High speed winds and fair temperatures couldn't keep the crowds away from Steak & Cake's first ever music festival. All day fans of local indie rock gathered together on lawn chairs and blankets with a picnic or a slice of pizza from Zetti's to watch some of this city's best musicians rock the tiny stage of the Bidwell Indie 5000. What started off as a lo-key affair during the early hours of the day gradually grew into something bigger when the Elmwood Arts Festival ended, and by the time the musical witch doctor Sound Shaman hit the stage, the place was packed & looking more alive than ever. To give you an idea of the magic that was the Bidwell Indie 5000, we've listed some highlights from some of our favorite performances of the day.

The Mordaunt Sisters
There couldn't have been a more appropriate group for the early hours of the festival than this 5 piece horror folk band. The Mordaunt Sisters provided a creepy but provocative brand of Americana was nothing short of captivating and created an eerie atmosphere that matched perfectly with the warm but still overcast weather.

Badmilk
This Western New York trio blended elements of jazz, country and of course, indie rock into a one schmorgesborg of sound that was both charming and groovy. lead singer Brendan McCarthy has an interesting voice that teeters between a yelp and an high pitched grunt that's not easy to forget. In a lot of ways they reminded us of Tapes'n'tapes who will be visiting Buffalo later this month.

Love Scenes
Not exactly a stranger to our blog, the electronic dance duo Love Scenes provided a loud trancy set that felt fresh with new originals. The opening song "Enigmatic", a thumping new number with foot stomping bass, literally lifted people off their feet while the closing cover of Girls "Lust for Life" had everyone wanting more.

The Andrew J. Reimers Country-Punk Extravaganza
One of the Buffalo acts that has been alluding us, TAJRCPE (that's alot easier and faster to type) was exactly what I was hoping they would sound like:  an Uncle Tupelo esque throwback to the heyday of the modern alt-country genre.  Whiskey soaked bravado and twang fueled their set as the sun began to go down over the park.  

Ah, Sunday. The rubber match of festival days. The final day to weigh the good against the bad & determine if it was worth your time & money.  The festival's first day was a complete success (aside from the weather). Saturday had higher temperatures but the music itself was lacking in numerous ways. What would Sunday hold?  Would the crowd reclaim some of that fresh enthusiasm that kicked started the weekend? Or would yesterday's ho-hum atmosphere carry over for a lackluster conclusion? Well to answer this one, we'll use another familiar baseball analogy. On Sunday, Outside Lands knocked it clean out of the park.


Mother Nature did its part again with temperatures in the high 60's and not a single cloud in the sky. The bus lines also seemed less crowded and more orderly compared the chaos of the previous two days. I took both of these signs as a good omen as I walked though the relativity short line into the festival.


The first band on our radar was Lord Huron, who hail from Los Angeles. The five piece indie rock group delivered a fascinating set that incorporated hints of delta blues, worldly folk, and Afro-pop guitars. Lead singer Ben Schneider added more percussion between guitar licks, drumming on a single snare drum next to his microphone ala Local Natives.


Creative scatter box musical project, tUnE-yArDs presented the most fascinating show of the weekend.  Merrill Garbus, painted face and all, would create each song by consistently looping fragments of noise, adding layers and layers until the schmorgesborg of sound was almost incomprehensible, only to have it drop out complete and replaced with a chanting chorus line. She was joined on stage with a talented bases, whose repetitious funky baselines kept the listener grounded, and small horns section that put the exclamation point on every song.


Mavis Staples was the perfect counter balance to the zaniness of the tUnE-yArDs. Staples' mellow but uplifting soultown mix fit well with the relaxed crowd who was mostly sunbathing on blankets or resting on lawn chairs. Things picked up however when Win Butler of Arcade Fire surprised the audience & joined Mavis in an accurate take on The Band's classic song "The Weight".


Major Lazar turned the Sutro Stage into a 1993 MTV Spring Break dance party. There was a plethora of neon-looking bathing suit attire, cheep imitation Ray-Ban sunglasses, and for whatever reason, quite a few swimming pool noodles. Hype man Skerritt Bwoy was noticeably absent, but the party still raged on.


The crowd was packed for the evening set of gypsy folk rock troubadours, Beirut. The band's Mariachi feel was very fitting of San Francisco's rich Latino history and the whaltzy rhythms provided the perfect soundtrack to the setting sun.


The night ended with two headliners both worthy of their own set. Deadmau5 had the enormous crowd entranced in hypnotic dance beats that relied less on the "drop" and more on the constantly evolving dance beat. The stage was also an impressive array of neon lights and LED screens that synced perfectly to the DJ's music.


