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Treasure Island Music Festival 2009: A Weekend to Remember
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Written by David Adler, Regina Mullen
Framed by the picturesque scenery of the Bay, the 2009 Treasure Island music festival awed all in attendance last weekend with an impressive lineup and overall organization.
The festival literally takes place on an island in the middle of the bay, specifically the former US Navy Base dubbed “Treasure Island.” There’s no parking on the island, but constant shuttles to and from the mainland provide hassle-free transport.
For both Saturday and Sunday, a random assortment of indie-kids, frat boys, hipsters, and seemingly normal adults alike enjoyed a variety of indie rock, techno, folk, drum and bass, alternative rock, experimental, and hip-hop/rap music. With only two stages, the festival is arranged so that when one set ends on the Bridge Stage, the next one immediately starts on the Tunnel Stage, ensuring that none of the sets overlap.
Here are some of the bands we saw:
SATURDAY:
Murs:
One of the first sets of the day, rap artist Murs seemed to know that pumping up the crowd would be a challenge. However, Murs, which stands for “Making Underground Raw S**t,” easily pumped up the crowd with the infectious beat of his songs, and bass that shook the whole island. Directly preceding his performance of “Break Up (the OJ Song), he professed how much he “loves women” and “loves [his] mom and sister,” proving to be charmingly oxymoronic as rap artists go.
Grade: B
Passion Pit:
With their new album “Manners,” Passion Pit is a band which has climbed high in a small amount of time. Although lead singer Michael Angelakos’s famously high voice started off a little squeaky, he soon warmed up and eventually delivered vocals impressively similar to the studio recordings. Another stand-out was Pit’s bass player, who executed some quality chicken-necking and cradled his bass as if it was a child. Both engaging and fun, Pit delivered an act with intensity and, well, passion.
Grade: B+
Dan Deacon:
A fat guy with nerdy glasses and a silly beard. Most would not expect DJ Dan Deacon to be such an eccentric and dedicated performer, but his supergroup comprised of over three drummers challenges the boundaries of electronic music. “Don’t be afraid to get dirty with the ground, the ground that gives us life,” yelled Deacon to his fans as he organized two dance circles in the crowds. Aiming for a self-described “sassy as f**k” dance fight, Deacon appointed “that girl with the red thing” as team captain of one of the dance circles, and “that awesome looking guy” as the other team captain. Although the dance circles eventually imploded, Deacon essentially succeeded in hyping up the still slightly hesitant crowd.
Grade: A-
DJ Krush:
Ishi Hideaki, otherwise known as DJ Krush, is one of the pioneers of Japanese hip-hop. His was a performance oriented more toward feeling than sight or sound, as his bass drowned out most everything else. Starting his set with “Hotel California” and using only a turntable and some synth pads, it was easy to tell that Hideaki was knowledgeable of all kinds of music. Unfortunately, the audience did not share the excitement of the music, creating an atmosphere with potential, but lacking substance and response.
Grade: C
Brazilian Girls:
With only one girl and no Brazilians, the name is deceiving. However, the Girls more than make up for it with their incorporation of international beats, relaxed energy, and overall appeal. Lead singer Sabina Sciubba stole the show with her provocative performance and weird heart cut-out outfit. Their style is addicting and confident, growing upon their predominantly male audience with each new song. At the beginning, few were excited, but by the end everyone was singing along to such raunchy crowd favorites as “Pussy,” “Lazy Lover,” and “Sexy Asshole.”
Grade: B+
MSTRKRFT:
Hands down the highlight of Saturday’s performances, this Canadian duo created a crazy atmosphere and attracted the largest audience of the day. MSTRKRFT was definitely not a show for the timid; fans struggled and thrashed in desperate attempts to get to the front, and as the pumping techno beat began, elbowroom became a thing of the past. Their energy was infectious, transforming the island into a giant rave with their versions of “Da Funk” by Daft Punk, “D.A.N.C.E” by Justice, and the crowd favorite “Heartbreaker.” Breaking from their usual, MSTRKRFT ended with Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” causing the whole island to belt out the lyrics. Before the show, several worried fans expressed the concern that the sound would be disappointing because of the outdoor setting. However, this problem proved to be nonexistent right off the bat.
Grade: A
Girl Talk:
Greg Gillis, more commonly known as “Girl Talk,” has redefined what it means to be a mash-up and sampling musician. He mixes everything from Elton John to Styx to Lil Wayne, focusing heavily on club-friendly hip-hop. Gillis is an experienced entertainer, and added life to his show by bringing about thirty people onstage to dance, periodically spraying the crowd with streamers, and eventually ripping off his shirt. At one point, Gillis began playing Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone,” becoming the only person to make it okay for hipsters and indie kids to admit that they knew all the words to a Kelly Clarkson song. At the very end, fireworks unexpectedly burst out from behind the stage and erupted in the sky, ending his show on a definite high note.
