We arrived at the Golden Gate Park festival Sunday afternoon in time to catch Group Love bringing the love before we caught !!! (Chk Chk Chk) keeping those indie dance grooves from 2k2 still fresh for that 2k11. Most noted from their performance was frontman Nic Offer's corkskrew hairdo and free-balling beach bum outfit that gave him the visage of a hazel headed Carrot Top.
San Francisco's own Ty Segall kicked up a performance that instantly became a highlight of the weekend. They brought a Bay Area fogstorm well fitted for Golden Gate Park than dives and garages could never contain.
Lord Huron in the Barcade tent displayed the alluring and hypnotic power of three acoustic guitars (and to be fair, one electric bass). It would be derisive to call them the Panda Bear for the country set, as they build their own cosmic textures from the methods of the tunesmith trios of the ages.
Meanwhile John Fogerty kept all the baby booming dads in attendance happy along with their Lebowski reciting progeny. Little Dragon casted spells and other “Ritual Unions” with her interpretive dance steps while diverting sultry sweet nothings over electronic beats.
Decemberists give you the indie/college radio bang for your buck. Kudos for recreating “Down by the Water” and more for us in facsimile fashion from their studio original. Selling point for me was the excellent use of a Sierra Session 1-10 pedal steel.
Beirut lived up to their current hype storm in the event of The Riptide's release that present the band beautifully stringing together the gypsy trades with today's sentimental song writing fads. You can imagine how Deadmau5 went down at the Twin Peaks stage; a wave of glassy eyed bros took their suburban born courage to congregate and take dub step communion together. We all took bets on whether or not duder is actually mixing, pressing play on his iTunes playlist, or controlling the various selection features that comprised the elaborate light show.
Then there was the Arcade Fire who played with the emotional weight that only a band of 13 can pull off. Despite some gaps in the sound, the 'Fire gave it the old art-school try and gave a delightful close to an enchanted weekend.
