To get rolling on Sunday, there was just no way I was going to make it happen by 12:15 to see MODOC or The Districts. While I liked them both quite a bit when writing the blog, I just needed to not stand up for 10 hours and was feeling a little sore. So Jason and I went to Pluckers to watch some Cowboys/Texans action and fill up on wings.
Jason wanted to walk over and see Kongos (called it!), so I got to start the day off with Nikki Lane by myself. She was exactly as advertised. Foul mouthed, redneck all the way, excellent country twang with all the sass she could serve. She asked the small-ish crowd to raise hands if they were rednecks. When just about no one raised their hand, she cussed us out and told us to fake it since we were at a country show. Kinda funny.
I left there after about 6 songs to go check out Jamestown Revival with Joseph and Jessica. They were really really good. Very chilled kind of harmonic rock with a lot of frontman energy from the two main dudes. They also fired up a spot on Creedence cover that was pretty cool.
We went for Cults at 3, and I have to say I was not as into them in person as I had been before. Their music was crushingly loud and quite a bit more noisy than I expected. I felt like their albums are pretty rocking, but something about the live show was just too much for me.
DUDE. Fitz & the Tantrums was flipping so much fun! Massively groovy, with the band absolutely dedicated to getting us up on our feet to party along with them. At one point, they asked everyone to get down low, and proceeded to call people out who were still just standing there. They kicked out a jam, and everyone stood up and started jumping and going crazy - really fun. I also did make sure to do some Molly Ringwald foot shuffle moves, I feel like I really lived right then a there. Slightly bummed to miss The Gaslight Anthem, but less so once I realized how fun Fitz made everything. Out of My League got the whole crowd in a dance frenzy. Jason told me his review for the blog was "Fitz is high energy, great showman, a plus." Or something to that effect.
Next was Real Estate. I was bummed to see the size of their crowd, but they were fantastic. Their music is just so dang pretty. Talking Backwards and It's Real were highlights. We just sat down on the grass and had a few beers enjoying the show. Really nice moment. The band really seemed to enjoy just hanging out together and making the world a prettier place.
After Real Estate, we stocked up on drinks, hit the port-o's, and waded as deep into The Replacements crowd as we could get so that we would be prepared for Pearl Jam. Honestly, I know everyone who is anyone loves the Replacements, and loads of great bands (including Pearl Jam) list them as an influence, but I just don't get it. They aren't bad, but I think that the bands who have come along afterwards to steal their style just did it better.
Once they ended, there was a depressingly small number of people who swam upstream to escape the crowd, and the crush from behind started. We ended up about 50 feet from the main stage, right in the center by the aisle. We were crushed in there for a good while, listening to the faraway thump of Major Lazer and making small talk with the people sitting on our feet or complaining about their bladders. But it actually didn't feel like too long of a wait.
Their first song was something I didn't know, and it was a weird realization that Pearl Jam is still a massively popular band with new music that other people would think is the best PJ music. Which is insane. Ten, Vs., and Vitology are the greatest for me, but I soon realized that the young gal next to me was not singing along to any of the awesome old songs, but knew all of the new ones that I don't know at all. Which is strange.
Anyway, they tore through Go and then Why Go before running up through some of their newer songs. Do the Evolution had some big euro-soccer chant moments Eddie Vedder worked on starting up. Mind Your Manners was straight punk pummeling. Corduroy was a good version on that smaller hit. Their take on Even Flow was cool - fast paced and a little different but really fun with an insane solo in there. Daughter (acoustic) and then Rearviewmirror were fantastic to scream along to - just felt like I was 17 again listening to these things in high school and feeling like they were important songs.
Eddie, swilling red wine directly from the bottle, also had some political commentary to hand over to the crowd, which was not unexpected. But you could tell the dude is older now than 20 years ago when he would have led everyone in a screaming chant against his causes instead of just talking about it for a sec and then going back to his bottle.
Love me some Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town. I think I broke my voice on Rearviewmirror, so I had some trouble with this one, but the band killed it. Next Eddie broke out the acoustic and did Imagine and some more sermonizing, but then the band came back out and absolutely broke it down for the last few songs. State of Love and Trust, Porch, and Alive - I almost passed out from screaming them at the top of my lungs. I could not have felt more excited, happy, jubilant, nostalgic, and thankful. Just so damn awesome. They ended with the usual Rockin in the Free World cover that was good, but whatevs. I was already spent.
I would truly put that show up against anything else I have ever seen. Memory may be clouding my vision and all, but I haven't felt that amazing while watching music in a while. Alive, for real.
Solid weekend. Monday morning was pretty brutal, but worth it, as usual, to wring every last Imperial and sweat flavored drop out of the festival. Looking forward to next year!
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