Treasure Island Festival Day 2 - Pictures, Review

Day 2 at Treasure Island got off to a tenuous start: the morning was quite rainy, and the festival grounds were unquestionably dampened in the early hours of the day. However, after a few (quite aggressive) downpours, the weather took the rest of the day off, and things cleared up just in time for us to start checking out some killer tunes on the "rock" day of the fest.

Superchunk

We've been really digging on Superchunk's latest disc Majesty Shredding, so we were stoked to make sure we caught their set at the festival. The band definitely did not disappoint, and have clearly been putting in the time to rehearse for this tour. Their set was ridiculously tight, and brought the rock and roll out to play right when the dreary day needed it most.

The set was a nice mix of old and new material, and it seemed like pretty much everyone taking in the show was well satisfied. With less frequent records and touring, Superchunk is somewhat in danger of being relegated to a nostalgia act, so it was nice to see them realize the full potential of their new material, and deliver a killer set that left little doubt as to their solidity as a band.

The Sea And Cake

After Superchunk's set, we headed over to catch The Sea And Cake, a constant favorite around these parts. The band, who haven't had a new record in a while, delivered a set that focused heavily on their last two, Car Alarm and Everybody.

The band was just coming off of a lengthy tour with Broken Social Scene, and did seem a tad road-weary, but nonetheless managed a killer set. They're always on top of making their tunes live up to the album versions, and the intricacy and exacting nature of their playing is always a treat.

At the end of the day, The Sea And Cake are one of our faves both on record and in a live environment. Getting to see them play a set at a show that already had so many awesome bands on the bill was like icing on the cake.

She & Him

She & Him made their way on stage to the shrill screams of a countless number of women, and from there, well...we don't exactly know what to say. Does Zooey Deschanel have a decent voice? Sure. Decent in the sense that if you went to karaoke with her, you'd probably have a good time. Decent in the sense that she should be taking up Matt Ward's time and talent? Not exactly.

Look, we know they probably love each other to death. We know that she's a movie star, and that sells records. We know that they probably both appreciate each other's talents so much. But that's not really the point. The point, is that Matt Ward is a killer musician in his own right, and when we hear She & Him it just seems so middle of the road. At the end of the day, at least for us, that's just not good enough.

Broken Social Scene

Luckily, our skepticism was soon to be overridden by the awesomeness that is Broken Social Scene. As mentioned above, the band was on the final date of a lengthy tour with The Sea And Cake. Frontman Kevin Drew was quick to admit they were dragging a bit, and the crowd was quick to respond with a solid dose of enthusiasm.

Despite being tired, the band certainly didn't let it get the best of their set, and they pulled out all the stops in delivering the rock and roll to the masses. As is custom, the band traded up on vocals and instruments, including a vast array of horns to even out the material. The set started off with a positively epic rendition of "Meet Me In The Basement", and took off from there.

In terms of the "pillars" of BSS, Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, and Andrew Whiteman were all in attendance. The female vocals were filled out by now-regular member Lisa Lobsinger, who did a killer job on "Shoreline" and "Anthems For A 17 Year Old Girl", to name a couple. For a festival show, this one really did the trick, and the band's enthusiasm combined with a killer setlist (below) left us more than satisfied.

Broken Social Scene Treasure Island Setlist

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Meet Me In The Basement

Shoreline

Fire-eyed Boy

Texaco Bitches

Forced To Love

World Sick

Anthems For A 17 Year Old Girl

Almost Crimes

All To All

Ibi Dreams Of Pavement

The National

As always, The National delivered an impecable set, both visually and sonically. These guys have simply got their act down, and they deliver every time. The set was timed perfectly as darkness fell on the festival, and the band emerged amidst smokey lights to offer up their own brand of melancholic soul.

That being said, The National are so well put together that it's starting to feel a little contrived. The act is always dead on, and it's always so heavy, that one starts to wonder if it's genuine. Don't get us wrong: these guys make killer records, and have an amazingly well composed live show. We just worry that if they don't switch it up a little, they might be in danger of becoming a one trick pony.

