Wanderlust Festival – Lake Tahoe, CA

Live Review: 7/26/09

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After Girl Talk’s hipster spring break, day two was decidedly slower for yours truly…It started with a soak in the hot tub, and the executive decision to skip Vinnie Chase and the Chasers (Adrian Grenier’s band, The Honey Bros.) in favor of the U.S. vs. Mexico soccer game.

Vinnie Chase on the drums!

Even at 5 – 0, the game proved to be less of a disappointment than The Honey Bros. according to my friends who went.  It was reported that they had a unique chemistry that could only come from several weeks of practice.  Still, Vinnie Chase gave it his all, and there were several “I love you bro”s thrown to the guys.

Despite the poor chemistry onstage, people were still having fun.

Now to the real meat: Mates of State and so forth.

Mates of State

Mates of State — huge piano at right

I caught the last half of their set and was pleasantly surprised.  Not having heard them before, they put on quite a show, and have one of the biggest electric pianos I’ve ever seen from a band their size – the poor equipment guy/husband who lugs that thing around…I hope he rests easy knowing that the sound justifies it.

Broken Social Scene

Brendan Canning gettin’ loose

This was the real reason most people showed up on Sunday, and they didn’t disappoint.  The prospect of 9 people on stage together is always intriguing, because it can either be a complete disaster or fedora-fueled celebration – Sunday was the latter.  I believe they started it out strong with 7/4 Shoreline, and rocked all the way through an encore performance of KC Accidental, bringing out horn players, and changing hats and instruments throughout.  It was awesome, and my diehard BSS fans were nothing short of amazed.

Andrew Bird

Photo courtesy of Spinning Platters, licensed under creative commons

Man, what to say about Andrew Bird that can’t be said with generic adjectives?  Awesome.  Astounding.  Jaw-dropping – only, I actually mean these.  His show is an insane phenomenon not scene otherwise in pop music (hey, he was on MTV when he first album was released).  For one, he both picks the violin with his fingers and plays it with a bow – amazing.  Then, he uses foot pedals to create loops on the fly – astounding.  Lastly, he lost most of his equipment in transit and was using borrowed gear – jaw-dropping.

In all seriousness, when Andrew Bird plays, you shut the fuck up.  Not just you, but everyone else around you.  It’s crazy.  It’s one part disbelief, one part attention to detail — no one wants to interrupt and risk missing something.   Apparently, it’s nothing new to Andrew, because it seemed pretty natural to him.  By far the coolest performance of the weekend.

Spoon

Last up was Spoon, who apparently rocked the house, but my girlfriend and the four-hr drive home convinced us to leave first, even though I genuinely like Spoon.  My friends stayed behind, and they weren’t disappointed.  Video coverage has proven them to be right from my estimation.

Hackneyed Wrap Up

They said that yoga and rock couldn’t coexist, and they were TOTALLY WRONG!

They also said that you had to pay to get into the VIP area, and they were wrong about that, too.  I tell you what, there’s nothing quite like the pool on top of Squaw Valley – gorgeous, refreshing, and lacking in the bear pee that the stagnant pond near the stage held.

All in all, it was a great festival and an overwhelming success from my perspective.  I hope that they have it again next year and continue to open the bill to the same diverse group of acts.  As tastes change and people become more eclectic, festivals such as this will become more vital and relevant to the “what’s a radio?” generation.