8A - Tuesday, September 2, 2014
FESTIVAL REPORT
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
FYF: Growing pains and rising bands
California festival
celebrates its eleventh
year running
By ARIANA ASSAF
Daily Arts Writer
Until this weekend, I had never
been to a music festival that's
younger than I am. Then I was
introduced to FYF, the baby of the
festival world.
At just 11 years old, FYF is char-
acterized in part by similar mud-
dled uncertainties and growing
pains that plague the pre-teens of
this generation. And at only two
days, it has yet to grow quite as
much as more senior festivals. But,
like the 11-year-old kid everyone
hopes to have, FYF is smart, ambi-
tious and eager to learn and please.
Before the festival really got
going on Saturday afternoon,
everyone had just about had it with
its disorganization. People waited
up to two hoursto pass the security
checkpoints, a sign that this youn-
gin' didn't know exactly what it
was getting into with its increased
popularity and larger venue.
FYF started in 2004 with just
one day of shows in a few rooms of
L.A.'s The Echo (before it was The
EchoPlex). By2009, after tryingits
hand at two and three day events,
FYF went back to one day and
moved to the L.A. State Historic
Park with the fanatical, outland-
ish and downrightcout of this world
amazing Black Lips headlining,
making me wonder why I didn't
know about it then ... I guess I was
too young.
As of 2012, the festival seems to
have settled on two days, but this
was its first year at the L.A. Sports
Arena and Exposition Park. Fortu-
nately,.lines had cleared by about
5:00 p.m. and organizers responsi-
bly sent out an apology notification
the next day, plus an apology email
about a week after the festival.
But then there was the matter
of actually seeing the performers.
Our plan was to start with Chet
Faker in The Arena, but it was at
capacity before he even went on. I'd
never experienced an indoor stage
at a festival and was excited to try it
out, but unfortunately never made
it in. Instead of waiting around to
see if we could squeeze in later on
to catch Caribou or DJ Harvey,
we turned to Albert Hammond
Jr. - known to me as a vital mem-
ber of The Strokes, who headlined
the whole festival - in his smart
starry button-up and burgundy
pants, to cheer us up. We made it to
the main stage in time for his last
song and a reminder that we'd see
him tomorrow with Julianand Fab
and the whole gang, rightwhere he
belongs.
Isay"where he belongs"because
while I think it's great that mem-
bers of The Strokes have developed
as solo artists for their own sake, I
still wish they would have toured
Comedown Machine for my sake.
Eventhoughthealbumitselfwasn't
mind blowing, at least I could have
seen them together. And I wish
they would keep making that for-
every-occasion-to-make-it-the-
most-special-of-occasions music
together like they used to. That
was the music that I grew up with,
guiding me through the horrors of
adolescence, falling asleep to when
nothing else could clear my head.
I had high hopes for them before
the novelty of their 2011 album
Angles had begun to wear off, but
that eventually turned into nostal-
gia when Comedown Machine was
released in 2013 - sans tour-- con-
firming that they would never be
the same band thatcreatedthe gem
that is isThisItagain.
But, I digress. The rest of Satur-
day was a world of discovery: see-
ing Little Dragon, Slowdive, Tycho
and Interpol for the first time was
fantastic individually and enliven-
ing as a whole. FYF may be a slight-
ly scatterbrained 11-year-old, but
an 11-year-old that knows where
it's at when it comes to curating
a lineup. Little Dragon is a rather
little-known band with a magical
lead singer who should be more
popular than she is (and likely
will be soon). She has the endear-
ing stage presence of Taylor Swift
minus the constant boy drama, and
a unique sense ofstyle thatcontrib-
utes to her overall charm.
Performing in L.A. for the first
time in 20years, Slowdive certain-
ly attracted tried-and-true fans
that were excited by its appear-
ance. Lead singer Rachel Goswell's
"I'm in an indie band and trying to
appear angelic" expression mostly
translated into a boring look, but
nevertheless they sounded great
and a rousing drum solo to close
the set left fans elated. Scott Han-
sen of Tycho and his bandmates
looked wonderfully comfortable
on stage together, so much so that
I had the sense we as the audience
were almost intruding on a private
practice. They pulled off their set
with flying colors, enhanced by
a beautiful impromptu visual set
that included short clips of surfers
just doing their thing among stun-
ningscenery.
Once Phoenix took the stage
to close the day, everybody really
seemed to wake up. Kicking off
with "Entertainment" immedi-
ately got everyone singing along.
And when they got to "Lisztoma-
nia" a few songs in, almost every-
one screeched like star-struck
tweens. People seemed inspired to
let their goofiness show. Thanks
to the group of girls surrounding
me, however, I realized I must not
be the Phoenix fan I thought I was.
While they recited every lyric like
life-giving anthems, I was stand-
ing there relieved when "Trying
To Be Cool" finally came on and I
could actually join in. Phoenix is
definitely one of those bands that
sound just as perfect live as they do
recorded, a major reason I enjoyed
them so much despite not always
being able to sing along. Plus, you
really get a sense of their unique-
ness watching them perform that
just isn't accessible in a recording.
