Broken Social Scene at Stanford 4/21/2011

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Photo: Brian Valdizno

Fresh off a performance at the Coachella Music And Arts Festival, Broken Social Scene played a much small–and colder–venue on Thursday night at Stanford University. Taking over a stage usually reserved for Zumba and the odd hacky sack get-together, the Canadian collective transformed the space just outside of Dinkelspiel Auditorium into a mini-festival offering to kick off Vision eARTh, the Farm’s first arts and sustainability festival.

Lead singer Kevin Drew called the night an “intimate affair,” before paying homage to the university, which he and his bandmates had spent wandering in the hours before the show. “You guys are very lucky,” he said, smiling under a pink beanie.

Coachella 2011: Day Two

Desert rain. (Photo courtesy of mirno.com)

After Friday’s dazzling displays and painless navigations, we knew the other shoe had to drop on Saturday. No, it wasn’t the volcano of last year, but it might as well have been during the face-melting heat of the afternoon. The sun became the nemesis of Coachella Day Two, turning up the heat to a slow broil for the hungover and clothes-less masses. Brains were scrambled for the festival hump day–one woman “mentally altered on substances” fell off the Ferris wheel–but the day still had its shining moments.

Though expected, the stupefying heat proved an obstacle that some bands couldn’t surmount. Positioned in the unforgiving sunlight, mid-afternoon acts Here We Go Magic and Erykah Badu suffered from low numbers and lethargic crowds. When lines for hydration stations are more dangerous than the gnarliest Gogolo Bordello pit, you know you have a problem. Performers fortunate to be under canopies fared better, wooing staggering festival-goers into sweaty, explosive dance parties. Lil B also drew some interest away from festival’s larger stages and toward the Oasis Dome as he was joined by the whole Odd Future crew (who oddly claimed they were kicked out) to turn up Saturday’s swag (also swag, bringing in your personal spatula for the cook dance.)

Fans who survived the endurance test were rewarded with mind-blowing acts by veteran performers Broken Social Scene and Animal Collective on the mainstage. At the end of the day, the final strains of Arcade Fire were worth the aching feet and absurd post-festival clusterfuck.

Some reviews from Saturday:

Taking it easy with Surfer Blood at TIMF2010

JP Pitts, not to be confused with Rivers Cuomo. (Brian Valdizno/treeswingers)

Jamming in an interview an hour before their scheduled set at Treasure Island Music Festival 2010, the members of Surfer Blood were just enjoying the moment. The five-piece band, hailing from West Palm Beach, Florida, were hardly out of their element, enjoying the festival as spectators, as well as performers. On Sunday, lead singer JP Pitts and drummer TJ Schwarz dropped by, behind the main stage, to discuss their fast-tracked rise to success, their short-lived college careers and, of course, surfing. TJ also gave us one awesome prediction that he’d meet Belle and Sebastian, a dream that he and JP later realized when they joined the Scottish headliners on stage. Working in conjunction with The Stanford Daily, we kept this one short for one, because of their upcoming set, but also because conversation was made impossible by the overpowering audio glory that is Broken Social Scene.

Treasure Island 2010: Sunday Recap

Windbreakers or fallbreakers? (Brian Valdizno/treeswingers)

Burgeoning clouds made Sunday all ponchos and plastic bags, with a rejuvenated security staff happily confiscating umbrellas from sodden attendees entering the fest. Round two’s indie-thon was mellow and cozy compared to its trip-the-light-fantastic predecessor, with indie pop legends Belle & Sebastian closing the fourth annual Treasure Island Music Festival in a sweeping sing-a-long. The thinner (and older) crowd didn’t bother the performers, who took the opportunity to get very personal with their fans: the singers of Surfer Blood, Broken Social Scene, The National and Belle & Sebastian all went crowd wandering, while Monotonix spent their entire set submerged in a sea of limbs and Gortex.

Despite the damp conditions–which killed any of our attempts at video–attendees left Sunday with a renewed faith in melody and musicianship. While the sound systems were turned down from Saturday, bands relied instead on horn sections, backing orchestras and clear vocals to keep the blood pumping (by sunset, this became even more imperative). The festival, keeping to its formula of small-scale, high quality acts can count this Sunday in its win column.

A few recaps of Sunday’s highlights after the jump…

Treasure Island 2010 Preview

Where it goes down. (Photo courtesy of spinningplatters.com)

Standing on Treasure Island in the middle of the unforgiving San Francisco Bay, the sensible individual should immediately question his or her motives for ever making that turn off the Bay Bridge. With the wind swirling and fog engulfing everything and anything, Treasure Island is the last place you’d want to be in the heart of Bay Area autumn.

That is, unless you’re accompanied by thousands of others, dancing the night away with LCD Soundsystem or screaming their lungs out with The National.

In a week, San Francisco welcomes the fourth reincarnation of Treasure Island Music Festival. The only redeeming quality of the man-made bay blemish, the two-day audio orgy features the trademark polar lineup, with electro-enthusiasts drooling over Saturday and the reflective indie types embracing a mellow Sunday.