Friday night down and Dive is still living large at Hopscotch. After a loud and raucous trip to the Troika day party, where Bellafea and The Beast rocked and rapped (respectively), we headed to City Plaza to check out Broken Social Scene and Panda Bear. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it in time for the Rosebuds, but the other two headliners proved buzzworthy. Broken Social Scene’s full arrangements and multiple vocalists were especially dextrous live. Sure, there are lots of textures on the band’s records, but seeing these dimensions live was even more incredible.
Panda Bear played a mellow set backed by a shifting projection of swirling patterns and vintage film clips. The visuals were interesting, but the music itself lacked in focus and vigor. Still, the swirling compositions were a welcome, contemplative contrast to other shows at the festival. The outdoor setting might have been a factor here — there was a palpable distance between the fans and the artists, and unlike other smaller venues, it was hard to connect with the performative moments of the set.
Then, it was Whatever Brains at Berkeley Cafe. The synth operator dressed as an eagle was the first tip-off that the show would be a little quirky. But what’s rock ‘n’ roll without a few oddities? The Raleigh band opened the Berkeley’s line-up with a bang — Rich Ivey’s intriguing, slightly off-kilter vocals were captivating, and the band’s strong sense of stage presence had the crowd’s eyes glued to the stage.
Harvey Milk followed. As expected, it was noisy, brash and fantastic. The Athens-based rock group presented a stunning blend of melody and raw noise, and judging from the tight performances, it’s clear that Harvey Milk has an acute awareness of its instruments. The musicianship was one of the most noticeable facets of the performance, aside from the band’s ability to get the crowd jumping, nodding and thrashing.
From Berkeley, Dive headed down to Tir Na Nog to catch Schooner. The local pop outfit played in its typical bubbly, high-energy fashion, pausing occasionally for some banter with the ever-growing crowd. As The War on Drugs’ set approached, the small bar got incredibly crowded. By the end of Schooner’s light and energizing set, the venue was full to the brim with fans crowded around the stage.
The War on Drugs was a psychedelic pop-rock trip. The crowd was engaged for most of the set, but as the last couple of songs wound into lengthy jams, Tir Na Nog got less congested. Still, the band’s Dylan-esque vocals and innovative instrumentation kept the audience’s attention, and a guest performance from Megafaun’s Brad Cook on bass added to an already enthralling set.
Today, we caught some of the Drughorse Collective day party at Slim’s, where Max Indian’s Carter Gaj led a new-wave, Pink Floyd-era jam with Ryan Gustafson and Tom Simpson. It sure wasn’t what we expected, but hey, that’s what makes a festival exciting.
More to come tomorrow! Public Enemy, Love Language and No Age take the stage around 5:30 p.m.
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