7:30 Since I couldn’t convince my friend to catch
Jaguar Love we took a break from the music and decided to eat some
food and check out Chromeo.
Chromeo pumped up the crowd with electro-dance-pop that was easy
to bust a move to. The duo consisted of a guitarist who also sang
lead vocals and a DJ who played percussion on two tiny high hat
cymbals and a row of cowbells and sang into a vocoder. They also
had a light show, which was odd since the sun was shining and they
were playing outdoors. Light show or not, the group delivered the
dance beats and lots of people in the crowd could be seen getting
their drunken groove on, so a good time was had by all.
8:00 The last time I saw local hardcore band
Akimbo live was four years ago at the UW when they opened
for the Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves. At that show
they nearly destroyed the small stage they were performing on and
their bombastic guitars had me shielding my ears. Saturday on the
Vera Project stage the sound levels were a bit quieter, but the
energy was still there and Akimbo showed the crowd why they are
such an awesome mainstay on the local heavy rock scene. Akimbo
is pure metal.
At one point Akimbo bassist Jon Weisnewsky called out all of the
people in the crowd who were watching Fleet Foxes earlier.
“I know I saw some of you checking out Fleet Foxes. That’s a
sin,” he said.
Ouch! Calling out Fleet Foxes fans who jump from folk-rock to
metal during a festival. Gutsy, yet extremely endearing in a heavy
metal manner.
9:00 By this point in the evening I had already
tossed back a few PBRs as well as a couple of gin and tonics in
anticipation for what I expected to be the set of the weekend (at
least for me) by The Hold Steady. Maybe it’s t he alcohol
talking, but I was not disappointed.
The Brooklyn group not only sings narrative-driven songs about
partying, drinking and partying some more, they also sings songs
about the aftermath of those nights spent drinking and partying and
drinking some more. The Hold Steady is after all a band that sings
a song with a refrain of “I’m gonna walk around and drink some
more” that is repeated several times, which means they are best
experienced inebriated. So I figured when in Rome …
Hold Steady vocalist Craig Finn was all smiles throughout the
bands way too short set (I think they played for less than an
hour). He waved his arms, hopped around and clapped along to songs.
His enthusiasm as well as his gesticulations made The Hold Steady’s
set, which was heavy on material from the group’s new record “Stay
Positive,” a blast.
I remember drunkenly singing along to “Sequestered In Memphis,”
“Chips Ahoy,” “Party Pit,” “Stay Positive” and about six other
songs. The Hold Steady, a band that will likely always be in
rotation on my iPod, easily stole the show from all the other main
stage bands that performed during the second day of CHBP.
