After yesterday’s monsoon threatened to wipe Langerado out of commission, the skies cleared to reveal a beautiful, if not penetratingly hot day. Having spent the better part of yesterday cursing $6 slices of pizza while watching jam bands, I was more than ready to start a new day. Langerado was originally conceived as a jam band festival and has only recently grown into a more diverse, indie-centric lineup. After having consumed sets by Les Claypool and Dark Star Orchestra(their cover of The Band’s “The Weight” was unbearably moving), we felt that we should focus primarily on the indie bands performing.
The first band to perform was American Bang. Despite starting the show at a painfully early 12:30am, American Bang showed no signs of fatigue. Their riotous brand of rock and roll was created to be played loud, time be damned. Taking pages from the Roger Daltrey and Steven Tyler handbook, singer Jaren Johnson hurtled himself off nearly every edifice on the stage. Suitably, he punctuated every song with what has to be the greatest rock and roll yell this side of “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
Adding a nice contrast to the blistering rock and roll of American Bang was Brooklyn based Matt Pond PA. Their brand of elegant, ethereal pop was highlighted by the inordinate amount of bubbles puncturing the sky. Pond is a consummate showman, making several admittedly terrible jokes and then promptly launching into one of his incredibly poignant songs. After the set, the band ventured into the media tent and played gorgeous renditions of several songs to the delight of the 10 or so people in attendance. It was such an intimate moment that one couldn’t help but feel slightly invasive, like eavesdropping on a fight between a couple in an airport. Pond was gracious enough to speak with us for a stretch, telling us all about the band’s forthcoming tour with Carbon/Silicon and how he already has the followup to 2007’s Last Light written.
Immediately following Matt Pond PA’s set was a searing performance by The Walkmen. Having only recently digested nearly every Walkmen album, I was excited to not only see their performance, but see it from the photographer’s pit. Security did not share my excitement. As The Walkmen launched into their hit song “The Rat” and I clapped in delight I was grabbed by 2 burly security guards and promptly removed. Upon seeing my media wristband and subsequent right to be in my previous position, they apologized immediately. Laughs abounded as we regaled each other with passionate retellings of my nervous paranoia. I stole away to watch the rest of what ended up being an incredible show. The Walkmen played several new songs from an as of yet untitled album, all of which sounded fantastic. When we talked to singer Hamilton Leithouser after the show he told us that not only is the new record almost completely mixed, but that it sounds “surprisingly” great.
Matisyahu could also be found wandering around with his son. He will be conducting a Shabbos ceremony the entire weekend, which is something we’re really looking forward to.
By 6:45 we had reached a level of fatigue known only to the oldest of geriatrics. No amount of coffee and cigarettes could revive our beleaguered hearts, and we began counting the hours until the Beastie Boys would play so we could afford to go to sleep. Then, using their instruments like defribilators, !!!(pronounced chk chk chk) started their set and instantly resuscitated the audience. I’ve seen over 200 shows in my day, and I am confident enough to unequivocally state that !!! put on the 2nd best live show I have ever witnessed. Their pulsating dance rock was incredibly chaotic, yet remarkably contained. Simply put, this is a band that somehow manages to harness a tight sound amidst their seemingly limitless cache of energy. Frontman Nic Offer literally never stopped moving throughout the set, dancing spastically and leaping into the crowd to drench the masses in water. Even as I write this, I’m envisioning him doing jumping jacks on the tour bus just to maintain continuous motion.
!!! played long into the night, even feigning annoyance when the crowd booed after being told it was to be the band’s last song. With songs like “Heart to Heart” and “Our Heroes are all Weirdo’s”, who can blame the crowd for being dissapointd? Nic Offer’s intentional mispronunciation of Langerado as “digireedoo” during his short monologues provided the only respite in between their insanely frenetic songs. At this juncture, you’d be hard pressed to find a better live band than !!!.
Still reeling from !!!, I stumbled over to the Sunset Stage to find The Roots about to launch into their set. Having only recently heard their new album Game Theory, I was interested in seeing how the songs translated live. The Roots did not disappoint. Their truly is no live act like The Roots, and like a fine wine they’ve only improved with age. The new songs have a bit of a political bent, and the band didn’t shy away from their dislike for the current administration. Their cover of Dylan’s “Masters of War” moved even the most stoned of the hippies in attendance. The Seed 2.0 brought the house down, as it tends to do.
After The Roots set we meandered over to the Everglades stage to see The Beastie Boys. We had expected a large crowd, but what we discovered was unlike anything we could have fathomed. We arrived early, and yet were forced to watch the set from a good 200 yards away. Luckily there was a big screen tv for those of us that watched the set in another county. Unfortunately, the set was hampered by a terrible sound mix, rendering the vocals inaudible for many people in the crowd. As if acknowledging Langerado’s jam band roots, The Beastie Boys spent a good portion of their set noodling on guitars. What at first seemed interesting quickly became slightly indulgent, and a lot of the crowd seemed to lose interest. The Beastie Boys set wasn’t for naught however, as we were afforded the hilarious sight of hippies attempting to dance to rap music. Their flustered expressions and awkward maneuvers more than made up for the poor sound quality.
We were just notified that there is a severe thunderstorm on its way. Because of our shocking inability to erect a tent, we may left to fend for ourselves in an unforgiving Everglades thunderstorm. We’ll update you tomorrow, hopefully.
Photos by Jack DeYoung and Vishal Agarwala
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Good post! But since when was “!” pronounced “chk”? “!” = “bang”. Fun from Wikipedia, though: “A music group, based in Sacramento, California and New York City, NY has utilized the exclamation point to spell its name: !!!. The band’s name is pronounced as ‘any syllable repeated three times’; the most frequent alpha respelling is ‘chk chk chk’, pronounced as ‘Chick Chick Chick’. Other pronunciations include ‘Pow Pow Pow’ and ‘Bang Bang Bang’. It is less often referred to as ‘Exclamation point exclamation point exclamation point’, as that has proven too verbose” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark). All things considered, I’m a fan of calling them “Exclamation point exclamation point exclamation point” myself.
Skyler Slade
Great pictures, Vishal.
Justine Wack
I know, the !!! pictures are ridiculous.
Jack