Not an exciting lineup, but I guess a pretty solid one. My first instinct was it's kind of lame, but just because Tame Impala are the era's biggest fest whores and I just saw VW last fall doesn't mean they won't both slay.
I think I'm still gonna have to wait for daily lineups to drop before I make any commitments, though. Gov Ball always gets such poor press when it actually goes down and I expect better lineups will appear for other fests (I prefer Bonnaroo's by light years, but attending that is a horse of a different acid-tinged color)....but it is still one of the closest ones to me.
It was definitely my least favorite pre-Backspacer. But it's been an age since I listened to it, maybe I'll give it another go some time soon. And also, looking at the tracklisting, it definitely had some winners - "Thumbing My Way" is great, ditto "I Am Mine". "Love Boat Captain" was a favorite of mine when the album was new.
I saw this wild Lagunitas-sponsored free show a few years ago in Philly where they had circus performers/freak show types performing all over the venue and Deacon headlined. I've always thought he was just alright as a recording artist, but he can work a crowd.
I'll take a Vedder who is still:
A) alive
B) playing with all of the members of PJ who have been in place for more than 20 years
C) able to mount huge tours when the time is right and give the people what they want
than the shambling mess he seemed to be in the era you want. The band has a lot of classic albums under its belt and most acts 29 years deep into their careers aren't reliably putting out great material, so why hold them to such a harsh standard?
And who knows, maybe this one'll be good. Either way, I bet the tour will be.
For real. I was in the first of 5 years living in China, had just fallen in love for the first time (not with a local since everyone will assume so otherwise and ve all "u's cliche AF"), was loving life and in the swirling center of a really fun group of new international friends, a few of whom liked to geek out about music like I did, and then 2010 was just a giving incredible year for new music on top of it all.
It shouldn't be 10 years ago.
I love "Taxi Cab" and have always found it to be one of the album's most affecting songs (and this is my favorite VW album most days of the week).
That is all!
I also liked how "Horchata" felt like such a trolling of their critics when it wad first released - "here's a little more of everything you find insufferable about us". Great track, btw.
I never liked them to begin with, but the way they oversaturated the craft beer market over the last ten years in particular was a travesty. Suddenly half of the variety packs out there were like 3 variations on "IPA"s and if you're lucky, one of something else. Draft lists at a lot of bars went the same way, too. And "IPA" became shorthand to a lot of people for "craft beer" in general.
I hope the wave is ready to roll back.
+ Yazz Ahmed - La Saboteuse (which also produced an excellent remix EP)
I personally spent came to love Heaven & Earth more than The Epic, but obviously The Epic is the one that fits best on a list like this.
I guess I'm daffy then, because I think Currents > Innerspeaker. Of the three albums we currently have, Innerspeak is the only one that I think can be a bit samey, and I think the songwriting isn't as sharp or memorable as on the next two. I still really like it of course, but I think it's outmatched.
I think Lonerism is Top 3 of the last decade, though. But I also think Currents is Top 10-12.
Lonerism would be my pick, though I love Currents as well. They both sound like "Tame Impala", but thiscity is also correct that they show the change the band has undergone. Lonerism is a psychedelic rock album, pure and simple. Currents is them transitioning a bit toward their current "poppier" sound sans guitars (but it had hooks for days, which people have been complaining about a lack of on these newer tracks).
Alas, I'm pretty sure Pigeons... is a subpar*, relatively new jam band. And I say that as one of the more jam-leaning regular posters here.
* I'm not being remotely fair - I don't think I've ever heard them and I just assume they're nothing to write home about because there hasn't been a worthwhile new jam band in a long time, excluding the veteran-populated Tedeschi Trucks Band.
I think they got just the right amount of rap for this year, as someone who's never been 100% sold on most rap artists as live acts (exceptions for stuff like the Roots...mind you, I still see rap shows every year, went to Rock the Bells back in the day, etc). If I were there and it lined up right, I'd probably see RtJ, JID, & Curry.
I don't think they have many albums that are fat free, but the highs on TFTP are, for me, some of their highest - "Southbound Pachyderm", "Over the Electric Grapevine", "On the Tweek Again", "De Anza Jig", and, yes "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" are all career highlights to me (ok, "De Anza Jig" is a minor one).
I like Saturday's well enough (namely JID, Denzel Curry, and Marcus King Band; I've never checked them out but slowthai & Nilüfer Yanya are SG-core) but I agree that the other days are spare once you get sub-3rd row. The few things that do grab me a bit on those other days are things I just assume I'll like - the Remain in Light tribute thing, Femi Kuti....I guess that's it.
BUT I still like a lot of acts on those Top 3 each day.
That's one of my favorites on there! But I never got as into FF as a lot of other fans I know/knew did. I like their more agile feel on Seas of Cheese - Punchbowl.
It always seemed like my more metal-leaning friends most loved FF.
The only time I ever had a bad trip was because Les Claypool's Fancy Band was kicking so much ass that I stupidly ate my second half of shrooms toward the end of his set and then my friends almost got into a fight on our way to find the 4th member of out party amidst the 40K+ audience for Radiohead.
Thoughts:
- Overall, I like it. But wow, talk about trying to be everything to everyone! They cover some pretty disparate ground there, some of which seems silly to me, but they got enough in that makes me happy that I can't really complain about the need for a full Country Grammar performance.
- I wasn't surprised by how few Coachella acts I didn't know at all, but I am surprised here, and it starts in big print - Glass Animals, Young the Giant, Tipper, Seven Lions, Rezz? Wow.
- I like that they cover their jam bases well despite that only being one thread of many. I'm fucking pumped to see Oysterhead (I was there the last time they played at Bonnaroo '06 before a transcendent Tom Petty headlining set), Greensky Bluegrass are fun, Marcus King Band is jam-adjacent and good, Primus are always good live, plus Vampire Weekend and Tame scratch those itches.
- A Sylvan Esso-fronted Superjam...wonder what that'kll come out like, but could be neat
I dunno, I suddenly feel like I kind of want to go. I haven't read any of the comments ahead of me yet, it'll be interesting to see how at odds with everyone this comment is.
Not surprised people are giving it a hard time already (I figured as much from the headline), but this keeps providing artists I like pretty far down.
I think the headliners are less awful than a lot of people here do (though don't get me wrong, they don't excite me and I'm not booking a flight for Napa), and think they've got a fair undercard. From White Reaper all the way up to Anderson .Paak there is some quality stuff in there (Janelle Monae, Digable Planets, & Trampled by Turtles being my favorites). I think it has a better ratio of decent bands than Coachella (assuming the no-name acts at Coachella aren't all secretly awesome).
I like going to festivals, even though I almost never actually make it to them anymore* but I'm with you here. I wouldn't want to go to Coachella for many reasons, but I enjoyed livestreaming a few performances last year for sure.
*Pitchfork 2017, and one random day of jam-leaning Lock'n in 2014 is all I've managed of full-size festivals in the decade, though to be fair I lived in China for the first 4 1/2 years of it. I've also been to a couple random days of Made in America and last year's Roots Picnic, but they're not really the same
Comments