In Heaven
The Pixies are playing live every night. Last weekend Tanya and I went to the
beautiful Gorge near the Colombia River for the
festival. Overall it was a mixed bag but a weekend I’d repeat in a heartbeat.
- The heat! It was 95 and sunny all day long and there is no shade at the
Gorge. That mother was H-O-T! - We missed most of USE (who, it’s been said, rock a stadium like a club and
rock a club like a stadium - if you haven’t caught them, you really should) but
got there in time for Bloc Party, who
were charming and played a strong set of tracks mostly off their debut
album. Their sound combines elements of The Cure (who I haven’t really paid much
attention in about 10 years, when they were the only thing in my world)
and Franz Ferdinand. “This Modern Love” and “So Here We Are” are in my top 20
new songs of 2005. - Jem followed and she was not outrageous. She truly, truly was not. She
started about 15 minutes late (a third of the way into her scheduled block) and
tormented us with her rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Master Blaster” and then
started a cover of Wings’ “Maybe I’m Amazed.” Ugh. As we were leaving I heard a
familiar bass line and thought “Sweet Jesus - tell me she’s not covering ‘The
Guns of Brixton’!” Fortunately they were ripped off the riff. - We caught up Steve and Ryan at the second stage (which featured a less
direct blast of sunlight), and then Brian, Carrie, and John-Anthony.
A. C. Newman was next up on that stage and the view and sound weren’t as good as
the main stage but I was convinced I should go buy - We made our way back to the main stage where we spent the rest of the day
and where Ray LaMontagne (whose album is very, very good) was putting the
audience to sleep. After his set, The
Arcade Fire fan but their live show is awesome. Everyone in the band is
super-energetic, even the people who you would think from listening to the album
and reading the credits are auxiliary band members. Being the second or third
percussionist in the Arcade Fire means you get to be that much zanier on stage.
And they wore their suits in the heat! A for effort, A for delivery. - Wilco were next. Like I would expect from A Ghost is Born, their set was
fairly subdued. They played the new, synthesized version of “Spiders”, and
managed to pull off “At Least That’s What You Said” in the sun and heat. - Kanye West took us to dusk with a really entertaining set. It was just him
and 8 Track, his DJ on stage. Kanye let the DJ take the stage for a full track,
too, which is a rare courtesy these days and a lead other hiphop acts should
definitely - Modest Mouse played the second to last set and were clearly the band that
most of the crowd was there to see. I stood in line for 45 minutes waiting for
the worst burrito ever during their set and didn’t see a lot of it, but they did
play “Cities made of Ashes” (which may be the worst song ever written) and
“Trailer Trash” (which has the kind of desperate beauty and instability that
makes them deserve the coverage they’re finally getting). - Then it was The Pixies. This was the third time I’ve seen them and no
one rocks the house like the Pixies. I don’t know how they do it, but from
the instant they take the stage until they leave, the audience is treated to a
solid set of the best rock and roll ever written and played absolutely
perfectly. It’s incredible to see this happen and more incredible that all the
songs they played are at least 10 years old but they sounded as vibrant and
exciting as anything in the festival. Oh let it rock!
We camped out that night and shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but it seems
like spending 12 hours in the sweltering heat isn’t enough to really wear out
the people at the show. Our camping spot was near the edge of the parking area
though so the noise wasn’t overwhelming (if I camp at the Gorge again, I would
definitely park as far from the middle of the camping area as possible). I’ll
post pictures in flickr soon…