Jess and I went to the 80/35 music festival over the weekend. It was good! So good it nearly made me forget that I got no vacation day/extra pay for 4th of July. Sucks to have fallen on a Sunday! Better luck next year! Its just BUSINESS! ANYTHING to make an EXTRA BUCK at ANY COST, whether you RIP PEOPLE OFF or treat your employees like GARBAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did work today, July 5th and I bet we made AT LEAST ten bucks for our owners in Indiana. It was WORTH IT. Six holidays a year can be TOO MANY HOLIDAYS. Especially when we can be WORKING. At least I get AMAZING BENEFITS and lots of TIME OFF. Before we get started with the music fest recap, here are a couple of songs dedicated to my bosses (not my on site boss, who is a fair and decent person) and their love of PROFIT! You have to pay for JET FUEL somehow, right guys?
One more time!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigs_(Three_Different_Ones)
Okay! Jess and I got to downtown Des Moines on Saturday approximately 1:45 just in time to catch up with our friends and catch the last song or two of Omega Dog. They seemed okay. Wasn’t really paying attention because we were talking to our friends. Sorry Omega Dog, maybe next year. After that we wandered over to the second stage to see a guy/band called Cashes Rivers. I think most people liked them (I know at least one person in our group didn’t, but Jessie and I thought they were good). Jessie thought they sounded like Bright Eyes, while I thought it was a mix of The Decemberists/Roman Candle/Vampire Weekend. We ran into the lead singer a few other times at the festival. He was friendly. Here is a pic. (Side note: I took at least one pic of every band we saw. Some turned out better than others. )
On the left is Tracy and in the black is my cousin Missy. On stage the bang is warming up/tuning?
Emily ,Travis, The back of Jessie’s head, a guy who possibly owns Raygun T-shirts.
After that, we waited at the second stage to see Solid Gold. I think Travis was most excited to see this band. They were really, really good. I liked them better live than on CD, although the album has grown on me since we saw them.
Here is a sweaty Travis dancing with (on) Chet Boom. Travis loved singing along with the “It’s not your fault” part of one of the songs.
Jessie, Nikki, Angela.
Chet, Ben, BP, Grant all still getting down to Solid Gold
Missy, Travis, BP
Marc, Chet
Travis
Brown wavy hair
We left Solid Gold early (which was a bummer because they were so good) to go back to the main stage for Yo La Tengo. I have never had a chance to really get into them but I really wanted to see them since they are legendary to indie rock. It was great, and made me want to see them again sometime.
Yo La Tengo. (The guitar player can really shred!)
Me. I had a handlebar moustache on Saturday.
Then we went to see William Elliott Whitmore. I didn’t hear a lot of it, but everyone there LOVED it. I probably need to check him out more. Just a dude with an acoustic guitar.
Dude. Acoustic guitar.
After that we went to get a spot for Spoon. SPOON!
Missy and Angela.
Marc and Ben.
Aaron, Amy and Travis (still sweaty). It was hot on Saturday!
My wife.
Spoon was the best. So ON. Plus, they opened with my favorite Spoon song, “The Beast and Dragon, Adored”. I know you can tell by the pictures how great it was. The Spoons!
When the show was over, Jess and I ran into some friends of mine from high school, then we walked to The Vaudeville Mews with my cousin and his wife Amy to see Poison Control Center. It didn’t work out so we went home.
Sunday we got back downtown around 2:15. We went to the main stage to see Avi Buffalo. I wish we would have gotten there earlier to see the whole show.
Avi Buffalo. You can see people wearing ponchos, as it was starting to rain.
Christopher the Conquered. (Not pictured) I really want to see him/them again. The guy had a great sense of humor and was genuinely talented. Going to have to see again as soon as I get a chance.
Next was another band I have wanted an excuse to get into, The Walkmen.
Foreground: Umbrella, Too much red hair. Background: The Walkmen. Jessie had the BIGGEST crush on the lead singer.
I don’t remember the screen looking like that when I took the picture.
It POURED during The Walkmen. We were SOAKED.
We toughed it out to see Evangelicals, It was not my favorite, but everyone else seemed to like it.
Wet Marc (in blue) and Wet Travis (gray pants) enjoying Evangelicals.
Jessie and I were still very wet so we decided to go home and change. Then back to DM for MODEST MOUSE.
