Ah, the radio station sponsored summer festival. The show where everybody and their little sister is there. Walking into Shoreline Amphitheater for this year’s Live 105′s BFD I had the same pout as everybody else (besides the crazy FlyLeaf fans) that the lineup was less than desirable. This however, turned out to be a reasonably decent show, despite the mass amounts of hackeysack games being played (poorly) around the venue.
With two stages and a tent, there’s something for everybody, however most people I asked who they were there to see, they just gave me a blank stare and said “uhm, everybody.” This makes for a boring crowd to say the least. Unenthusiasm was abound for some of the best sets. Spoon played an incredible set (as usual) yet the crowd stood there and only slightly moved around for “I Turn My Camera On.” Brit Daniel’s voice live never ceases to amaze me, but I suppose that’s just not good enough for everybody else. The Temper Trap also fell to the radio-friendly crowd while playing one of the best sets of the Festival stage. Every single member played with extreme vigor and the switches between guitar and high hat and drum shows how versatile frontman Dougy Mandagi is. The crowd of course, was relatively dead for most the set, although they did know the words to (only the chorus) of “Sweet Disposition.” Typical.
The general ambiance of the Subsonic tent was very sweaty and dancey, even the Shoreline security got into the DJ sets by Dyloot and BT. The Limousines, subsonic tent alumni and local favorites, played harder and louder than I have ever seen them. Along with new material, iPad fingerbanging, and confetti – they also announced that their first full length album is due out next month. The headliners for the tent were the mind blowing Matt & Kim. There are very few bands who sound better live than recorded, and they are one of them. The pair’s stage presence is phenomenal, full with climbing on top of speakers, drums, and even booty dancing on top of the crowd. Kim hits her drum kit faster than anybody, all with a huge smile on her face while Matt compliments it with another smile and charming vocals and keys. There’s more to them than the cute factor, their live set can surely turn any cynic into a super fan.
Hole started the 90s flashback at the main stage, and surprisingly better than I expected after seeing them a couple months back at Terminal 5. I could go on about the shouting instead of singing or how Courtney Love just isn’t how she used to be, but that’s a tired concept and she knows it, stating “I’m old and I can’t sing, so give me a fucking break.” The fact is, although the quality isn’t the same, she’s an icon whether you want her to be or not. She knows what people think, but she doesn’t care. She continues to make new music whether you want to hear it or not, (she begged the crowd to let her play new songs with rewards of playing tracks off Celebrity Skin “for you fuckers that can’t get out of the nineties” ) Surprisingly, the best of the set were the two covers they played. The first being Leonard Cohen’s “Take this Longing” which put the entire amphitheater in a complete silent awe which Courtney later thanked them for. The set closed off with a cover of Alex Chilton’s “Big Star” which she showed some humbleness and took a step to the side for the guitarist, whom she had earlier yelled at on stage about the set list, for his solo. While her crazy antics have toned down, her boobs “stay in these days, but they’re still perky!” as she explained to a fan, this is the perfect analogy for herself.
The headliners were Sublime with Rome. Now, I went into this set with a bad attitude and expecting it to be terrible. Now take note because I don’t swallow my pride often, but they were actually pretty decent. They had a weird set up that was less Sublime with Rome and more Rome with Sublime, as he way up front and everybody else in the back, despite this everybody but Rome provided a quality performance. Drummer Bud Gaugh made the show worth seeing, while Rome’s vocals were decent as a lead to massive sing-along’s to old favorites (he’s still no Bradley though) and his guitar playing lacked luster. Fortunately, I doubt anybody noticed what with the massive smoke cloud hovering over the amphitheater.
BFD lessons learned: nostalgia does wonders for filling a show and there’s always some shining gems in a not that great lineup.