Instead of making an all-day
event out of Sunday as well, I slept
late and rolled into FYF as the sun
was going down, just as Built to
Spill was closing their set. I was
instantly drawn into their song and
I was sad that the one I heard was
the last. For the rest of the evening,
the band came up in many attend-
ees' listofbestperformances.
The first artist I actually saw
was rapper Earl Sweatshirt. I felt
especially accomplished when I
discovered that he graduated from
a nearby LA high school at the same
time I did. But all kidding aside, he
maintained an essence of matu-
rity despite beingarelativelyyoung
artist. "Chum," arguably one of his
most popular songs, deals with
identity issues and tense parental
relations, which really seemed to
speak to everyone in the audience.
Earl definitely knows how to put
on a show while mixing in deeper
messages.
Later on, Haim took the main
stage for the kind of jam session
usually only found athouse parties.
In fact, one of the sisters told the
crowd stories of the "epic" celebra-
tions they used to throw as high
schoolers living in the Valley. I've
been listening to Haim a lot lately,
and find their songs take on a much
different feeling recorded versus
live. On Spotify, the music is nice
and crisp. You can even listen to
them having a perfectly polite con-
versation about the making of their
album Days Are Gone. But live,
Haim is loud, raw and full of solos
and anecdotes that make the whole
experience incredibly lively. The
girls are an absolute joy to watch
together; you can tell they're used
to working with each other's styles,
which makes the music flow that
much easier. Then, the band ended
with a shout out to the weekend's
headliner, and allhell broke loose.
Judging by the sheer number
of band t-shirts that could be seen
throughout the weekend, it's safe
to say that there was no lack of love
for The Strokes. I felt this love first-
hand when thousands of people
literally charged forward, sweep-
ing me up ina human stream mov-
ing straight for the stage. In classic
rockstar fashion, they came on
about 40 minutes late (very possi-
bly because Julian was still sober-
ing up), giving me time to reflect
on the anxiety I had been feeling
about seeing them. Questions like
"What if they don't sound the same
as they used to?" and "What if they
only play songs from Comedown
Machine?" plagued my mind for
days leadingup to the festival. That
anxiety started melting away when
Julian, with his greasy/shaggy
hair and I-don't-give-a-fuck strut
started singing "Barely Legal." The
set continued with "Welcome to
Japan" and "Automatic Stop," and
I realized I had nothing to worry
about.
They knew what we wanted,
and they were going to give it to
us. Their ultra-clear and often poi-
gnantlyricsunfortunatelyinspired
many tone deaf but die hard fans to
belt along with them. After a bit of
shuffling I found a relatively quite
place to watch, but I had to won-
der ... when did The Strokes start
attracting such intensely vocal
fans? Maybe it has something
to do with how Julian sings. Not
just his voice, but the way he
leans forward and squeezes the
microphone, like he's working
really hard to get everyone to
understand (it worked). Maybe
it's how he addresses the crowd
but then decides he doesn't want
to talk, simply saying "I love you
guys." Well Jules, we love you
too.
But I came to a realization
throughout their performance:
I no longer love them the same
way I did when I was sixteen. I
don't need them as much any-'
more. 1251 was the code on my
phone for the longest time, and
I even toyed with the idea of
including lyrics to "Someday"
on my personal yearbook page,
but all the words I wanted to
use wouldn't fit. Working my
way through any given album
of theirs used to make me feel
progressively better after a shit
day. Now, their songs coming
up on shuffle is more like a sur-
prise visit from an old friend:
lovely, but not the same. Seeing
them live is almost the same
thing. It's a great time and it's
liberating as ever and it makes
you feel the way you want to
feel all the time. Not to mention
that there's such a novelty to it.
The Strokes don't just perform
with the frequency of any other
touring artists. But they're not
touring artists, and I'm not 16
anymore. They were amazing
just like they always are and I'll
love them like I always have, but
I have to start coming to terms
with the idea that they very well
may never be the same band
who created Is This It again.
FYF was a weekend of explo-
ration, and it was a weekend
of growth. I saw a lot of bands
I hadn't seen or hadn't heard
before, and as you read, I saw
one I have a whole lot of feelings
for. Before going to FYF, I sort
of just saw it as something dif-
ferent to do for a weekend and
noticed that a lot of the crowd
used it as a temporary alter-
native make-out location. But
besides being a reason for Ange-
lenos to use public transporta-
tion (there's a metro stop just
outside the venue) or an excuse
for girls to wear either wine bras
or no bra at all, it's a wonderful
way to step away from main-
stream music to find out where
all those Top 100 hits start,
and why. The amount of talent
and potential at FYF is hard to
overestimate, and I'd bet money
that some of those little-known
bands playing at noon on Sat-
urday will be closing shows in
a few years, singing to swarms
of people who need them just as
much as they need the people.
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