Nickel Creek

I’d heard of this bluegrass trio before lolla thanks to a few friends’ decidedly favorable reviews but had never actually heard them. The twenty minutes of their performance that I saw made me glad to have been exposed to them; the fiddling was light but surefooted and the bassline chugged along like the steady flow of a backyard creek. They even covered a Radiohead song, the title of which escapes me, which sent the crowd into a slow ripple of “ohhh!”s as each audience member realized what the loud speakers were emitting.

Thievery Corporation

The product of French dub, dancehall, house, electronica, and hip-hop, Thievery Corporation was quite a feat to behold. Brightly colored lights cascaded over the heads and shoulders in the crowd as the rhythms swelled and cooled, causing people to dance harder than I’ve ever seen, ever. One woman shook her torso, arms, and legs so hard I thought they were each going to snap off in time with the beat. It was like she was a sound wave pulsing and moving in every direction but never breaking. Any band that can induce such powerful dancing is ok in my book.

http://www.thieverycorporation.com/

The Go! Team

I can only describe them as some kind of brit-pop planeteers on speed. The Go! Team consisted of a Black frontwoman with a great voice (who I’d like to date/marry…if she’s single), an incredibly talented Asian guitarist and an accomplished Asian drummer, and two white guys filling in on bass/keys/backing guitar. Tons of jumping, rable-rousing chorus calls, and tireless enthusiasm, The Go! Team must run marathons in rehearsals to have that kind of energy.

http://www.thegoteam.co.uk/flash/GoKids.html

Nada Surf

Nada Surf displayed their veterans’ status in live music with one of the most polished and classy performances of the festival. They seemed to stay away from their upbeat songs and stayed content to keep the audience wading in the more solemn end of their catalog. They did attempt to mimic a big 60’s soul number by asking the crowd to help them become the ‘4.000 Tops,’ a request we were only to happy to help with.

http://www.nadasurf.com/

Be Your Own Pet

A band that was raved about pre-show by a few peers, my overall impression of BYOP was lukewarm. Watching them brought back memories of watching amateur hardcore shows at neighborhood pool houses in high school, the only difference was that BYOP brought less political ape shit and more hipster cool. The 19/20 year olds thrashed around onstage, wailing and smashing chords out of their instruments. I’d heard about the clever lyrics BYOP’s frontwoman fired off on albums but couldn’t understand the garbled tantrums bleeding over the druitarbassum mash coming from the amps. They certainly had energy though, maybe too much; the frontwoman ended up screaming and trembling herself into the early stages of heat exhaustion and puked on the stage. Not a bad band overall, but I’d trade some energy for a bit more musicianship.

http://www.beyourownpet.net/

Tonedeff

This rapper won some sort of ‘last band standing’ competition and the grand prize was an opening spot during the second day of lolla. The hip hop duo, the sideman’s name escapes me, had more energy than most cyclone-kicking gymnasti-punk bands. Tonedef and his man covered every square foot of stage floor with hip hop hooraying that got everyone to throw a hand in the air and wave it around. Only one double take: the lyrics were filthy (not too surprising) but were self-incriminating (surprising). The title of his single was “I’m a Pervert,” a song so crass that even the gristled roadies murmured an “Aw, shit man. That ain’t cool.”

http://qn5.com/tonedeff/

Death Cab

The crowd for Death Cab was the worst at lolla, hands down. Between the group of underage kids drunk off of a water bottle filled with cheap vodka starting a “Go Sox!” chant and the muscleman next to me laying game on a girl almost too drunk to stand, I became slightly irritated. Death Cab’s performance transcended the idiocy of the aforementioned clown-show, however, proving they deserve their lofty place above the rest of the mediocre OC hyped bands. They whipped their heads and guitars with unexpected ferocity and captivated their sea of listeners with some sort of witch doctor/poet magnetism. During ‘I Will Follow You Into The Dark” even the drunkest of drunks kept quiet and hung on Ben Gibbard’s every word. When he sung, “in the blackest of roooooooms,” (you know what I’m talking about) all 9,000 people singing along (including myself) dropped to the most delicate of ‘roooooooms’ at the same time that was so soft I got goose bumps. Great show.

http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/

The Violent Femmes

One of the heritage acts at this year’s festival, the Violent Femmes pulled a huge crowd reaching far back to the stage thousands of feet across from them. A solid portion of the crowd was comprised of people who looked a little too wasted to be outside in 95∞ heat, but they went nuts for the show anyways. Since I was on a tight schedule to make it across the park for Death Cab I only stayed to hear them play ‘Country Death Song’ and ‘Blister In The Sun.’ It was one of the most unnerving moments of my life being in a crowd of thousands of people singing along to a song about a man losing his mind, shoving his young daughter into a bottomless pit, and then hanging himself. Whoa. When they sang ‘Blister’ people kept singing, but the tone changed and it was more about drunken bliss than insane murder/suicide.

http://www.vfemmes.com/

My Morning Jacket

I was really looking forward to this show since I missed their smaller club tour a few months back. They were arguably the LOUDest band at lolla. If volume is representative of talent, however, then MMJ is the greatest band of the new millennium. When Jim James wasn’t sending his violin bow of a voice soaring through the fields, MMJ kept an airtight connection between the band members; the Kentucky five piece created lavishly rich sounds using conventional instrumentation, managing to convert the large group of curious passers-by who were wondering who could be creating such a commanding sound.

http://www.mymorningjacket.com/

Lady Sovereign

The diminutive white, British, female rapper started her set 25 minutes late due to multiple instrument malfunctions from the heat and a delay from getting drunk/high with her band. After everything was fixed all 5’1” of Lady Sovereign came out ready to go. Her voiced popped and jumped like a hand waving and pointing all over the crowd, exciting even the most starched concertgoers to throw a hand in the air and feel Sov’s flow.

http://www.ladysovereign.com/flash.php

Stars

I got to their performance a little late after my volunteer shift, but I was still able to see them perform most of the songs I wanted to hear: ‘Ageless Beauty,’ ‘One More Night,’ and ‘Your Ex-Lover Is Dead.’ They got a large portion of the audience into their set, but a bunch of people wandered over who weren’t really enjoying the show. Despite the non-believers and intense summer heat Stars still managed to rock their trumpet, violin, and keys to bring some small club intimacy to the sweaty festival crowd.

http://www.arts-crafts.ca/stars/