Deerhunter: I heard Deerhunter's set from a distance at Pitchfork Music Festival this summer, and that cemented my decision to hit up LouFest and see them. These guys have a great songs and a great sound that makes their songs sound great, and that's all great, but let's just talk for a second about how they end their non-encore set. "Nothing Ever Happened" and "Helicopter" — oh yeah, with a little detour to Patty Smith's "Horses" in the middle. This 18-minute chunk makes a good argument for best sequence in any concert I've seen. Deerhunter seems to avoid the pigeonholing of categorical labels while tirelessly garnering critical praise, and more praise can only be expected from their live showings. In fact, they were so good that I bought a T-shirt.
The Hold Steady: When I got dressed Saturday morning, I threw on my Hold Steady tee without even remembering they were performing that day. I had seen them once in Columbia, and really enjoyed the show, but I figured one round of Craig Finn was sufficient, so I wasn't like dying to see them again or anything. I should have been. The band, taking over for The Roots' headlining spot, was much better this time around, and they were really good the first time I saw them. Finn has an irresistibly engaging stage persona, spitting his words with more energy and sheer glee than one would think possible — and yet, I already knew all this. There was still something more, on top of all that, that made this show a good level and a half above the rest. Maybe it was the big gathering of rowdy Hold Steady fanboys, or the amplified overall crowd size, or maybe it was just night setting — actually, that's probably it; there's no better setting for a Hold Steady show than a warm summer night — but whatever it was, this show just had it. It didn't feel like a replacement headliner but rather a huge event, something you didn't want to miss — and, I'm pretty sure, one of my top five concerts of all time.
[SUNDAY]
The Low Anthem: Some bands play with guitars. Others play with synthesizers. The Low Anthem plays with cell phones, among other things. This refreshingly old-fashioned group has quite the ingenious instrumentalists; at various times, they could be heard rubbing a receipt against a dollar bill, shaking duct-taped pill bottles and, when they were feeling traditional, running bows down chimes. Oh, and the cell phone thing: Lead man Ben Knox Miller took out his iPhone mid-song, fiddled around for a second, picked up another phone off an amp, held the phones near one another and whistled between them into the microphone, manufacturing a sheer genius method of reverberation. (Check it out here at 3:20.) Lest they be mistaken for gimmicky, these guys can more than get the job done with less revolutionary instrumentation, like acoustic guitar, organ or clarinet. Or trumpet. Or baritone. TL;DR: These guys play a lot of instruments.
Das Racist: I saw Das Racist at Pitchfork Music Festival this summer and they were a blast to watch. They have as much fun on stage as I do listening to their verses, which is to say a genuinely large quantity. The Pitchfork crowd was really into it (it probably didn't hurt that Curren$y had just performed), and it was a great set. While I don't think the quality of the actual music differed much at LouFest from the Pitchfork set, the fun-ometer dropped severely. The crowd was just very blah, probably because this smart alecky rap group was a bit of an outlier at the festival. So while Heems, Kool A.D. and Dap seemed to be having fun, it went sadly unreciprocated.
!!!: As if the Das Racist didn't do enough to stress the importance of a great crowd, this set really confirmed it. I watched the first part of the band(pronounced "Chk Chk Chk")'s set from afar and wasn't exactly impressed. But after downing some lovely, slightly overpriced grub, my friend and I decided to get up close. If we hadn't, we probably would've missed one of the most entertaining sets of the festival. Lead singer Nic Offer is just a bundle of androgynous energy, thrusting and jumping all over the stage and its surrounding speaker system. Luckily the music was undeniably dance-worthy — the sound greatly improved from a closer distance — but even if it was German opera music, I still think Offer's over-the-top stage personality would've made me feel like I should've danced.
Cat Power: Sorry, I don't have any commentary from this one other than the fact that Cat Power (Chan Marshall) is really hot. She's known for her precarious live performances, and this set got a few mixed reviews, but I really can't confirm or dispute the quality of her performance; partially because I left early to get a good spot for TV on the Radio and partially because Cat Power is really really hot.
TV on the Radio: Did I mention I went to Pitchfork Music Festival this summer? I did? OK, good. Well I saw TV on the Radio there from afar, and I was pumped to catch them up close at LouFest. My favorite TVOTR album, by far, is Dear Science, and I was slightly disappointed in Chicago at how few songs they played off that record. They didn't really play much more (they did play "Red Dress," which was cool) in St. Louis, but I wasn't disappointed this time just because — especially up close — they were so damn good. They don't do anything outlandish, but they just have a live sound that, when it reaches its zenith, spews unmatchable energy. "Wolf Like Me" very well could have been the best song I've witnessed live. Their bassist died earlier this year, so I just felt blessed that they were still going strong, and that I got to see TVOTR again in such a perfect setting, a fantastic ending to a surprising fantastic festival.
Below, you can check out a downloadable cassette of tracks from each band I saw at LouFest. And, not to beat a dead post, but my Pitchfork Music Festival 2011 post is now complete with video for each band. So check it out, don't forget to vote for your favorite "Hallelujah" and stay tuned for some World Series coverage and concert reviews.
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