I don’t know if it was because MM’s music is a little more “rambunctious” than the other bands that played, or if it was that Sunday night was a culmination of two days of drinking and dancing and general tomfoolery or what, but people were being STUPID A**HOLES. Everyone was polite and respectful of others the whole time until about 8:30 on Sunday night. It was pretty disappointing. People were just shoving their way through to get closer to the stage, event though we were packd like sardines in a crushd tin box already. Every ten seconds someone would just barrel their way through either side of me. Irritating! We made it about half an hour before we decided to move further back to see if it was any better. It was… a little.
You can’t really see, but there is a group of damn, dirty hippies mosh pitting and slam/dirty dancing behind the white tent… which is the ONE PLACE WHERE THE STAGE IS OBSTRUCTED 100%. Makes sense. Jess made me leave before the encore. For the record, I DID think the music was good. The environment left something to be desired. Overall, the festival was a very positive and fun experience. I will definitely be in attendance next year, regardless who they get to headline.
Anybody else go? Thoughts/opinions?
Wow. Just thought it’d be worth mentioning: not once did I mention or even think twice about the lead singer of The Walkmen. I find it funny that you thought I had the BIGGEST crush on him.
I’m going to start calling you GABE Zeigler, obviously.
Or 80/35, you pick.
Is that a comment on my CAPITALIZATION?
That AND pretty much the writing style in the whole first paragraph (amiright!?!?)! I loved it though (no homo). TBS very funny. Etc.
My Modest Mouse experience was a lot different than yours.. and I usually get really frustrated with bad crowds. But I only had a few people brush past me to get closer. I really enjoyed the whole show! Even with the rain!
Josh/Jessie -
What were your favorite acts that you hadn’t heard before (or heard much of)? I’m looking for a few artists to get into. Pitchfork “Best New Music” has kind of been yucky lately. I trust you guys more anyway. Thanks!
I was really surprised at Cashes Rivers and Avi Buffalo. Made me want to hear more. I had heard stuff from most every other band.
I agree 100% with Josh. I also really liked Christopher the Conquered, what little we saw of it. The only thing I wasn’t really into was the Evangelicals and the Modest Mouse crowd experience. I think we were just in a bad spot for MM… I was extra annoyed because I’m most familiar with Modest Mouse and that was the show I was looking forward to most. Also, Marc Hogan just posted a great (and more technical) recap on Des Noise, you should check that out T.
You forgot to mention the rediculous clothes everyone was wearing! Next year I am going to wear a wizard’s cap and a graduation gown so I can blend in.
Spoon was the best of show followed by Solid Gold.
Aw, thanks, Jessie! I don’t know if it’s more technical– reading my recap again, mine seems mostly about stupid things I said to my beloved musicians, or about how I almost got beat up by a guy in a puka-shell necklace– but it does sound like we had a pretty similar festival experience. Except with maybe slightly different favorite bands? (Sounds like we all loved Spoon, though.) Anyway, nice post, Josh! The photos are hilarious. Great seeing you both this weekend, as always! Sorry we didn’t get more time to catch up. What a crazy/awesome weekend.
It was a great weekend. I’ll have to tell you sometime about the time I almost go in a fight at a Wilco concert. I didn’t see any Zola Jesus, I was back by the food carts and got caught talking to someone I used to work with. Did they sound The Knife-y?
I loved your recap! It’s all in the experience, right? It was a great time… I’m already looking forward to finding out which bands might come around next year. Hope to see you and Mrs. Des Noise again soon! And thanks for the link. ;)
A bit the Knife-y, yeah– that’s probably the closest recent comparison I can think of, now that you mention it. (In my blog post I mentioned this act called Salem, but the vocals are more Knife-like, for sure.) Basically big dark brooding synths with heavy bass and this Siouxie Sioux-like frontwoman with a deep, powerful voice. I forgot to mention in my blog post that at one point she let loose an ear-shattering shriek! I know Chet liked that. ;-)
Maybe check out the song “Night” if you’re curious… it’s on YouTube.
Great post. I thoroughly enjoyed Zola Jesus and Solid Gold was definitely the best. Sorry, I’m sweaty in every picture. At least on Sunday we were rainy wet instead of sweaty wet. Great pictures. Wondeful seeing you two and can’t wait to see you guys again. Rumor on the street is that I enjoyed the Cool Kids a lot but those pics have yet to surface. T, I tried to get you a Spoon shirt on Saturday but to no avail. Josh, if you ever want to catch a Christopher the Conquered show, please let me know. I’m dying to see hiw whole show.
Travis! We’d love to go to CTC! I see he & Poison Control Center will be playing a free show in Iowa City on August 28th, a Saturday. Tempting… very tempting.
[...] good. I saw The Walkmen twice this year and they nailed it both times. The first time it was at 80/35 and it [...]