FFF Fest Day 2 pt. II

Return of the King!
Here is the second part of the FFF Fest 2014 from guest writer Jay Longoria!

After Fred Armisen's set was done, I still had quite a while before the next band on my list, Sick of it All, was playing. So I wandered around for a bit, checking out some bands I'd never heard of on the Orange and Black stages. 

On the Orange stage was a band called 

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (http://thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com). All the guys in this band looked like various clones of myself at age 15 [HA!], especially the bass player. They played a style of indie garage rock that sounded reminiscent of Nineties alternative music, like Superchunk or Toad the Wet Sprocket. It wasn't really my thing, but they played well enough and seemed very earnest about their music.

I soon found myself back over by the Black stage passing the time by watching a band called Black Lips (http://black-lips.com) Despite the goth-sounding name, these guys played hard garage rock that had more bluster to it than what was going on over at the Orange stage. That said, they never played anything that quite drew too much of my attention. I'll be honest and say that by this point in the day, I was starting to feel like I'd seen and heard enough indie rock and was really wanting to hasten the evening forward to the main event.

Of course, there was still one group yet to play before that and I was actually semi-curious to see them. This would be Sick of it All, (http://www.sickofitall.com) the quintessential stalwart NYC hardcore punk band.

Apparently, they'd been asked by the organizers of FFF Fest to play a set exclusively sticking to material off two specific albums, Blood, Sweat, and No Tears and Scratch the Surface. Though they seemed semi-disappointed at not being able to play their newer material, Sick of it All still went at it full throttle!  They played with an energy that belied their age, and gave the crowd a lesson in truly old school hardcore punk flavored with a distinctly New York City attitude.  Even though I was really only familiar with one of their songs, "Step Down", (off Scratch the Surface) I enjoyed their set. It was a nice warm up to the moment that many in the crowd, myself included, had been waiting for all evening!!!

(Sick of it All. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get a quality pic of these guys.)

What could it possibly be??

(King Diamond unleashes a live show like no other.)

Yes, after a long hiatus, King Diamond (http://www.kingdiamondcoven.com/site/) had returned for a full U.S. tour with the last stop being tonight at Fun Fun Fun Fest.  And, as promised, King had a rare treat for us: his full, no-holds-barred, stage show. Normally reserved for large European music festivals, but as you can see from the pictures, it was enormous stage props, custom lighting, and interchanging backdrops for the revelers this night.  The initial set up made it appear as if the band was performing at the rusty iron gates of a dilapidated haunted mansion.  It was, to put it frankly, BAD-FUCKING-ASS!! 

King Diamond opened the set with "The Candle" off the first album, Fatal Portrait, and the crowd went absolutely nuts. King, of course, made a dramatic entrance at the top of the catwalk above the drums and coolly glided down the staircase, with his human bone microphone in hand. I have to say, his voice sounded better than ever, as he effortlessly pulled off verse after verse in his signature high falsetto. 

     

The set included a variety of selections off of the band's extensive discography. Highlights included "Welcome Home", complete with an actor dressed as King's evil, decrepit Grandma. "Nightime in Budapest", with an actress costumed as a living doll. "The Eye", "The Family Ghost", and the crowd-pleaser, "Halloween".  My only wish was that they'd played "Mansion In the Darkness" from Abigail, but I couldn't really complain [and it seemed the crowd didn't mind either].

Theatricality was always a King Diamond specia

lty, and he did not disappoint. Going so far as to include a genuine magic trick in the show. It involved placing his Grandma inside a coffin, wheeled onstage by a surgeon and a priest. King then dropped a glowing cinder into the coffin and commanded the sides to drop, revealing the incinerated skeleton of Grandma within. For comedic effect, the surgeon checked the skeleton with his stethoscope and shook his head, while the priest made the sign of the cross over it. 

  The band was on point, rolling through each song flawlessly. King's lead guitarist and songwriting collaborator, Andy Laroque showed why he is one of the best in the biz, throwing smooth phrases and machine gun-picked lead lines, as required.

    

All good (or evil as it were) things must come to an end, and after two encores, the King Diamond finally signed off. King was a class act, staying onstage to graciously thank each section of the crowd for their praise and enthusiasm.  I had read in several pre-tour interviews that King had promised this tour and show would be something fans would never forget, I can say he definitely delivered on that! This was a truly fantastic concert. It will go down as one of the most memorable live performances by any band that I've ever seen and a was one hell of finishing touch on Fun Fun Fun Fest!

Written by:

Jay Longoria

Edited by:

William Tompkins

Laters

FUN FUN FUN FEST Day 2 pt 1

FFF Fest Day 2. The Return of the King

Special thanks to Jay Longoria for lending his writing skills and enjoyment of the event to give you this over view of FFF Fest 2014, Day 2!     

