SummerFest Recap, Day 2

Well, only 22 days late. Ehh, deal with it. I've been distracted. Today's soundtrack while I write this is Seabird's "Til We See The Shore" (which honestly, reminds me a little of Augustana). Also enjoying Champion's "Chill Em All" (a nice little electronic thing).

On with the recap: nothing extracurricular here other than before we got to SummerFest, we stopped for lunch at Soma's. Soma's is a great sushi place on Washington where we proceeded to have some great sushi (which is saying a lot for me, since I typically don't like sushi) and quite a few "sake bombs". Nice experience, nice happy hour prices all day Sunday. I recommend it if you're in the area on a Sunday.

So we go from Soma's to Steven's apartment (who is just a few blocks from the park), have a drink or two and proceed to walk to the festival. We get there just in time to catch some of Yeasayer.

Yeasayer is a great band. My only regret was not getting to see more of them. The hazards of doing one of these with a group...oh well. But what I did see reminded me of what a great album "Odd Blood" is. Would love to see this experimental outfit again.

At this point, we had given up all of hope checking out any of the smaller acts...which brings me to my biggest complaint about this thing: scheduling the lineup. By putting the main acts back to back, they pretty much assured that most people were not gonna sample some of the smaller offerings. If you wanted to see Chromeo, followed by Cut Copy, you were not gonna have time to wander around and check out other smaller groups. Next time, maybe the organizers can stagger the big acts, either by putting a blank slot in the spot or a smaller act or acts between the bigger artists. Minor quibble but still, kinda limits your time. But I guess that's a testament to the strength of the lineup this year.

Moving on, next up was Chromeo. They were a huge hit with our group, even the peeps who had never heard them before. Strong show, really like their brand of electrofunk. Very cool show. The lead singer (David Macklovitch or "Dave 1") knew how to really get the crowd into it.

Next was a local rap/noise act called B L A C K I E. Was not a big fan of this so we took the opportunity to catch a respite from the heat. So, shade and cold drink was the name of the game. We chilled out for a little bit and then went back and got a good close seat for the next show.

The next to last show was Cut Copy. Next to Weezer, I was most excited about these guys. I had stumbled upon their stuff a couple of years and really dug their electropop/80's new wave/synth rock sound. And these boys from Melbourne, Australia did not disappoint. They put on a great energetic show that was easy to get involved in. In fact they had people on the side of the hillside jumping up and down. It was cool to turn around and see that. The only downside was the heat and stuffiness had been ramped up and I saw the first signs of genuine irritation from fellow attendees. Nothing major, just a little flair. People were pushing and trying to force their way to the front. But it disapated as quickly as it appeared.

And now we arrive at the highlight for me: Weezer. This show was just awesome, start to finish. Tired, exhausted, hot, knowing I still had a lot of steps to take before I ended up in my bed asleep and waking at 4:30 am, I did not want their set to stop. They were that good. They played their well known stuff (though they saved "Buddy Holly" for an encore), a lot of their album songs that I love, "Suzanne" a B-side from the mid-90's and a they covered Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" (freaking awesome and it blew my mind!). I was in heaven. My throat was sore from screaming along the lyrics to every song, I was hot, hungry and had a headache...but content in that moment. That's what is amazing about music and it's power over us. It can connect us to hundreds of thousands of our friends as we share a moment. Or it can connect us with the band and take us to a place where we are all alone in a moment where nothing but us and the music exist.

Cool moment: During one of the songs, Rivers Cuomo had moved on the stage to our side (I was real close). I yelled out and pointed at me, he smiled and pointed back at me. The only thing cooler would have been to get a high-five (which some lucky fan got later) but I was happy. It was a moment I will always treasure.

So, all in all, a good experience. I was exhausted and spent the next day recovering after I got home from work. But it was so worth it. Hopefully the lineup is good next year and I can afford it. And hopefully, I will have someone to go with and share the experience.