Mai, Oh My!

Hey folks! I passed out at the media centre last night after the Chemical Brothers set. I also pulled a hip muscle. I feel like Hugh Grant in Music & Lyrics. I haven’t been back to my tent cause I can barely walk unfortunately. Last night was great however. 

The day started off with a very perky Ting Tings playing at the Odeon. Lots of people for a fairly early performance – considering things only ended a couple hours before. They played all their hits in the beginning (ie – Great DJ, Shut Up & Let Me Go) and saved the big crowd pleaser That’s not My Name towards the end. With only 1 slow song (Traffic Light) and ending their set with the same title name – We Started Nothing. Deliciously guilty pop music is what I call it. But I guess it’s no longer guilty – it’s just good!

The rest of the day after that was kind of slow for me. I took a few naps here and there. I woke up in time to catch Judas Priest at the main stage. Personally, it was more interesting to watch people around me than the actual band. I mean, who puts the PRIEST on in the day time? It was kind of lackluster. Rob Halford was way to nice for a metal god – you know what I’m saying? Plus I think he must have pulled a hip muscle himself… He was kind of dragging himself around real slowly – and with a metal studded leather trenchcoat the whole time. You could clearly tell he was sweating balls up there. I was hoping he’d be decked out in some bondage type leather vest or something. Oh Rob you dissappoint me!

Next act I caught was the recently reuinted My Bloody Valentine. I wasn’t expecting to SEE anything explosive really. They are more a sound band to zone out to – it did leave a good ring in my ear for the next couple hours.  No talking in between songs from what I managed to catch.  I can finally say HEY I SAW MBV LIVE.  I left a little early to catch a little bit of Neil Young on the main stage. The old man is angry at something. Early on during his set he complained alot about the sound and other stuff – which was as accidentally caught on the big screen and he was mic’d. Once he started with his slow folky stuff – I fell asleep. It wasn’t him though – it was me. I’ve been extremely exhausted! The nap did give me extra ‘oomph’ to catch LIARS at the Pavillion stage at midnight. This was my highlight performance of the evening. Not only was I up front to catch all the madness but they are my new jam. I’ve been listening to them non stop this entire time.

Of the songs I’ve heard by them (which you can also sample on their Myspace) - I don’t really know how to classify their music. They are mainly three piece band with Angus Andrew (vocals/guitar), Aaron Hemphill (percussion, guitar, synth), and Julian Gross (drums). They had another guy on stage with them to provide extra guitars though. Maybe he’s their 4th member – I’m not sure. Anyway, Angus is this tall, aloof looking guy who was clearly intoxicated or something but it was a good show. Aaron plays the guitar and he also plays a mean drum – in addition to the drummer they already have. He can bang my drum any time for sure! Also, when Aaron takes the main vocals – he makes their sound something like the Jesus & Mary Chain. Anyway, amazing band – I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of this band – and I ain’t lyin about.

LIARS (click on thumbnail to view larger image)

“No Pussy Blues”… famous words by Nick Cave and the bad seeds  GRINDERMAN. Grinderman by far is THE best act yet at Roskilde this year. Radiohead are great and all but that’s because they are Radiohead… Nick Cave on the other hand was F to the fantastic, fabulous & f*cking awesome. From the second they started till the second they left the stage, I was just in….awe. The man is intense. Next to Cave you have Warren Ellis – also from the Bad Seeds. He’s also in Dirty Three (they came to Malaysia last year sometime!)… this man is intense as well. I know, I am lacking words to describe the concert I just saw. Could it be because I nearly ran all the way from the Orange stage to the media center to “blog” this while it’s still fresh in my head and my blood is running but my vocabulary usage isn’t?

 Grinderman are a fairly “new” band. They’ve been together as a collective since 2006 but all the members were from (Nick Cave and) the Bad Seeds. Cave nicknames this Grinderman project as the “mini seeds”.  I was amazed at the interaction with all the band members. It was a look of love and hate. The kind of look you’d give your partner when in deep conversation – of the serious kind.

I sat down on the grass with a good view of the big screen the whole time. My feet feel like they’re about to fall off but when the possibilities of an encore came around, I jumped to my feet and ran as close to the stage as possible. And what do you know, an encore! And not a Grinderman song either cause Nick said they didn’t have enough songs for an encore…. But what happened to their first single  – also the name of their album – Dig , Lazarus, Dig!?

 Moving on to other acts I managed to catch on Day 2:-

Gnarls Barkley – they put on a good show and sound good but half way through their set – I just fell asleep believe it or not. It wasn’t them but me – I was just so tired from standing in the hot sun for too long.

Kings of Leon – were quite the eye candy to make up for the sun burning you up a live. They played things cool while looking hot and they put on a pretty good show to boot. Not the kind of greatness displayed by Grinderman but the kind of fervor one would have through their “eyes”… at least that’s what Caleb the lead vocalist told us through his eyes. You know, “smiling with the eyes”… Totally fierce. Of the songs I know and remembered, they played California Waiting, Red Morning Light, Four Kicks, The Bucket, Fans, Charmer and this one beautiful song from their latest album – I forgot what the name is… These guys have loads of potential to be bigger rockstars than they are. They are great musicians, they are fairly young (I say that cause I am older than 90% of the band..haha) and they have the looks…. On a side note – I could’ve sworn I walked by them yesterday! I heard a bunch of guys speaking in American-English and this would make me look as 99% of everyone here speaks everything but English. So as I was walking, I looked their way and for a brief second made eye contact – but walked on. Like I said, maybe it was them, maybe not…. But I would like to think the former!

Last but not least, I finally saw Santogold. The set was hella short! She was scheduled to come on at 2030 but for the first 20 minutes, there was her DJ with his laptop on stage playing a various mix of music, from beats to the Smiths to even the Police… before Ms. Gold hit the stage, two of her dancers smartly dressed in short sleeved white shirts and black bottoms came on and stood still – unless moved by the music. She launched into her hits like Creator and L.E.S. Artistes… and it was a full on party at the Cosmopol where she was performing! But the show ended prematurely. It was like she performed all her songs from her debut album… EXCEPT for her latest single Lights Out. I was  actually looking forward to hearing that perform live…. But Radiohead never played Just like I was hoping they would (and did at previous summer fests…) Again you win some, you lose some…and I still haven’t found my phone  

No pictures for this post. The next post however will only be photos as I’ve done much of the writing in this post… By the way, I’m missing Goldfrapp right now. As much as I would have liked to see them, it’s just too cold to walk to the other side… plus I want to wake up early to beat the crowd at the showers and catch the Ting Tings at 1230!

The Streets are about to approach the stage now and if it’s not a full on sardine can by the Orange Stage, I’m gonna stick around to check them out. Then again, if it is packed, the warmth from other people might help me keep warm.

Tomorrow – Day 3, along with the Ting Tings, I hope to catch the Tokyo Police Club, Joan As Police Woman, and then there’s a major dilemma whether to catch The Dillinger Escape Plan, Neil Young OR My Bloody Valentine, I also want to see Liars and of course….The Chemical Brothers. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about music festivals like this is that you don’t get to see all the performers you plan on seeing. Simply because show times conflict, it’s way to uncomfortable for vertically challenged people like me to make it close to the stage for non-screen venues so end up going elsewhere, and in most of my cases, too tired to make the walk and dodge crazy drunk people enroute to the venue.

Did I mention that the whole festival has been marked? A term I’m using loosely in comparison to when a dog pisses to mark his spot…. It’s amazing to see people just pissing everywhere! Guys and girls. Avoid walls and corners… it’s probably been pissed on.