Here’s a report from sometime song obsessions contributor and fellow KZSU DJ Edwin. All words and photos by Edwin.

–

dancing monsters and aliens

After a pleasant, uneventful bus ride from the mainland, I walked in to the Treasure Island Music Festival on Saturday to find Antibalas (Afrobeat Orchestra) playing, with a small but energetic crowd dancing away. Alien dance troupes and pirates on stilts could be spotted throughout the space, along with a ferris wheel, a village of arts and crafts (some of them even free), and stands with $7 beer. Two stages were set up at 90 degree angles a few hundred yards apart, which allowed for plenty of fluidity in the crowd during the afternoon and evening, and made it possible for diligent fans to catch every act. After Antibalas, Foals went on on the smaller, solar powered stage. Working through some technical difficulties they kept their set going with an improv percussion circle until the power came back.

crowd shot of Goldfrapp

The afternoon got into full swing back at the main stage, with Hot Chip churning out a perfectly sequenced set. I had only really listened to a couple of their singles before this, but the live setting really showed off their DJ sensibility and some great energy. After all of this dancing came two more relaxed acts – Amon Tobin’s downtempo beats, reverberating throughout the grounds, and then Goldfrapp. She emerged as a ball of blonde curls on top of a ball of colorful streamers for a dress, both blowing wildly in the wind, which had become quite strong by this point. She seemed unfazed though, and sounded great, especially backed by a full band, which included a harp. The large group did wonders for her songs, especially some of the lazier ones from her most recent album, Seventh Tree, like “Little Bird”.

After this was Mike Relm, a local mash-up artist, as the sun began to set. As it got dark, TV on the Radio came on. By this time the crowd had grown much larger. Backed by winds and percussion from Antibalas, they played a great set of songs, but without the great production of their studio albums, they didn’t sound quite as “full-bodied” as I hoped. It was fun to be treated to some of the songs from their new album, Dear Science, which comes out on the 23rd of September. After all of this, I was exhausted, and the crowd was pretty packed, so I decided to call it a night.
–

(full disclosure[1])

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 am Posted by adrian in SF bay area, live review, photos. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.