jeff

I had a chance to check out the Festival yesterday on Treasure Island and I was really pleasantly surprised. I thought it was going to be a pain in the ass getting to the Island, but it was totally easy. I know that most people are going to the show today and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.



Unfortunately, I only could check out the early portion of the show, but there were some really great artists and the outdoor location was fantastic for the event - beautiful weather, awesome views of San Francisco, a great set up with two separate stages, no lines for bathrooms, no lines for food/beer, a terrific crowd supporting their favorite artists, and really great performances.





I only had a chance to check out a few bands:

Dengue Fever
Mocean Worker
Zion I
Honeycut
Ghostland Obervatory



Unlike other outdoor festivals where there are multiple bands playing at one time, there was no downtime between bands and no overlap - it was nice not to have to decide on which band to see since you could check out all of the bands.

The standouts for me were Mocean Worker and Zion I. Mocean (pronounced like "motion") Worker was a real surprise as I had never heard the band before. A six-piece band from NYC, they had this acid-jazz, funk, electronica flavor to their music. Despite the sound guy having some serious problems at the beginning of their set, these guys played their asses off and got the crowd jumping and hollering in just a few minutes. They played at the smaller "Tunnel Stage" but soon had a packed crowd in front of their performance. These guys were pretty much all instrumental save for a few vocals, like "Shake your booty" from the bass player. Their horn section was incredible with perfectly timed and harmonized riffs reminiscent of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. I was particularly blown away by their percussionist - I'm not sure what her name was, but she was absolutely awesome. She was this little girl that beat the crap out of her drums and totally got the crowd going. Apparently, they sold out the Temple Bar in SF last night - I'd love to see this band again.



Zion I from Oakland was also fantastic. This was the first time I saw the duo together live on stage. I had a chance to meet the duo many moons ago at their studio in Oakland - really nice guys. But man, they can really put on a show. Amp went back and forth between the MPC and pre-recorded backdrops. Emcee Zion got the crowd up off their butts with some freestyle rhymes. The big surprise was when the power unexpectedly went out. The really weird thing was that the power cut out "in time" - in fact, it almost seemed that it was part of the act. There was this scurrying about on stage and the crowd started clapping. Now, at this very moment the artists had a choice to stand around pissed off wondering what to do or well, keep performing. These guys are true performers and did something pretty amazing - first, Emcee Zion got the crowd to start clapping and provide the beat. Without amplification, he started rapping the lyrics to a song and got the crowd to sing the chorus. It was incredible. The crowd was really into it and appreciated the on-the-spot spontaneity and creativity to continue performing WITHOUT POWER. At one point, half the crowd was clapping to the beat, while the other half was waving their hands from side to side. It was mesmerizing and everyone had their eyes glued to the stage. Emcee Zion was hopping around stage to the beat of the claps and often orchestrated the crowd from the top of one of the monitors to keep them going. This was the kind of performance that separated the good from the great.

By the time the power came back, the crowd was so fired up from the unamplified acapella performance, that the show went into overdrive. This was the kind of stuff that makes the hairs stand up on your arms. IT WAS AWESOME and practically brought tears to my eyes - shit, these guys turned me into a fan for life. The way they took an adversarial situation and turned it to their benefit was something that I had never seen before live - maybe it was the right combination - a beautiful day, a great crowd of loyal fans, the right vibe at the festival... or maybe it was the fact that Zion I is just an incredible group that will kick ass irrespective of the situation.

I wish that I could head back there today as I'm sure the show will be great - hopefully the power won't go out... well, or maybe, hopefully the power will go out again, so the audience can experience some great spontaneous creativity that always keeps us coming back for more...