Arcade Fire's set wasn't dramatically different from the previous two times we've seen them. That's not to say it wasn't terrific however. I don't know if I'll ever get sick of songs like "We Used to Wait", "Intervention" & "Neighborhood # 3". Win Butler joked about wanting to move to the Bay area until he remembered the sky high cost of a tiny studio apartment and remarked "Montreal's just fine thank you". And in truth, the nine dollar beers were starting to wear thin on our wallets. So while the band played an epic encore of, you guessed it, "Wake Up", we decided to make our way out of Golden Gate Park one final time and waved goodbye to another successful year of Outside Lands.

Saturday, while still enjoyable, didn't quite live up the standard set from the previous day. Sure the weather was much improved, with higher temperatures and barely a cloud in the sky. But when you factor in the unexpected sound issues & a line-up that didn't look that strong from the start, you are going to get mixed results.  Here is run down of the good & bad.


STRFCKR, whose most recent album Reptilians has been on constant rotation in my car stereo since it's release back in March, was the first band to come up short. Plane and simple, the sound mix was god awful.  When the keyboards weren't annoyingly loud, the vocals were teasingly quiet. Add a few sporadic moments of feedback and it was enough for us to give up and move on to another band. That type of thing was bound to happen sooner or later, so it we'll have to reserve our true judgments of the band for another time.


We then had an up close encounter with new age folk rockers Veviter at the Free Yr Radio Prius Tent. The band's short but sweet two song set sounded crisp and well rehearsed. It honestly was the perfect remedy to the STRFCKR sound issues still fresh in our minds. The guys then invited everyone to catch their full set at The Sutro stage in a half hour if we wanted to hear some more awesome tunes. We graciously accepted.


Arctic Monkey's provided the best concert of the evening with a sunny, day time set that had a very large crowd consistently entertained. There are two elements to the Arctic Monkeys that instantly set themselves apart from the rest of the line-up the minute they walk on stage. They're loud. And they're very British.  Lead singer Alex Turner's accent was noticeably thick during the brief moments of banter and you couldn't help but think to yourself that this band is a long way from home. The group's music seemed to touch upon all the famous British bands of the past from The Clash, to the Sex Pistols to even Led Zeppelin, but with the sharp and minimal post punk song structure of modern day indie bands like The Strokes. Songs like "Florescent Adolescent" "Crying Lightning" & "I Bet That You Look on the Dance Floor' filled out a long set that touched on ever stage of their career.


If the Arctic Monkey's provided the best show of the day, The Roots definitely provided the worst. Instead of set filled with Roots classics, the crowd was treated to 50 minutes of classic rock covers. From "Sweet Child of Mine" to "Immigrant Song", The Roots preferred to put on a show that accentuated the "rockness" of the band and neglected the genuine free flowing hip hop styling of Black Thought. In a lot of ways, it was more like a Lenny Kravitz show then it was a Roots' hip hop performance.


Local DJ/Producer Eskmo impressed us with his ingenuity in creating live electronica. The dace music mastermind would create live loops on stage making noises with seemly ordinary objects, like opening a beer can or pulling a vinyl record from it's paper sleeve. He would then manipulate the sound and incorporate it into his consistently evolving form of up tempo dance music madness. A modern day Frankenstein of the turn tables.


The night ended with a Girl Talk set that was boringly predictable. Apparently, not much has changed since 2006. Yes, there were a ton of people on stage dancing along side Gregg Gillis, and yes it was kind of cool to listen to Busta Rhymes rap over Vampire Weekend. But in the end it just feels like the same old party that's been going on way too long. After 30 minutes or so we wandered off to to catch a little Muse before heading home. For whatever reason, Muse's arena rock anthems never did appeal to me, so after 15 minutes, we decided to call it a night and try and catch a bus before the rush.

Outside Lands kicked off to temperatures hovering around 60 degrees, but the chilly fall-like weather didn't slow us down. From the sites and sounds of the tiny Panhandle Stage to the odd hobo art displayed in the food truck forest, here's a quick run down of everything we saw & did.

The Joy Formidable started off our weekend with a heavy set of pummeling distorted synth rock. It was loud, intense, and far more explosive then initially expected. By the end of the set, the trio were flailing about & slamming their instruments on the ground.

Foster the People, who flew in straight from New York City, didn't let the sleep deprivation & jet lag ruin their set. The band was well rehearsed and played a very crisp set of danceable, disco pop to one of the biggest crowds of the day.

