Festival review: BFD 07, Mountain View

We went down to Mountain View on Saturday for a music festival. The venue was the Shoreline Amphitheatre. There were three stages: a small stage for local bands, a "festival stage" erected in what looked like a car park overspill for more well known bands on their way up, and the main stage for the big names. The main stage had acts on in the evening, whilst the other two had acts on during the day, allowing you to drift from one to another depending on whether you liked or disliked the band on any one stage.

The weather was blazing hot during the day. I was glad for my cap, and that Ellen remembered the sunscreen. I found it pleasant: you could cool off by sitting on the grass or drinking the huge frozen Margaritas that were being served. There was a good atmosphere, everyone was enjoying themselves.

The smaller stages were easily the best part of the festival. The local stage was surrounded by grass, so if you weren't into the mosh pit, you could recline a bit further back and still have a good view. The festival stage was completely surrounded by moshing fans, who proved that crowd-surfing in the US is still a major sport.

Unfortunately I wasn't that impressed with the main stage. It was immediately surrounded by amphitheatre-style seating, with a huge grassy bank for non-seated spectators to lounge on behind the seats. This wasn't conducive to a good concert atmosphere. Why put seats exactly in the spot where people should be on their feet jumping up and down? It continues to bemuse me that Americans want to sit through gigs. I just don't get it. If people must sit down, they really shouldn't do it right in front of the band. We on the bank were just too far from the stage and didn't feel much atmosphere. The atmosphere improved when the sun finally went down, but by then it was freezing cold on the grass bank which killed the mood somewhat!

What of the bands? I won't bore you with a detailed analysis of each, so here is a pithy summary of those that have managed to stick in my mind for 3 days.

The Good
- Honeycut. On the local bands stage, an electro-dance-funk ensemble who really impressed. Particularly the keyboard player, who did bunny hops for 25 minutes straight during the set. My old Sensei would have liked him.

- Shiny Toy Guns. Electro-punk outfit from LA, who took the festival stage by storm and gave me goosebumps. Excellent.

- Cold War Kids. Hadn't heard of them before, but they were amazing and should be huge. Really different to the generic punk / hardcore going on elsewhere. Props for doing a John Lennon cover.

- Kaiser Chiefs. Best set on the main stage (and flying the Yorkshire flag again), but they just couldn't get the crowd into it, in spite of all their efforts. That's because the part of the crowd who were into it were 1/2 a mile from the stage. Lead singer Ricky Wilson seemed somewhat frustrated with it all.

- Queens of the Stone Age. This was a good set on the main stage - they are clearly excellent musicians. They turned the music up extra loud, which apparently almost killed the people in the seating area, but benefitted us at the back who were feeling totally out of it.

- Bloc Party. Surprised they were headlining the main stage, but then again there weren't any obviously bigger names. I enjoyed their set, and although it didn't sound remotely like the "musical" music they do on their albums, it was still very well played. Lead singer Kele Okereke was good at engaging the audience.

The Bad
- Sum 41. Are they still going? Apparently so. They were crap and swore a lot.

- The Bravery had a shocker - their synth and drum kit were completely out of phase with each other. Apologised to the crowd at the end. Well done for soldiering through, but couldn't they have sorted the problem out?

- Interpol. Played moody, depressing music for 40 minutes, and failed to engage me.

- Social Distortion. Ever heard of them? Me neither, but apparently they're huge over here. I did not like them. The lead singer is clearly from the US, but he tries to sound Irish when he sings. Every song sounded like they were trying to cover The Pogues and doing a bad job of it.

The Just-OK-For-Me-Man
- Every Move a Picture. Opened the festival stage, we only saw two songs, but they were catchy enough. Generic American new-wave rock.

- Silversun Pickups. Sounded heavily derivative of the Smashing Pumpkins. Crowd loved them, but no prizes for originality.

- Scissors for Lefty. Local band who won a competition for opening the main stage. Didn't rate them much musically but they win the prize for having the most random stuff happening on stage. They seemed to reenact the 80s video game Frogger with a giant frog and cardboard cars.

As a direct result of this musical overload, Sunday was an expensive day, as we hit Amoeba Records wielding a credit card!