Rogue Wave

SF locals Rogue Wave closed out the night at the second stage with a set of their own unique folky-rock mix. It's a testament to the band that their material is both artistically solid and easily accessible, and the crowd that assembled clearly enjoyed taking it all in.

The set was a truly enjoyable display of the band's musical talents, and they headed right through a set of great songs such that the set passed rapidly. Ted Nesseth of The Heavenly States joined the band on stage, which was a treat as well. The band closed out the set, and the crowd promptly began the migration for the final set of the night.

Belle & Sebastian

When we heard about Belle & Sebastian headlining the festival, we were a little skeptical. Don't get us wrong: we love the band, and they positively kill in a live environment. It's just that we really couldn't figure if Stuart Murdoch and Co. would be able to deliver a set that was engaging and "big" enough to own the main stage.

Well, Murdoch was clearly dead set on proving any misgivings anyone had completely wrong, and took to the stage bursting with energy and enthusiasm. In trippy glasses and a scarf, he and the band proceeded to deliver a set that ran the gamut of their lengthy career, and had something for everyone.

While the quieter songs were a little more difficult to latch onto in the live environment, overall the band's set was well on top of things, and made sure it owned the night. One of the nice things about B&S is that their records are so restrained, and then their live show is so raucous. It reminds you that "twee" or not, these are clearly rock musicians who want to play their hearts out.

They did exactly that, and the set was a great close to a fantastic weekend.

Treasure Island Festival Day 1 Coverage

Many more photos at the HAD Archive

Treasure Island 2010 Lineup Announced

We've been loving the Treasure Island Festival from day one. Always immaculately organized, always a great lineup, and always a beautiful (albeit sometimes cold) view of the city by the Bay. This year is no exception, as the festival organizers (Another Planet and Noise Pop) have just announced this year's lineup.

Similar to past years, Saturday is more of an electronic day, and is headed up by LCD Soundsystem, with some old school support from Kruder and Dorfmeister, and some serious action from !!!. Sunday is, once again, the "rock" day, and as predicted, Belle and Sebastian are heading the lineup. Combine that with the awesomeness of Broken Social Scene, The Sea and Cake, and The National, and well....this is gonna be good.

The National To Stream High Violet Starting Friday

Ah, the inevitable album leak: these days it seems there's just no way around it. Case in point, The National's High Violet (cover art above). Apparently the record has leaked in what the band is calling a "low quality" form, and is currently making its way around the interwebs.

While we don't have that crappy version for you, we do have this: To lay it down against the haters, the band has decided to begin streaming the record this Friday in its intended high quality form. Where, you ask? Well, we're guessing you'll be as surprised as we are: The New York Times.

Yes, we're not exactly sure what the deal is either, but we're definitely not complaining. High quality free album streams are the bomb, even if they are hosted at the old gray lady.

High Violet drops on May 11th on 4AD

mp3: The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio

The National Played The Bell House: Pictures, Review

The incredibly lucky few who scored tickets to The National at the Bell House last night were treated to one of the better shows in recent memory. In the past few years The National have played BAM, Hammerstein, the vacuous Terminal 5, and they’re booked for Radio City Music Hall on June 16th. In other words, bigger and bigger venues to accommodate their ever-expanding fanbase. But in our opinion, the Bell House is the ideal venue for their brand of moody, literate chamber rock. Plus, this was a true hometown show: lead singer Matt Berninger gave a shout out to his wife who was unfortunately home sick just four blocks away.

The surprise show (which will reboot again tonight) was a chance for the band to try out several songs from their upcoming album High Violet - playing them live for the first time in front of a small group of hardcore fans. The band was loose, self deprecating, and clearly happy to be playing fresh songs. When Berninger stumbled on the lyrics to 2007's "Start a War" he laughed and said "that one's just so old."

His sardonic banter with brother guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner scored laughs all night, while he drank from two different bottles of white wine (handing what was left of the first to the crowd.). At one point Berninger picked up a stage light and cradled it while he sang. Toward the end he jumped into the crowd during a triumphant version of "Mr. November."

