Treasure Island Music Festival, Day One Review: M.I.A., DJ Shadow, Thievery Coporation and More!
...pictures to come
After several days of overcast grey skies the sun finally decided to shine on a small patch of land almost directly beneath the Bay Bridge on what was to be a perfect Saturday afternoon in San Francisco. That patch of land is known as Treasure Island, a small island technically located in San Francisco and a former army base. Admittedly nothing ever happens on Treasure Island, despite it’s downright awesome name, and it is inhabited by less than two thousand people who live among the industrial looking hanger buildings and impressive view of the bay. However Kevin Arnold and Jordan Kurland, the minds behind San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival, are trying to change that, and bring to San Francisco what has evaded it so long, a real music festival. Noise Pop is set up in the same manner as SXSW with lots of little shows happening over a week, but what San Francisco has never had is a large music festival to call it’s own; Chicago has Lolla, New York has CMJ and The Siren Festival among others, Las Vegas has Vegoose, the list goes on, but we have nothing. But I digress, it’s Saturday, the sun is out, people are smiling and music and over priced food are in abundance, what’s not to love?
Featuring 14 acts each day (that’s right, it’s not one, but two days of musical bliss) with no overlap the first day of the Treasure Island music festival began. The first day was a bit puzzling and the second day seemed much more obvious, jam as much indie rock/pop as you could into 8 hours (Modest Mouse, Spoon, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Built To Spill, etc.), but my first day was constructed in a much different manner. The day progressed from laid back and funky, to hip hop and record scratching, to a progressive world music dance party. I knew what I was getting myself into, a block of groups that I had heard the name of, but perhaps never taken the time to fully listen to or really ever think about seeing live, but I wanted something different from the normal festival atmosphere and that’s what the festival delivered with day one.
My day began with Dengue Fever, a favorite at my college radio station KALX, for their unique take on pop music with Cambodian lead singer, Ch'hom Nimol, and their ethnic and diverse instrumentation. The crowd was still sparse at this point in the day, but us lucky enough to have made the trip out to the island early were treated to a pleasant and exotic trip while lying on the sunny grass. On the next stage Mocean Worker a one man band (though expanded for touring purposes) of jazz and soul infused dance beats began to rock the ever expanding crowd by not only “bringing {us} back to the 1930’s” with his saxophone laden grooves, but also by repeating the phrases “chicaboom” and “I feel like bustin’ loose ya’ll” throughout the entirety of the set. It was quirky to say the least, especially coming from a white guy who talks like he’s on the cast of Superfly, but it worked and the crowd loved it, dancing their hearts out in the sunshine. Wrapping up what I’ll call the “funk” part of the day, local group (the noise pop guys are big on “the local scene” idea and bringing that into a festival atmosphere, not just the local dive bar) Honeycut got the crowd moving as they churned out all of the best from their amazing debut album “The Day I Turned To Glass”. Local singer/songwriter, Bart Davenport, who leads the group, sang with all the same soul in heart as the legends and his band produced on point keyboard and bass heavy rhythms to back it up creating my favorite set for this portion of the day. I’ll say it again, but it takes a lot to make the San Francisco crowds dance, I don’t know why that is, but it’s the truth, however ass shaking and fist pumping was in heavy supply during Honeycut’s stellar set. As a side note, I got to speak Bart for a little while about the band’s feelings on playing festival’s, upcoming material, and general music appreciation, however the audio of the conversation was too garbled to transcribe.
