Recap in Crayon: MusicFestNW, Day 4

Day 4 of MusicFestNW was the day I was looking forward to the most: a Friday night with a stacked, high energy lineup. The rains cleared up early in the day which left the night clear and cool.

Animal Collective

While I didn't catch all of Animal Collective's set since I had to leave early for Titus Andronicus, what I did see was really good. They were playing at the outdoor Pioneer Sqaure stage--which can hold a lot of people--and was pretty full. The audience was filled with shroomed-up, baby-faced teenagers and actually made me feel kind of old. The part of the set that I saw was mostly Centipede Hz stuff and the audience was enjoying it.

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus put on a really good show. The crowd was pretty wild, and I definitely have some bruises today, but they were playing before Superchunk, so some of the crowd was there to see them. "Sorry if you really hate this music and just want to hear Superchunk or something," lead singer Patrick Stickles told the audience. Despite that, the people that were there were mostly Titus fans and they were really into it.

FIDLAR

Oh boy, FIDLAR. Easily the most fun I've ever had at a show. The band is at the point in their career where they aren't big enough to get large-ish venues but are popular enough to draw a 200ish person crowd. Add in the fact that it's a crazy skate-punk band and you have a recipe for an amazing show. The place was a coffee shop by day and music venue by night and we were sardine-packed into the front of it. The stage is just a slightly raised platform at the front of the shop and the crowd was engulfing it.After the great set the crowd wanted more and what we got seemed like a genuine encore, not the save-the-hit-single-for-last faux-encore. Lead singer Zac Carper even did some crowd surfing for the last song. By the end, my plastic festival wristband had broken off, the shoelace grommets on my shoes had ripped out, a half-empty beer can had hit me in the head, and my shirt was dripping with other people's sweat and beer.

 

Ty Segall

Unfortunately, all we got to hear of Ty Segall was the sound leaking out the door as we waited in line for 40 minutes. By the time we got a little close to the door the doorman informed us we would not get in before the show was over.  : (