Fri 14 Sep – Monolith Festival
Wife & i only went to day 1. Wife's a big fan of the decemberists as am i. (i introduced her circa "picaresque".)
We arrived during Ghostland Observatory's set. There was barely anyone in the stands, as reflected by the few cars in either parking lot, so we snagged a spot in the 8th row. Ghostland was very energetic and entertaining given their 2 member makeup. They harken back to the mid-90s industrial sound and made me feel like i was in college at an on-campus event. Good show considering i hadn't heard their stuff before and was just glad to finally be at Red Rocks.
CYHSY! had good energy, especially the multi-instrument kids. They played all their best-known, catchy numbers, including "satan said dance", a candidate for best song of the year. But the lead singer's vocals were off-kilter (even for him). i think there were mic problems, and the fact that he mumbled some lyrics certainly detracted from my enjoyment.
i was too lazy to check out any other stage. i was interested in seeing Editors & the Broken West, but didn't feel like climbing all those stairs and possibly losing our good spot.
Kings of Leon brought THA RAWK! My opinion of KOL rocketed with a performance that made me think of a more masculine, aggresive, guitar-driven Interpol. This is much more apparent live than on their albums. Great show that rarely stopped for breath. Great energy. Songs translated superbly from the albums.
Something was up with Colin Meloy. Maybe something in that glass of wine he brought on stage. Because he was constantly futzing with his equipment, wasted valuable air time prancing around in the pit in front of the stage, and often FORGOT THE LYRICS TO HIS OWN SONGS. This was most apparent on "The Island", where he screwed up the opening line of the second section, stopped singing while the band continued playing, then started over again ONLY TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. He also injected some misplaced political commentary in "16 military wives" which, even though i partially agree, found his sentiment unnecessary and subtracting from the enjoyment of his performance.
The rest of the decemberists were solid, especially Jenny who rocked as much as anyone can on keys and accordion. The complete show was solid, but suffered the likes of Colin's frivolity/drunkenness and a set sequencing which was front-loaded with slow-rockers. (after about 3 of these, i kept mentioning to my wife, "time to pick up the pace now -- pick up the energy).
My wife, being a stage performer herself, was heavily disappointed with Colin's unprofessionalism. We both were disappointed by two somewhat-lackluster decemberists performances in-a-row. (Colin called a 2006 gig at the Paramount short because his throat hurt.)
Overall, it was a fun time. The crowd, which finally packed the main stage just before the decemberists went on, wasn't too obnoxious or rude. The sound levels were pretty good (although the bass was a bit loud at the pacemaker-shattering level). All performances were good (while KOL rocked). Fun time. Not sure if it was worth the price of tix + babysitting $, but i'm willing to give this thing another shot in 2008.
Wife & i only went to day 1. Wife's a big fan of the decemberists as am i. (i introduced her circa "picaresque".)
We arrived during Ghostland Observatory's set. There was barely anyone in the stands, as reflected by the few cars in either parking lot, so we snagged a spot in the 8th row. Ghostland was very energetic and entertaining given their 2 member makeup. They harken back to the mid-90s industrial sound and made me feel like i was in college at an on-campus event. Good show considering i hadn't heard their stuff before and was just glad to finally be at Red Rocks.
CYHSY! had good energy, especially the multi-instrument kids. They played all their best-known, catchy numbers, including "satan said dance", a candidate for best song of the year. But the lead singer's vocals were off-kilter (even for him). i think there were mic problems, and the fact that he mumbled some lyrics certainly detracted from my enjoyment.
i was too lazy to check out any other stage. i was interested in seeing Editors & the Broken West, but didn't feel like climbing all those stairs and possibly losing our good spot.
Kings of Leon brought THA RAWK! My opinion of KOL rocketed with a performance that made me think of a more masculine, aggresive, guitar-driven Interpol. This is much more apparent live than on their albums. Great show that rarely stopped for breath. Great energy. Songs translated superbly from the albums.
Something was up with Colin Meloy. Maybe something in that glass of wine he brought on stage. Because he was constantly futzing with his equipment, wasted valuable air time prancing around in the pit in front of the stage, and often FORGOT THE LYRICS TO HIS OWN SONGS. This was most apparent on "The Island", where he screwed up the opening line of the second section, stopped singing while the band continued playing, then started over again ONLY TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. He also injected some misplaced political commentary in "16 military wives" which, even though i partially agree, found his sentiment unnecessary and subtracting from the enjoyment of his performance.
The rest of the decemberists were solid, especially Jenny who rocked as much as anyone can on keys and accordion. The complete show was solid, but suffered the likes of Colin's frivolity/drunkenness and a set sequencing which was front-loaded with slow-rockers. (after about 3 of these, i kept mentioning to my wife, "time to pick up the pace now -- pick up the energy).
My wife, being a stage performer herself, was heavily disappointed with Colin's unprofessionalism. We both were disappointed by two somewhat-lackluster decemberists performances in-a-row. (Colin called a 2006 gig at the Paramount short because his throat hurt.)
Overall, it was a fun time. The crowd, which finally packed the main stage just before the decemberists went on, wasn't too obnoxious or rude. The sound levels were pretty good (although the bass was a bit loud at the pacemaker-shattering level). All performances were good (while KOL rocked). Fun time. Not sure if it was worth the price of tix + babysitting $, but i'm willing to give this thing another shot in 2008.