Grade: A-
MGMT:
While still very popular, MGMT usually follows everyone’s assumption that they do not perform. And although they didn’t give a performance worthy of the headlining position and completely overshadowed by MSTRKRFT, they were welcomed nonetheless. Their widespread popularity and horde of devoted fans alone compensate for their lack of performance depth. Because they played their famous hits “Kids,” “Time to Pretend,” and “Electric Feel” in their very beginning, most people left after the first three or four songs. The quality of their live music was just okay, and they failed to connect with the crowd at all.
Grade: B-
SUNDAY:
Spiral Stairs:
With an early start time, this low-key band did its best to leave a lasting impression on the audience. The Stairs had a more hard rock sound than most bands there, yet it was there more mellow songs that really stood out. While a lot of their songs ended up sounding somewhat confused and chaotic, the Counting Crows-esque feel of their more relaxed songs visibly impressed the audience. Probably the best part of their set was hearing the larger and very serious looking synth guy sing the high harmonies.
Grade: B
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros:
If Jesus had lived in Berkeley, then he would have looked exactly like Magnetic Zeros lead singer Alex Ebert. Hailing from LA, Ebert and his family-like band are endearing, fun, and essentially magical. Using a variety of instruments, including trumpet, tambourine, xylophone, shakers, ukulele, accordion, whistling and an actual piano, the Zeros have an engaging folk sound that appeals to a wide variety of audiences. After parading around nearly naked, Ebert ultimately decided that it was a little too cold in San Francisco to be a hippie, and proceeded to put on a jacket. He jumped around to keep warm and landed in the audience, welcoming everyone’s reaching hands with “thank you for all these wonderful hand-jobs.” Towards the end, Ebert and his former girlfriend and female vocalist Jade Castrinos serenaded each other in the duet “Home.” So absorbed was Ebert with Castrinos that he failed to notice that he was turned completely away from his audience. With their diverse sound, the Zeros embodied the purely happy and welcoming aspects of music.
Grade: A
Grizzly Bear:
The vocals and harmonies of Ed Droste and Christopher Bear of Grizzly Bear were the most striking of all the performances. Using flutes, some sort of harp-thing, and synth-pads as well as regular instruments, Grizzly Bear created a mild, slightly ethereal intensity that was oddly addicting. Their new album, Veckatimest, is a contender for Album of the Year, and their performance definitely reflected that. Beginning their set bundled up in jackets due to the miserable weather, Grizzly Bear actually sang the sun back, shining through the parted clouds for the first time all day. Although at times there were brief lulls in excitement in the crowd, Grizzly Bear’s strong harmony, sound, and vocals combined into a powerful performance.
Grade: A-
Beirut:
Although his music tells a different story, group-leader Zach Condon hails from New Mexico. With an extensive brass section, an accordion, and a ukulele, Beirut’s music is distinctly Eastern European with an indie twist. When actually present at a Beirut show, it becomes clear that they have a substantial amount of die-hard fans. However, hands down the most awesome moment of the set was a lengthy tuba solo. Acts like Beirut are few and not always accessible, and his set was mesmerizing to say the least.
Grade: A-
The Decemberists:
The Decemberists had everything from songs from their new album, The Hazards of Love, to old songs from previous albums in their set list. This contained both powerful melodies as well as mellow ones, with guest singer Becky Stark and lead singer Colin Meloy telling a story through their music. However, the Decemberists ultimately failed to engage their audience at all, especially those unfamiliar with their story-like compositions. Their sound quality and song selection was good, but most of the crowd was only there to stake out a spot for the Flaming Lips.
Grade: C+
The Flaming Lips:
There are no words to describe the sheer awesomeness of the set that the Lips played. Basically, your life will be complete after you see them live. Streams and streams of confetti blast while lead singer Wayne Coyne jumps around the stage and bashes his psychedelic gong. The first of many antics, Coyne begins the set with his famous plastic bubble, basically crowd surfing in a giant, man-sized hamster ball. The Lips strived to constantly engage the crowd, and Coyne would periodically go off on small tangents, suggesting that “we should just take over the whole island…and then if we run out of food we can just eat each other…and then it’d just turn bad there at the end.” Not only was their performance exciting and excessively crowd pleasing, Coyne and the band seemed genuinely pleased to be there and happy to be performing. Looking out at the crowd with his boyish grin, Coyne quipped that it “seemed chilly before but now id doesn’t f***ing matter.” The only disappointment was the fact that Coyne did two sing-a-longs of “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” and “Flight Test” instead of actually playing them with all their eccentric effects. Besides this, the Lips hands down played the greatest show of the festival, and are one of the bands you must see before you die.
Grade: A
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Photo credit Leah Worthington
WEEKLY CAPTION CONTEST:
November 1st, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Treasure Island was the bomb! I completely agree with these prodigiously well written reviews. JFK + ALP = MSTRKRFT FTW.
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