The electronic synth rock party continued at the Twin Peaks stage where Toro Y Moi's smooth neo-soul chillwave had everyone up and on their feet. While I was never a huge of the Toro Y Moi's studio work, his live show is far more potent, including some subtle Jameriquai-esq dance moves and funky Motown-like bass lines.

Things mellowed out around this time when MGMT & Clap Your Hands Say Yeah each played a set that was pleasing to the ear, but lacked that certain umph to really grab your attention. The Limousine's dared to re-energize the the day with some hyper beat dance pop that seemed to do the trick until the power to the stage suddenly cut out. Lead singer Eric Victorino joked this kind of problem would be expected when using a solar powered stage in foggy overcast San Francisco.

Phish manged to bring out our inner hippie when they played classics like Wilson & Possum. Both songs had the entire crowd singing along during the call & response audience participation, and it was clear that most of these fans had come some specifically for the jamband kings. The group also won the best-cover-of-the-day award for their killer rendition of Frank Zappa's "Peaches en Regalia".

The night ended with a spectacular performance by The Shins. The band recently returned to the forefront of the indie rock scene & the Twin Peaks stage was justifiably crowded. James Mercer and his new line-up not only meet the hype, they exceeded it in every way possible. The band tested a couple new tunes including a very tropical psychedelic tune that had Stop-Making-Sense Talk Heads influence written all over it. The crowd was very receptive to the Wincing the Night Away favorites "Sea Legs" & "Sleeping Lessons" but the most magical moment of the night came when the group performed a ghostly rendition of "New Slang", the stand out track from 2001's Oh, Inverted World. With it's hushed chanting chorus line and minimal instrumentation, the crowd waved lighters, or in this day and age, cell phones through the air in a very surreal & timeless moment. Check out video of "New Slang" here, a pictures from the day below.

Saturday blurred into Sunday which melted into one long drive back Monday. Aside from being exhausted and a little dirty we survived and got to see some of the best music around. There was too much going on to name everything so we'll just run down some of our highlights from Bonnaroo's second half.

Deertick - John McCauley and co. tested out some new tunes and provided a relaxed set of country rock to help beat the heat on Saturday. With no setlist and covers of Lime In the Coconut and La Bomba, the set had the feel of a summer BBQ. Great banter between songs had the crowd constantly laughing. No worries, no cares and just a little fun in the sun.

Smith Western - after a shaky start these kids from Chicago got into the groove and serenaded the crowd with their unique brand of lo-fi glam rock. The gang sounded well rehearsed and almost every song had a crisp and clean feel to it.

!!! - we caught these dance rockers up close at the intimate setting of the solar stage. Despite the heat the band was successful at getting everyone on their feet dancing. Our favorite part was probably the rare-but-all-too-fitting cover of Prince's Extra Lovable.

Robyn - this performance was probably the most energetic show on Sunday. The Swedish pop star was celebrating her birthday and had everyone from front to back dancing enthusiastically. She also keep us guessing by playing tunes that spanned her whole career & hardly playing any of her hits.

There were a million other fun things we saw and did but we'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

If there is one thing that never changes about Bonnaroo, it's the unforgivable heat. Dry, overbearing relentless heat. And because we've been here since Tuesday volunteering, our sunburns are far more advanced than others.

Since Tuesday we've been bumming around Manchester just waiting for the fun to start. We ate some Sonic, walked the camp grounds and worked various jobs as a festival  volunteer 'floater'. I was assigned to help build a beer can art installation at pod 1. Our other blogger helped pick up artist at the Nashville airport, including Brian Henson, the touring drummer for the Drums, and some of Weezy's entourage. By 7pm we were done working and off to enjoy some music

School of Seven Bells had that dreamy electronic drone we've come to expect since seeing them open for M83 in 2007. For whatever reason, I was unimpressed with Best Coast. I loved her debut album but just couldn't get into it. The Drums were spectacular. I found lead singer to be charismatic, energetic and all around enjoyable. Aside from the usual hits, the band also played some new material including the hyper fast downer "Money" about always being broke. Sleigh Bells was probably the best show of the night. With a furious set of strobe lights and heavy ass guitar & drums, it felt like an all out assault on the senses. It also was the only show so far with crowd surfing hipsters which actually felt completely appropriate. Professional comedian and indie rock rapper Donald Glover threw down an awesome set of rhymes about super Saiyan Goku & being on a tv show. You know, the usually type of rap material. By the time Deerhunter hit the stage it was time to go.  If I wanted to have any chance to make it to my 630am work shift sacrifices must be made.