The National ended their encore with the first single from High Violet, "Terrible Love" which they played on Jimmy Fallon's show earlier this week. It sounded to our ears like an instant band classic ala “Fake Empire” and “About Today.”

New York City indie rock crowds can be cold, snobby and hard to impress: not this time. The mood was euphoric walking out into the Park Slope night, where a barbeque was fired up outside. Everyone was truly grateful they were there – which really was a little surreal given no one even knew about the show until just a few days ago. We envy anyone who will be there tonight for the second show!

Words and Pictures by Chris Goldberg

Many more pics at the HAD Archive

The National: Album Release, Spring Tour, Presale

The National at Outside Lands, from the HAD Archive. Photo By Rick Audet.

For the past year or so, The National have been thoroughly immersed in a variety of side projects and preformances, but it's been a while since we've heard from the full band. Given that, we were psyched to discover this morning that the guys will not only be touring this spring, but that they also have an as-of-yet untitled record on tap for release in May.

Meanwhile, their spring tour will cover the east and west coast in the US, as well as the UK. For New York this means a stop at Radio City Music Hall, and in San Francisco the show will be at the Fox Theater in Oakland. Presales for all of the North American shows take place on January 26th, starting at 10 AM local time. The password for all presales is "BloodBuzz".

After the 1-2 awesomeness of Alligator and Boxer, it goes without saying that this is some super exciting news. You'll have to wait until May for the new record, but we're imagining that these live dates will give a fair taste of the new material as well. See you out there!

The National Spring 2010 North American Dates

26-28 MARCH: KNOXVILLE, TN - BIG EARS FESTIVAL 2010 / TENNESSEE THEATRE
22 APRIL: RICHMOND, VA - THE NATIONAL
23 APRIL: RICHMOND, VA - THE NATIONAL
06 MAY: LONDON, UK - ROYAL ALBERT HALL
07 MAY: PARIS, FRANCE - LE ZENITH w/ PAVEMENT
09 MAY: BERLIN, GERMANY - ASTRA
22 MAY: LOS ANGELES, CA - THE WILTERN
23 MAY: SAN DIEGO, CA - SPRECKELS THEATRE
27 MAY: OAKLAND, CA - FOX THEATRE
02 JUNE: BOSTON, MA - HOUSE OF BLUES
05 JUNE: PHILADELPHIA, PA - ELECTRIC FACTORY
06 JUNE: WASHINGTON, DC - DAR CONSTITUTION HALL
08 JUNE: TORONTO, CANADA - MASSEY HALL
16 JUNE: NEW YORK, NY - RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL

Outside Lands 2009: Day 1, Part 2 - Review, Pictures

Day one at Outside Lands continued with much of the same good weather offered up earlier, but a musical slide towards the mainstream. It's no secret that this year's Outside Lands' lineup leaned more heavily towards the middle than last year's, and the second half of Friday was a clear example.


The National began our afternoon, and delivered their signature sound to an enthusiastic crowd. We must say that, despite being huge fans of the band, we're always pleasantly surprised that their dark(ish) sound is making popular headway. Seeing such a heavy band draw in a crowd (especially in broad daylight), is not only surprising, but gives us a fair bit of faith in the masses.

We left The National, and found ourselves immersed in a highly enthusiastic crowd for Incubus' set. To be honest, we didn't even know they had had a hit since "Drive", but the enthusiasm of the crowd seemed to indicate otherwise. While it's not exactly our style, You can't really argue with a band that gets the crowd this psyched.


From there we gave into our inner Carlton Banks, and caught Tom Jones' set. What can we say? Jones is a frikkin classic icon, and if you didn't know what you were getting into with this, we're sorry. Either way, Jones effortlessly delivered some loungey goodness.

Our night wrapped up with Thievery Corporation, and it was quite the show. We're more than happy to admit that Thievery doesn't always catch our fancy. But the fact of the matter is that this was way more than the band from the record. They delivered a drove of performers to the stage, and gave the audience a performance that was part concert, part broadway production. Suffice it to say, it was an epic way to wrap up the night, and left us more than ready to take on Saturday.

Many more photos at the HAD Archive.
All photos by Rick Audet.