This past weekend I was privileged to get my socks rocked off by some of the most ass-kicking bands around. I was also privileged to see the gaggle of Las Vegas freaky freakies who came out to pay tribute to the pantheon of rock gods that called down fire and brimstone with their furious rock-on-itude. Since it's tough to describe exactly what the crowd looked like with wordses, have a look at this:
Boy, that doesn't even do it justice.Anywho, I wanna get more into who I saw and how they ranked on the Awesometer, so here goes.
DAY 1, 12:45 PM
Gogol Bordello: I've just recently started to listen to these self-proclaimed Gypsy Punks, and they are completely nuts. As soon as I heard their album "Super Taranta!" I thought to myself, "I bet these guys kick ass live," and I was totally right. Onstage, this eight-piece force of nature was a riot. Frontman Eugene Hutz channeled generations of archaic gypsy energy and sent it spinning into the crowd, not to mention the furious fiddlin' of The Sergey (who was good enough to let me take a picture with him). The highlight of their act came right before their performance of "Start Wearing Purple" when a barechested Hutz poured the bottle of wine he'd been nursing all over himself, effectively wearing some purple of his own.
DAY 1, 2:00 PM
Mastodon: Before Vegoose, I wasn't super familiar with this band. I'd heard about their album that was an adaptation of Moby Dick and I thought that they had a cool name, so I went to check them out. My verdict? Not bad. Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of this type of music (the Ozzfest heavy metal throat grumbly stuff), but they were decent enough to check out.
DAY 1, 5:00 PM
Cypress Hill/Public Enemy: I'm going to say right off the bat that I really hate rap music. So I walked back and forth between the Double Down stage and the Jokers Wild stage to see these two groups, who I actually kinda like despite my poor opinion of their genre. Cypress Hill rapped about getting high (no surprise) and Public Enemy's Flava Flav led the audience in cheering "Fuck George Bush!" which was well-received by all.
DAY 1, 6:00 PMThe Shins: I'm not the biggest fan of this band, and I think they're just a touch overrated, but to their credit, they put on a good show. In the spirit of Halloween, the took the stage dressed like undead Spanish Inquisitors. I enjoyed their setlist, and even more intriguing was their decision to communicate with the audience with Ringwraith-like shrieks and hisses instead of regular talk. Nice!
DAY 1, 7:30 PM
Queens of the Stone Age: Remember back when I said I wasn't the biggest fan of
Mastodon-esque metal? Well I am a huge fan of QOTSA-esque metal. These guys cut into their instruments like surgeons and the diagnosis? BADASS! Lead vocalist Josh Homme prefaced each song with a shout out to all the fine ladies and ended their set by discouraging people from riding the ferris wheel and encouraging people to ride each other. Class mutha effin' act.DAY 1, 8:15-10:15 PM
Iggy Pop and the Stooges/Thievery Corporation: At this point there was a lull in my Vegoose enthusiasm. I sauntered over to the Snake Eyes stage to see Iggy and his boys do "I Wanna Be Your Dog," but that was about all I could handle. While waiting for the final act, I plopped my butt down to listen to the smooth sounds of Thievery Corporation. I recognized "Lebanese Blonde" from the Garden State soundtrack, and all of their other stuff was rad; complete with the occasional belly dancer.
DAY 1, 10:15 PMDaft Punk: When I was in high school, I listened to their album "Homework" quite a bit (as did everyone else in the world at that time) and after seeing them do their robo-light show live, I realized just how awesome these French techno-spinners actually are. They materialized onstage in a giant pyramid, started rocking out, and just didn't stop. The show got better and better and better until I thought my brain was going to liquify.
DAY 2, 3:00 PM
Ghostland Observatory/Infected Mushroom: One of the best things about going to a music festival such as this is the opportunity to be exposed to bands you've never heard of. Sometimes it sucks and you get pissed, but other times it's awesome and you get stoked. Both of these bands fell into the latter category. Ghostland's frontman Aaron Behrens gyrated like a cobra under a snakecharmer's spell, and cursed the "demon" sun for draining all of his energy. Afterwards, Infected Mushroom busted out some wicked rock/techno stuff that reminded me of LCD Soundsystem. I was very impressed with both of these groups, and can't wait to add them as friends on MySpace.
DAY 2, 6:30 PM
Muse: I've always liked Muse. I can't put my finger on why, but they've got a very unique sound, and their guitar section is mindblowing. If I'm ever traveling through space, I'd like to have some Muse playing in the background. Anywho, these wily brits got the crowd totally warmed up for the final act, shot confetti all over the place, and cranked out an awesome cover of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good." Oh, and their drummer was dressed up like Spider-Man.DAY 2, 9:00 PM
Rage Against the Machine: As I said above, Muse prepped the crowd very well for the anticipated performance by the Lords of all Ass-Kicking, and I managed to weasel my way up to the front of the crowd before Rage went on. Now, I'm not much of a mosh-pit fixture, nor do I like it when legions of sweaty freaks constantly rub up on me, so by the time Rage was halfway through "Bulls On Parade," I knew that I was in trouble. So, I weaseled my way to the back, bought myself some lemonade, and enjoyed the show from a safe distance. They wrapped up the show amazingly, and I'm pretty sure all the mounted cops were around just in case some total chaos broke out (it was just partial chaos, so everybody was okay).
In The End: As we drove back to our homes in Salt Lake City, it was tough to believe that it all really happened. Two days spent with some amazing music and some genuine cave people just doesn't seem like it can take place. But it did, and it was barf-inducingly radical.
