Links to more of my FFF photos: All 3 Days, just Flag, just M.I.A.
I was expecting it to be sorta muddy the first day, so wore my boots…but no mud to be found, which made for a LONG DAY for my feet. I didn’t make the same mistake the next 2 days. ANYWAY, let’s go down the list of my first day at FFF shall we.
Luckily my first band to take in was one of my favs for the weekend. The TonTons are outta Houston and give me hope for my former hometown. The lead singer Asli Omar is a delight, yo. Just check one of their videos if you don’t believe me. They are due to release a new album in Spring of this year. But in the meantime, like any band with a clue, they handed out CDs during their perfomance….so I highly recommend “Golden“.
Next up, it was one whipper snapper of a band. Code Orange Kids. They definitely had energy….I’ll give ’em that much. All the way from Pittsburgh, PA to play the Black Stage at 1:10 PM on the first day. now that takes gumption. I believe the kind of music they play is called screamcore. maybe, haha. You tell me…check it here.
I hoofed it over to the Blue Stage to check out Poolside with their self coined “Daytime Disco”. I couldn’t pass up that offer. It was my 3rd BIG HAIR band member sighting in a row. RAWK. You can check out one of their Valium induced tunes here.
Moving on to the Black Stage, it was Ceremony w/ their hardcore-punk vibe waking folks up proper like. Pardon me while I mention they had that Joy Division sound which I dig. Don’t believe me….check out this video. See I told ya bitch. Rocking band dude.
Before ya knew it…boom it was night time at FFF…and out pops non other than Thee Oh Sees. I had seen this act a couple of times at SXSW and knew it would be a set I should not miss. The singer/guitar player John Dwyer pretty much IS Thee Oh Sees….and looks like homefry has put on some weight since I last laid eyes on him. It happens to all of us. Getting old sucks. Music wise it there are several descriptions applied to them…I’ll go with the Noise Rock tag. It would seem FFF was pretty much their LAST GIG for a while as it was announced the band had finally had enough of San Francisco…and were moving to parts unknown and disbanding for the time being…Their website says they WILL be back and with a new album to boot sometime in early 2014.
Soon enough it was time for the anticipated highlight of day one…..FLAG. And once Keith Morris spit out the first jam, it was just like I was back on the halfpipe, riding my Zorlac circa ’86. Their set was THE SHIT, end of story.
Chuck Dukowski w/ THAT snear was classic.
A fucking fine set only got better when Dez took the mic…
DAY TWO !!
So as usual, I didn’t make the 12 Noon open gate on Day 2….and before I knew it, boom it was 3:00 and time for FLATBUSH ZOMBIE who are kings of “Beast Coast” rap. It wasn’t a big surprise they were the cats I saw rolling around backstage hauling blow up dolls around. They represented Brooklyn in fine fashion I reckon. Who knew rap would take the psychedelic route. Don’t forget your 3-D glasses for this video.
one more ZOMBIE pic before we move on…
I popped over to the Orange Stage to take in Thurston Moore. I was lucky enough to see Sonic Youth a number of times in the early/mid 80’s….shows at the Continental Club back when Pratt still owned the place. Definitely different w/ just Thurston and not the whole crew, but it was pleasant enough all the same.
Then hustle back to the Blue Stage for a very different act…the Chromatics. Bring on the keyboard bands!! They’ve been around a good long time and my ears were pleased to get some relief from the “beast coast” rape they were still trying to recover from….check their video. Good shit indeed. Relaxing synth pop that I dug.
I had already seen the Subhumans a number of times, so figured I’d mosey over to the Orange Stage to check out the legendary Television…having done some homework before FFF checking out this classic video from 19 fucking 76. After taking it in….it is no surprise how many bands they influenced….ahead of their time indeed. That said, their set at FFF was a bit of a snooze fest, even if Thurston thought enough of them to be standing right next to me taking in the set. Guess I’m not OLD enough yet.
Then it was time for the headliners. Taking in Ice-T’s Bodycount first up. And as no big surprise Ice-T was full on the entertainment scale. Always good to hear someone tell APD to go drink a glass of hot piss. Ice-T hipped the crowd to the fact that the whole COP KILLER thing came about becuz of Austin Police fucking with him back in the day. No big surprise there. He did mention something about a new album, and they did play new songs….but just seeing Ice-T hold court was good for me. I’d link his/their facebook page or web page, but shit I don’t think they have one…no big surprise, he’s too busy with Coco.
And then it was time to run over to the Orange stage to get in the pit line for M.I.A. and man was it a clusterfuck, let me tell ya. Once she did hit the stage it was quite the show. A couple of skinny/gay white boys dancing on stage…and slowly but surely M.I.A. shred the layers and props. I didn’t stick around for the chalk crap that painted everyone from head to toe like they were in India, but for the 20 minutes I did take homegirl in, it was some entertaining shit. Check one of her videos, like 44 million folks already have.
since M.I.A. is so popular, I’ll hit ya with another pic.
DAY THREE
Okay, my legs were cashed even before the day began…but started it off in the afternoon with legendary Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna‘s JULIE RUIN on the Orange Stage. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to take in the most excellent documentary “The Punk Singer“….I had no clue about her sickness, the Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz connection (they have been married a long time), nor the band between Bikini Kill and Julie Ruin….Le Tegre. The chick is basically a fucking badass, take my word for it from someone who is clueless. Anyway out she came and put on a good show for a hardy crowd.
Fly on back to the Black Stage to take in one of the most anticipated acts on MY schedule, the fuckin’ Cro-Mags and as expected John Joseph brought the goods. I took in the whole set, not even bothering with the photo pit anymore. I gave up on it the first day with the wacky ass layout they had going on. It was one hell of a set fella’s. Love that band.
After such a killer set, gotta put one more picture in here…
I rested up until the darlings of FFF in 2012….MGMT hit the stage. Of course there was a long que getting into the photo pit at the Orange Stage for this one….jesus tits, it was only a precursor of the madness to come. I’ll admit it, I can still listen to their big hit “Time to Pretend” and be instantly taking back to playing w/ light up swords at FFF’s last shindig at Waterloo Park. Good times they were. And lucky for me since I wasn’t gonna stick around for the whole set, they played it pretty early on. Young whipper snapper band fans, but I dug ’em for what I saw all the same. Just noticed 35 Million hits on the video. nutz.
And finally the hour wait in the “pit line” for SLAYER !! We have a few reviews already on here for this set, so I’ll just leave you with a picture that wasn’t in that article. Thank you and GOOD NIGHT.
