Yesterday saw fires, three of them. One saw porta-potties and cars set ablaze by a propane tank. A speaker at the Bjork show started flaming. Then, my pants got on fire from all the friction. It was hot out here as Scarlett Johansson in The Island. (Seriously, have you seen that jazz?) Tight black jeans were not a good choice. I swear by the end of the weekend, I will own stock in Gold Bond Medicated Powder. I’m walking like a swishy cowboy.
In the mid-afternoon, Peter Bjorn and John went on to a packed crowd, opening with a sitar-laden version of “Young Folks.” They even trotted out a Buzzcocks cover.
LCD Soundsystem,rarely known for keepin it short, had to play an abbreviated set to fit into their hour-long slot. They had to whittle down their seven-minute-long dance-rock jams, packing the most punch in three-and-a-half-minute capsules. It was some quick, ass-shaking stuff, with leader James Murphy beating that cowbell like a beast. “North American Scum” was the most brutally dancey thing going. It’s a shame they never head south to visit us in Houston.
There was a nice gaggle of Boomers camping out for Crowded House, like it was 1988. A lot of bored kids, with moms jonesing for some hot Neil Finn action.
When Queens of the Stone Age hit the stage in the early evening, it was a like sexy robot orgy. I’m not going to get into their set too much, since I will be covering their show at Verizon Wireless on Monday. But suffice to say it was a harsh, sweaty and slinky set. Lead singer/guitarist Josh Homme is like a decadent red-headed Viking, with his hip-shaking and pelvic-thrusting terrorizing and tantalizing the masses. Imagine my surprise when I espied an honest-to-goodness sign language interpreter on the side of the stage. The gods of WTF were truly shining on us.
Time for me to check out Dax Riggs and Cold War Kids. Here’s some “Hang Me Out to Dry” since that’s how we all felt yesterday by sundown. – Craig Hlavaty
Click here for a slideshow of Friday's action. And click here to see how things are going in ACL land for our friends at the Dallas Observer.