This all takes us to about 3 in the afternoon, a quick stop to the $5 frozen lemonade stand (tart, tangy, and deliciously icy) and I’m ready to get my shoulder lean on with some local hip hop courtesy of Zion-I. I was a little surprised when I saw that Zion-I was going to be appearing at the festival mainly since there’s not other real hip hop act besides them, a DJ or two sure, but it’s not like Talib Kweli or Snoop Dogg was hiding back stage waiting to make a cameo. That said I couldn’t have been happier, clearly the crowd wasn’t sure what to expect, but once they got over the “oh, this guy is a rapper” mentality, they embraced, even keeping the head nodding going during a brief power outage that came ironically as Zion-I hit the “hip hop and it don’t stop” part of their freestyle. The beats were heavy, the freestyle’s gave me chills, and you know they busted out an entire beat through a PSP hooked up to the speakers, there’s nothing else to be said, it was hyphy. The Ghostland Observatory duo took the main stage next only succeeding in pumping up a crowd obviously waiting for M.I.A. Ghostland Observatory was undeniably crazy and dancey, but people were anxious and the set passed quickly before the leading lady took the stage. The speakers finally crackled after a long break and a DJ located center stage hollered out “are you all ready?!” naturally everyone hollered back (sorry Gwen Stefani) and the crowd (which finally seemed almost full, 10,000 strong) started throwing up their hands in excitement. M.I.A. took the stage and killed it. Sure it was a different vibe from the last couple of times I’ve experienced M.I.A. in a smaller club, but even outside M.I.A. made the crowd move, sing along, and generally have some fun. M.I.A. rattled through some newer cuts, “Bamboo Banger” and “XR2” before busting out all the hits towards the end of the set when she invited all the girls on stage to have a dance party. The new banger “Paper Planes” had everyone throwing gun signs in the air, and when she ended the set with “Galang” everyone was singing along. I know I already said it, but it’s undeniable, M.I.A. killed the crowd! Now it was the DJ’s time to shine. The legends took the stage, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist provided some severe rocking with each of their old school techniques and styles on the art of cutting up, spinning, and beat mashing the vinyl. They played a tag team DJ combo for a solid hour starting off with a bevy of rare and well known 60’s and 70’s funk and groove cuts, followed by a 20 minute African and tribal inspired set and all capped off with some much better than average club sounding electronic and glitch samplings. On their own each artist is great, but together Shadow and Cut Chemist brought new light to DJing and proved that they’ll always be around in a world of a-new-DJ-a-week. Speaking of the new school kids, trendy Chicago DJ duo Flosstradamus took up the decks on the side stage immediately after the masters were done. Where Shadow and Chemist had gone for rarity and old-school, Flosstradamus updated the new-school with their takes on mashing up and distorting hits like Daft Punk’s “One More Time”, Beyonce’s “Ring The Alarm” and Kanye West’s “Stronger”. Complete with fedora’s, trendy shirts, stunna shades, and laptops Flosstradamus completed the second of the three portions of the day. Part two “hip hop and dance” was over, next up the headliners.
By this time it was dark, I was hungry and the $9 “chicken on a stick” seemed like the best way to not only prove my manliness, but satisfy my hunger. Sadly my chicken would soon by on the ground as me and my friends ran (full on sprint) to the arcade tent where a text message had told us that part of the “treasure hunt” was taking place. These were the kind of little details (like a 60 foot ferris wheel) that made the festival so enjoyable, not to mention the fact that there was no large corporate sponsor and that the entire festival was green friendly and gifts were given to people who recycled. Wrestling our way close up to the stage I prepared myself for the unknown, the headliners. Gotan Project was the first surprise, a group that I had heard of for their tango-fusion (Gotan = Tango, get it?), but whom I confessed to have never actually hearing before. Unsurprisingly it was a pleasant surprise and on their final stop of the tour the Gotan Project went all out with three violas, a cellist, grand piano, leading accordion, DJ, guitar, dancers, essentially the works! The lights kept the crowd buzzed and the music had people, yes, the theme of the day, dancing, even attempting to tango. Finished off by a nearly 20 minute Latin jam the crowd cheered and waited patiently for more. Thievery Corporation finished off the night, and once again I had never taken the time to really give them a listen, though I’d heard nothing but good things about their live show. Trying to burst out of the traditional standard of electronica, Thievery Corporation involve styles ranging from Portuguese, Spanish, French, and even more to create something different and moving. With a rotating cast of special appearances, dancers, and of course a sitar player the night couldn’t have ended on a more trippy and positive feel as the smell of marijuana drifted above the entire crowd.
Though it may be too early to tell, the Treasure Island Music Festival seemed to be a complete and total success, not only for the music itself, but for the future of music in San Francisco, “Saturday is not a lineup you could do in many cities around the country. It's very unique to the Bay Area, where some people around the country might scratch their head." (Allen Scott, vice president of Another Planet Entertainment) The sun set, people cheered, high fived, and hugged each other; the Treasure Island Music Festival Day One was a success, we were all happy…until next year.