So, the word on the street (by which I mean "the Internet") was that the first day of Fun Fun Fun Fest did not exactly get off to a smooth start. Fest-ers experienced huge delays to get in and had to stand in long lines that purportedly stretched from the festival front gate on Riverside Drive to back across the South First Street bridge. If you're familiar with this part of downtown Austin, I don't need to tell you how utterly crazy that sounds. While I'm not sure how that fiasco happened, I can happily attest that FFF's organizers learned from it and made sure that shit like that did not happen on Day 2!

(The view from the corner of South First and Caesar Chavez. Note the lack of insane lines of people.)

     I walked to the Fest from my parking spot downtown and at no time did I encounter a wall of impenetrable human traffic. On top of it all, the weather was great, with the sun shining in a mostly clear sky. As I walked up to the front gate I started to feel pretty stoked for a full day of...well...fun fun fun.

((

(The road leading up to the front gate, also blessedly free of human traffic jams.)

Now, I have to preface this by saying this was my very first experience at Fun Fun Fun Fest. For years, I had always meant to come to one, and kept putting it off. But, I finally decided to pull the trigger when I found out that day 2 would be headlined by none other than the great and legendary King Diamond (more on that later!)

  











                                                (Nice day, not too crowded. And, King Diamond's playing later? What more can you ask for?)

I got in at around 1p.m., grabbed a beer, a schedule, and started wandering around while I waited for the first act I wanted to see, Glassjaw. I passed by the wrestling ring where an Impact Pro Wrestling match was just starting. These guys went all out in the classic pro wrestling style, complete with flips off the top rope, suplexes, closelines, and plenty of braggadocio.

(Wrasslin')

     

Glassjaw (http://glassjaw.merchdirect.com), is a post-hardcore (a.k.a. screamo) band hail from Hoboken, NY and are known for the controlled chaotic sound of their music. I used to like this band about 10 or so years ago and actually had one of their albums, Worship and Tribute.

                            (Glassjaw)

     

They played as tightly live as I remember them sounding on record. I wasn't familiar with any of their other recordings, but I found I recognized quite a few of the songs in their set as coming off that album. Their vocalist, Daryl Palumbo, thrashed and convulsed around the stage, effortlessly going from sweet, melodic intonations to ear shattering screams. Despite his mostly aggressive vocal style, the dude can actually sing. Overall, I can say that Glassjaw were definitely an energetic live band and their interesting--at times technical--song arrangements did not suffer for it. Good show, gentlemen.


Afterwards, I made my way across the grounds over to where the Blue Stage was located to wait for the next show on my "to-see" list: 

                          (Gary Numan fucking rocking it)

Gary Numan (http://www.numan.co.uk). When I was planning my trip, I was intrigued to learn that Numan, a recognized innovator in electronic/industrial music, was on the bill. I figured, "why not?" This decision turned out to give me the most completely unanticipated yet pleasant surprise of the whole day. Gary Numan kinda fucking rocks!

Listeners who are only familiar with Numan's enduring hit, "Cars", should do themselves a favor and check out some of the rest of his work. Every song he performed shined with an edgy brilliance that drew you in, got your head nodding, and made you raise your hands in the air after it was over. While I had previously only thought of him as a "new wave" artist, it appeared that he'd adopted more of an industrial rock style somewhere along the way. The effect was his songs had a more modern, and harder, edge to them. It was not hard to see why he's considered so influential in this particular genre. I had originally only planned to check out part of his show so that I could trek clear across to the other side of the festival to see Fred Armisen.  It only took a couple of songs into Numan's set to make me change that decision.  No regrets there, really.

  

Speaking of Fred Armisen (http://www.fredarmisen.com) when I finally joined the crowd watching his already-in-progress performance, I found him on stage with a guitar in his hands and a backing band behind him, rolling through a set of selected cover songs. Shortly after I arrived, he was joined onstage by none other than J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. for a rendition of Dinsosaur Jr.'s "Feel the Pain"--which is probably the only song by that band that I remember from back in the day. He was also joined by Tim Kurr of Austin punk pioneers, the Big Boys, and performed said bands' song, "Sound on Sound."
                                                                                                                   

(Fred Armison rocking with J Mascis.)

I wish I could say I felt differently, but I was a little disappointed that Armisen was not doing a stand-up or sketch comedy set of some sort. I heard my thoughts echoing in the conversations of the people around me.  While his musical performance was great and Armisen is obviously a talented musician, a showcase of his skills as a comedic performer was decidedly missed.

 Day 2 Part two to Come!

Written by:

Jay Longoria

edited by: William Tompkins

LATERS