If you thought that SP20 ended on Sunday, you're partly right... the official part did anyway. But like Green River and Fluid did the Thursday night before at the (tiny) Sunset Tavern, some bands were sneaking in more Sub Pop goodness outside the event. Monday night at Neumo's was billed as The Listening Party with Special Guests, and knowing that the band was getting set to start tour with Wolf Parade, some folks figured out that part of the secret pretty early. Yesterday morning, it was revealed that not only was Wolf Parade playing, but also Foals, essentially two of the three bands I most lamented missing out on by going Saturday instead of Sunday (the other being No Age).
The show was insanely great, Foals were tight as motherfuckers and Wolf Parade gave their usual stellar set. And I was surprised at how much I enjoyed The Listening Party as well, with their Pet Sounds, freak-folk, kitchen-sink sound. But ultimately, it was Wolf Parade's night, as evident in this video I captured of "I'll Believe in Anything," during their encore:
Note the annotated video... YouTube added that feature a bit ago, and this was my first attempt at using the 'Pop-up Video'-like technology on one of my videos.
Saturday was a beautiful day to take in a concert, and even though it was hot, we scoped out a great spot that we knew would be in the shade in no time and kept our cool. We heard Seaweed walking in, and from our perch, watched Helio Sequence, a great Pissed Jeans set, Fleet Foxes, and Fluid. Fleet Foxes sounded amazing in that setting, with their 3-part harmonies soaring over the park. They weren't much to see, though, so we wandered about getting food and picking up a free 18 song Sub Pop CD takeaway from the event, which is worth a bit to me for it's inclusion of "Brett, You Got it Going On," which somehow didn't make Flight of the Conchords' debut CD.
After Eli courageously braved a foul Honey Bucket, the Fluid set (and the ice cream reward for bravery) got Eli charged up to move closer to the action, so we went down to the floor for Low, Mudhoney, The Vaselines and Iron & Wine (pictured up top). While Low inspired some HotWheel action (pictured right,) Mudhoney's primal sounds spoke to Eli's id and he started creating his own version of crowd surfing -- running through the creases in the audience to "Touch Me I'm Sick" (the next day, he came up to me and asked "Daddy, play the I'm Sick song" -- a proud moment). Below is a much tamer excursion (done to "In n' Out of Grace") where Eli coerced his younger friend Lincoln into joining in on the game:
Following around during his crowd surfing we ran into Martin Cranston (The Shins,) who Eli sort of knows from Yo Gabba Gabba, David Cross (who was slow dancing with someone to The Vaselines' "Rory Rides Me Raw,") Chris Marin from Kinski (an old friend,) and Daddy Sub Pop himself, Jonathan Poneman. If he weren't so tiny, Eli would've been thrown out by bouncers by then. We packed up for Flight of the Conchords, prepared to leave at any sign of wavering from the kiddies. Eli was into the show, though, even though most the jokes were way over his head, hearing people laughing made it funny enough. He snapped a couple shots from the top of my head before the show ended and I was left in the dark to try and find our car and not lose Eli in the throngs of the masses doing the same. After finding the car, we waited there 20 minutes unable to move, and Eli had to make do with peeing behind the car. Doing that, though, made it easier for me to draw some sympathy from the other exiting festivalistas and we were able to push our way out and on to home (of course the 520 bridge was closed all weekend, so it made for a much longer trip).
All told, Eli was in the mix for 10 hours -- we left for the event at 1:30PM and I carried him passed out to his bed at 11:30PM. What a guy.
Since I last reported, they added two more reunions, Canada's Eric's Trip and Glasgow's the Vaselines, both of which I'm pumped to see. I'll probably skip the Constantines and take a break during the Helio Sequence/Pissed Jeans sets, not that I don't like those bands, just that I got a three-year old with me and sacrifices will be made in the name of sanity. I sure hope Eli is can make it to FOTC. Yeah, you were jealous until I brought up having a 3-year old with me, right?
If you thought that SP20 ended on Sunday, you're partly right... the official part did anyway. But like Green River and Fluid did the Thursday night before at the (tiny) Sunset Tavern, some bands were sneaking in more Sub Pop goodness outside the event. Monday night at Neumo's was billed as The Listening Party with Special Guests, and knowing that the band was getting set to start tour with Wolf Parade, some folks figured out that part of the secret pretty early. Yesterday morning, it was revealed that not only was Wolf Parade playing, but also Foals, essentially two of the three bands I most lamented missing out on by going Saturday instead of Sunday (the other being No Age).