After several days of overcast grey skies the sun finally decided to shine on a small patch of land almost directly beneath the Bay Bridge on what was to be a perfect Saturday afternoon in San Francisco. That patch of land is known as Treasure Island, a small island technically located in San Francisco and a former army base. Admittedly nothing ever happens on Treasure Island, despite it’s downright awesome name, and it is inhabited by less than two thousand people who live among the industrial looking hanger buildings and impressive view of the bay. However Kevin Arnold and Jordan Kurland, the minds behind San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival, are trying to change that, and bring to San Francisco what has evaded it so long, a real music festival. Noise Pop is set up in the same manner as SXSW with lots of little shows happening over a week, but what San Francisco has never had is a large music festival to call it’s own; Chicago has Lolla, New York has CMJ and The Siren Festival among others, Las Vegas has Vegoose, the list goes on, but we have nothing. But I digress, it’s Saturday, the sun is out, people are smiling and music and over priced food are in abundance, what’s not to love?
Featuring 14 acts each day (that’s right, it’s not one, but two days of musical bliss) with no overlap the first day of the Treasure Island music festival began. The first day was a bit puzzling and the second day seemed much more obvious, jam as much indie rock/pop as you could into 8 hours (Modest Mouse, Spoon, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Built To Spill, etc.), but my first day was constructed in a much different manner. The day progressed from laid back and funky, to hip hop and record scratching, to a progressive world music dance party. I knew what I was getting myself into, a block of groups that I had heard the name of, but perhaps never taken the time to fully listen to or really ever think about seeing live, but I wanted something different from the normal festival atmosphere and that’s what the festival delivered with day one.
My day began with Dengue Fever, a favorite at my college radio station KALX, for their unique take on pop music with Cambodian lead singer, Ch'hom Nimol, and their ethnic and diverse instrumentation. The crowd was still sparse at this point in the day, but us lucky enough to have made the trip out to the island early were treated to a pleasant and exotic trip while lying on the sunny grass. On the next stage Mocean Worker a one man band (though expanded for touring purposes) of jazz and soul infused dance beats began to rock the ever expanding crowd by not only “bringing {us} back to the 1930’s” with his saxophone laden grooves, but also by repeating the phrases “chicaboom” and “I feel like bustin’ loose ya’ll” throughout the entirety of the set. It was quirky to say the least, especially coming from a white guy who talks like he’s on the cast of Superfly, but it worked and the crowd loved it, dancing their hearts out in the sunshine. Wrapping up what I’ll call the “funk” part of the day, local group (the noise pop guys are big on “the local scene” idea and bringing that into a festival atmosphere, not just the local dive bar) Honeycut got the crowd moving as they churned out all of the best from their amazing debut album “The Day I Turned To Glass”. Local singer/songwriter, Bart Davenport, who leads the group, sang with all the same soul in heart as the legends and his band produced on point keyboard and bass heavy rhythms to back it up creating my favorite set for this portion of the day. I’ll say it again, but it takes a lot to make the San Francisco crowds dance, I don’t know why that is, but it’s the truth, however ass shaking and fist pumping was in heavy supply during Honeycut’s stellar set. As a side note, I got to speak Bart for a little while about the band’s feelings on playing festival’s, upcoming material, and general music appreciation, however the audio of the conversation was too garbled to transcribe.
