To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
Mario Cuomo of The Orwells.
I wasn’t planning on catching their set, but I got to the festival grounds early enough to catch the tail end of a rock band from Elmhurst, Illinois: The Orwells. They are a young band … literally … the oldest member- lead singer Mario Cuomo- is 18, and the rest of the band members are 17, and their music, loud and energetic, seemed to be the soundtrack for a new, young, wave of punk fans.
Mario Cuomo, dressed in a Chicago Bulls jersey- and only a Chicago Bulls jersey- kept the audience of his peers moving to the music, encouraging them to get the party started in the midday sun, which they happily obliged. Before you knew it, kids started crowd surfing.
Crowd surfing during The Orwells.Crowd surfing during The Orwells set.
The youth and punk music. There really isn’t a better pairing. As long as they keep on writing catchy tunes like “Mallrats (La La La)” (a sample video is below), they could very well be performing on main-stages at music festivals in the near future.
Grant Brinner of The Orwells.Mario Cuomo of The Orwells.
To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
Leaving The Locust, I headed back to the main stage to meet up with some friends and to get a good spot for both TV on the Radio and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Performing on the main stage, as I was walking toward it, was an experimental noise rock band from Atlanta, Georgia: Deerhunter.
Brandford Cox of Deerhunter at FYF Fest 2013
I wasn’t familiar with the band, but from where I was, and what I could hear, it came off pretty good. I’ll have to admit, I was a little thrown off as I thought the lead singer was a woman. After all, he was wearing a dress and a wig, and his voice was kinda Yoko Ono-ish. It was more shocking than anything when he tore off the wig half way into the set, and for a minute there I was lost in my own confusion.
Though I arrived midway through their set, I could tell that the music hit on elements of alternative, punk and shoe gazing. I was starting to get into it by the time their set came to a close, but before I knew it, Bradford Cox (the lead singer) put his wig back on, picked up a purse from the ground, and walked off stage.
Brandford Cox of Deerhunter at FYF Fest 2013Brandford Cox of Deerhunter at FYF Fest 2013 shredding behind the back.Brandford Cox of Deerhunter at FYF Fest 2013
To check out pictures of other bands I was able to catch at the festival, CLICK HERE.
My day of music was originally supposed to start with Charles Bradley, but I got to the main stage a little earlier than anticipated and happened to catch the back end of Mikal Cronin‘s set. Raised in Laguna Beach, California, his music has that indie rock / garage punk / surf rock sound that is native to area. Though this was my first time seeing him perform and listening to his music, I could understand why the crowd showed up early in the day to catch his 4:00pm set. A little grunge, a little pop, and catchy hooks can put almost any rocker in happy mood. My day was off to a decent start.
Mikal CroninMikal Cronin’s DrummerMikal CroninThe obligatory rock and roll hair shot.
The line-up for the 10th annual FYF Fest was stellar. For only $99, I was able to attend the two day festival, and though I had tried my darnedest to get a press-pass to no avail, I went guerrilla-style to catch those acts I wanted to see and take the best possible pictures I could. Links to the other acts I was able to catch will be posted when the pictures have been “corrected” and selected, but it’ll take some time going through the over 400 photos I snapped. It’ll take me at least a week to post everything I want to post, so keep an eye out for updates by following my twitter or instagram accounts (both have a @methodman13 handle).
Click through the name of the act to see the pictures and read the write up for the acts I was able to catch:
The National has been around for a while, since the late 90s, releasing the first full length album in 2001, but I really didn’t start listening to them until their album “Boxer” (which is still my favorite The National album), which was released in 2007. Since then, I’ve been high on their music and their melodramatic, punk, indie rock sound. They released “Trouble Will Find Me” in 2013, and I was really hoping to get tickets to see them perform live, having heard that it was a great show to catch. I knew that they were schedule to perform two concerts in Los Angeles, at The Greek and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, but as fate would have it tickets had sold out before I had the chance to purchase them. Scouring the web for tickets through sites like Stubhub and Barry Tickets, tickets, even for the nosebleed seats, were in the triple digits, and a little more that I wanted to spend.
Fast forward to the Saturday eve they were playing at The Greek, I was having drinks at my watering hole, when a couple sitting next to me starting talking about the tickets they had for the Sunday show at the cemetery. I was about to lament about the fact that I didn’t get tickets, when a friend of mine, who I have been having drinks with for years at the bar, mentioned that The National was the featured artist for Jimmy Kimmel Live, August 12, and would be performing a mini-concert as part of Jimmy Kimmel’s summer concert series.
I jokingly asked if he could sneak me in, and to my surprise he said that he worked on set for the late night talk show, and offered that if I wanted to go, even though tickets were no longer available, he would sneak me in for the concert. How ironic that after 10 years of seeing him, and having drinking with him, in the bar I only now discovered what he did for a living… I took him up on the offer.
Having negotiating a $20 parking fee to $10 in Hollywood, I walked over to the alley he told me that he would meet me at. Without having to go through security, he led me to the concert area and left me to devices. Unaware that I wasn’t allowed to bring a camera into the concert area, I was able to take a few pictures with my camera before security told me to put it away.
The National played 5 songs, but at the end of the day, it was better than never having seen them at all. Looking at the set lists for their shows at the Greek and Hollywood Forever, I was still envious that I wasn’t able to get those tickets, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I was extremely grateful that I have friends willing to hook me up every once and a while. The set list for Jimmy Kimmel was as follows:
#DKLPHOTOS 