Spring Break
Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest lives up to its name
Matt Goodman
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: OPINION
Dan Deacon's set was a ton of fun. The Baltimore electronic dance artist organized dance battles, dance obstacles and dance … pathways? He essentially turned his set into a giant dance party by setting up right in the middle of the crowd.
While Deerhoof took me by surprise, The National lived up to my extremely high expectations. The group brought a horn section, which really filled out its sound. The sad-sack hyper-intellectual indie rockers broke out of their shell and brought a high-energy, incredibly spirited performance to a hungry crowd.
The highlight was drunken lead singer Matt Berringer tearing the stage apart and tossing every part of his mic stand into the crowd, including his mic. The group's best song, "Mr. November," was even more intense than it was on record and was a perfect close to a heavy Saturday.
On Sunday, Tom Gabel of Against Me! fame took to stage two as part of the Revival Tour and offered some very interesting punk-meets-country tunes. His gruff voice perfectly accentuated the acoustic guitars behind him and made for a great afternoon set.
Islands followed on the main stage and rifled through a blistering show dominated by tracks off its newest record, "The Arm." The highlights still came from the previous record, "Return to the Sea." Closing with the epic noise-pop song "Swans (Life After Death)," these guys brought their A-game Sunday afternoon.
Black Angels followed, with its acid-drenched, '70s-style psych-rock. Complete with smoke machine and lights, the Angels' hypnotic, dirty psychadelia was a welcome change.
Over on the hip-hop/electronic stage, "rapper from space" Kool Keith brought his energy and ridiculous sparkling shawl in front of a packed corner of Waterloo Park. His energy and steady flow matched perfectly with the bass and quick beat shifts thrown out by his DJ.
Those who wanted something different altogether stayed and listened to Grupo Fantasma, a really fun Tropicalia group that jammed more people on stage than I thought possible.
While Deerhoof took me by surprise, The National lived up to my extremely high expectations. The group brought a horn section, which really filled out its sound. The sad-sack hyper-intellectual indie rockers broke out of their shell and brought a high-energy, incredibly spirited performance to a hungry crowd.
The highlight was drunken lead singer Matt Berringer tearing the stage apart and tossing every part of his mic stand into the crowd, including his mic. The group's best song, "Mr. November," was even more intense than it was on record and was a perfect close to a heavy Saturday.
On Sunday, Tom Gabel of Against Me! fame took to stage two as part of the Revival Tour and offered some very interesting punk-meets-country tunes. His gruff voice perfectly accentuated the acoustic guitars behind him and made for a great afternoon set.
Islands followed on the main stage and rifled through a blistering show dominated by tracks off its newest record, "The Arm." The highlights still came from the previous record, "Return to the Sea." Closing with the epic noise-pop song "Swans (Life After Death)," these guys brought their A-game Sunday afternoon.
Black Angels followed, with its acid-drenched, '70s-style psych-rock. Complete with smoke machine and lights, the Angels' hypnotic, dirty psychadelia was a welcome change.
Over on the hip-hop/electronic stage, "rapper from space" Kool Keith brought his energy and ridiculous sparkling shawl in front of a packed corner of Waterloo Park. His energy and steady flow matched perfectly with the bass and quick beat shifts thrown out by his DJ.
Those who wanted something different altogether stayed and listened to Grupo Fantasma, a really fun Tropicalia group that jammed more people on stage than I thought possible.
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