This all takes us to about 3 in the afternoon, a quick stop to the $5 frozen lemonade stand (tart, tangy, and deliciously icy) and I’m ready to get my shoulder lean on with some local hip hop courtesy of Zion-I. I was a little surprised when I saw that Zion-I was going to be appearing at the festival mainly since there’s not other real hip hop act besides them, a DJ or two sure, but it’s not like Talib Kweli or Snoop Dogg was hiding back stage waiting to make a cameo. That said I couldn’t have been happier, clearly the crowd wasn’t sure what to expect, but once they got over the “oh, this guy is a rapper” mentality, they embraced, even keeping the head nodding going during a brief power outage that came ironically as Zion-I hit the “hip hop and it don’t stop” part of their freestyle. The beats were heavy, the freestyle’s gave me chills, and you know they busted out an entire beat through a PSP hooked up to the speakers, there’s nothing else to be said, it was hyphy. The Ghostland Observatory duo took the main stage next only succeeding in pumping up a crowd obviously waiting for M.I.A. Ghostland Observatory was undeniably crazy and dancey, but people were anxious and the set passed quickly before the leading lady took the stage. The speakers finally crackled after a long break and a DJ located center stage hollered out “are you all ready?!” naturally everyone hollered back (sorry Gwen Stefani) and the crowd (which finally seemed almost full, 10,000 strong) started throwing up their hands in excitement. M.I.A. took the stage and killed it. Sure it was a different vibe from the last couple of times I’ve experienced M.I.A. in a smaller club, but even outside M.I.A. made the crowd move, sing along, and generally have some fun. M.I.A. rattled through some newer cuts, “Bamboo Banger” and “XR2” before busting out all the hits towards the end of the set when she invited all the girls on stage to have a dance party. The new banger “Paper Planes” had everyone throwing gun signs in the air, and when she ended the set with “Galang” everyone was singing along. I know I already said it, but it’s undeniable, M.I.A. killed the crowd! Now it was the DJ’s time to shine. The legends took the stage, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist provided some severe rocking with each of their old school techniques and styles on the art of cutting up, spinning, and beat mashing the vinyl. They played a tag team DJ combo for a solid hour starting off with a bevy of rare and well known 60’s and 70’s funk and groove cuts, followed by a 20 minute African and tribal inspired set and all capped off with some much better than average club sounding electronic and glitch samplings. On their own each artist is great, but together Shadow and Cut Chemist brought new light to DJing and proved that they’ll always be around in a world of a-new-DJ-a-week. Speaking of the new school kids, trendy Chicago DJ duo Flosstradamus took up the decks on the side stage immediately after the masters were done. Where Shadow and Chemist had gone for rarity and old-school, Flosstradamus updated the new-school with their takes on mashing up and distorting hits like Daft Punk’s “One More Time”, Beyonce’s “Ring The Alarm” and Kanye West’s “Stronger”. Complete with fedora’s, trendy shirts, stunna shades, and laptops Flosstradamus completed the second of the three portions of the day. Part two “hip hop and dance” was over, next up the headliners.
By this time it was dark, I was hungry and the $9 “chicken on a stick” seemed like the best way to not only prove my manliness, but satisfy my hunger. Sadly my chicken would soon by on the ground as me and my friends ran (full on sprint) to the arcade tent where a text message had told us that part of the “treasure hunt” was taking place. These were the kind of little details (like a 60 foot ferris wheel) that made the festival so enjoyable, not to mention the fact that there was no large corporate sponsor and that the entire festival was green friendly and gifts were given to people who recycled. Wrestling our way close up to the stage I prepared myself for the unknown, the headliners. Gotan Project was the first surprise, a group that I had heard of for their tango-fusion (Gotan = Tango, get it?), but whom I confessed to have never actually hearing before. Unsurprisingly it was a pleasant surprise and on their final stop of the tour the Gotan Project went all out with three violas, a cellist, grand piano, leading accordion, DJ, guitar, dancers, essentially the works! The lights kept the crowd buzzed and the music had people, yes, the theme of the day, dancing, even attempting to tango. Finished off by a nearly 20 minute Latin jam the crowd cheered and waited patiently for more. Thievery Corporation finished off the night, and once again I had never taken the time to really give them a listen, though I’d heard nothing but good things about their live show. Trying to burst out of the traditional standard of electronica, Thievery Corporation involve styles ranging from Portuguese, Spanish, French, and even more to create something different and moving. With a rotating cast of special appearances, dancers, and of course a sitar player the night couldn’t have ended on a more trippy and positive feel as the smell of marijuana drifted above the entire crowd.
Though it may be too early to tell, the Treasure Island Music Festival seemed to be a complete and total success, not only for the music itself, but for the future of music in San Francisco, “Saturday is not a lineup you could do in many cities around the country. It's very unique to the Bay Area, where some people around the country might scratch their head." (Allen Scott, vice president of Another Planet Entertainment) The sun set, people cheered, high fived, and hugged each other; the Treasure Island Music Festival Day One was a success, we were all happy…until next year.
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