HFStival was fun because it was different. The lineup was all late 80’s / early 90’s bands (not exactly my genre), so it was a nice change of pace. I had also gone to the more modern Virgin Mobile Festival the past two summers, so I was ready for something new. The first band on stage when I arrived was Presidents of the United States of America.
Presidents of the United States of America
It’s hard to imagine a better opening band than Presidents. They played to a pavilion that couldn’t have been more than a third filled, and they walked off hours before Third Eye Blind approached the parking lot, yet they played like they were the main event. Frontman Chris Ballew slid up, down, left, and right on stage, practically daring the audience not to get into it. It was hard to miss the upbeat vibe: band members were dressed in blue, pink, and yellow pastels, resembling three human party streamers! Highlights of the party included “Peaches,” “Lump,” “Kitty,” “Boe Weevil,” “Video Killed the Radio Star,” and “Kick Out the Jams.” (I especially liked this “Jams” line: “I solemnly swear to uphold the constitution / Got a rock and roll problem? Well, we got the solution.” Catchy!)
Beyond the actual songs, though, what impressed me was their showmanship. Ballew played his guitar literally to the ground one song, jumped on top of a speaker for another, and timed a stage drop exactly for the last note of a third. I also enjoyed the ‘invisible’ harmonica solo and the playful shots at their old age: “We’re gonna have to take a deep breath and relax after the next song, considering all the lines of coke we’ve been doing…” In the end, Strike himself said it best: “You’ve gotta love everybody and make them feel good about themselves.” Mission accomplished.
Grade: A
Initially, Live was a rough transition. Presidents bounced up and down and made you want to party. Live swayed, mumbled, and made you long for Nickelback.
Fortunately, after a song or two, things improved. There was still a lot of self-serious mumbling, but the audience started to recognize more of their songs: “I Alone,” “All Over You,” “The Dolphins Cry,” “Run to the Water” among them. The audience also seemed to appreciate the gallons of sweat frontman Ed Kowalczyk was pouring in. Midway through, Kowalczyk cracked me up when he said, “Y’all may have noticed that I use a lot of water imagery in my songs” a minute after I’d written, “Man, could you get any more water?!”
Live’s clear best song was the last one, “Lightning Crashes.” It had a slow build and a number of well struck power notes – a perfect ballad to end on.
Grade: B
Naughty by Nature
Naughty By Nature was hilarious. Initially, it seemed like they would not connect with the audience because their rap sound was nothing like the other bands’. They made up for this, though, by including every possible musical genre in their performance. Initially, there was also the issue of their hip hop style...not quite fitting the lily white Merriweather crowd. They made up for this by openly embracing the awkwardness. In one absurd 35-minute set, they sampled Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” DMX’s “Up In Here,” Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida,” 50 Cent's "In Da Club,” The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” their own “O.P.P.,” and whatever else they felt like at the time. It was bizarre…and incredibly funny.
Undoubtedly the funniest moment occurred at the end of the set, when they had the audience out of the seats, jumping and dancing to a vocal version of the guitar riff from “Seven Nation Army.” Mid jump, lead rapper Treach shouted, “Where my white boys at? Where my white girls at?” Gotta know your audience!
Grade: B+
Everclear
In Everclear’s favor: the lead singer, Art Alexakis, could have been a rocker on American Idol. Against Everclear: there are almost never good rockers on American Idol. Pawn certainly looked the part, covered in tattoos, earrings, and black clothing. He sounded terrible though. Half shouting, half mumbling, he sounded like Lee Dewyze’s drunken uncle. When he stopped in the middle of a song because he’d flubbed a lyric, it was pretty funny: the audience would never have noticed…
Grade: C-
Updated Grade: C [Moves up a little because “Volvo Driving Soccer Mom” is hilarious and “Wonderful” is appropriately named.]
Third Eye Blind
Everclear was a minor disappointment. You want all bands to sound good live, but their subpar performance wasn’t a huge loss since I hadn’t connected that strongly to any Everclear CD. Third Eye Blind, on the other hand, was a major disappointment, considering their Greatest Hits CD is one of my favorite pop-rock albums.
So many of their songs seem suited for the stage: “Never Let You Go,” a breezy, sing-along romance; “Graduate,” a euphoric rebel yell; and “Semi-Charmed of Life,” an upbeat tongue twister everyone in the audience would have known. It also would have been funny to hear “Crystal Baller” live considering the word “baller” has another meaning it did not have the decade it was written. Moreover, I cannot imagine a more powerful end to a festival than “Slow Motion,” a haunting drug tale that would make you swear off Ibuprofen, let alone anything illegal.
So there were all the ingredients for a great concert. That concert never happened, though, because frontman Stephan Jenkins had a HORRIBLE voice. On CD, he sounds earnest and soulful. There are rough edges, but those edges make him sound more natural and believable. Live, it seemed like there was nothing but rough edges. He slurred melodies, shouted choruses – it was a mess.
I felt bad because he gave this inspiring speech about driving across the country to be “among friends…We’re all screwups; we’re all Third Eye Blind!” The friends comment was appropriate because I had written in my notes “the lead singer looks like a bit like Chandler.” The next note, sadly: “sounds more like Phoebe”...
Grade: D
Technically, Billy Idol was the second-to-last group to perform at HFStival; Third Eye Blind was last. I decided to flip the order, though, because Billy Idol was better than Third Eye in every conceivable way. His performance felt like the festival’s true end.
When the performance started, I assumed Idol would sound as mediocre as he did on his albums. None of the sixteen songs on his Greatest Hits CD suggested this would be a memorable show. Also against him was the fact that he looked ancient. James Porter commented beforehand, “Wait, Billy Idol’s still alive?” and it was true. He looked like a randy nursing home resident who had ducked out of bingo just in time to make the show. All of it seemed to point to a train wreck: a 74-year-old with half-open shirts and frost tipped hair singing “Flesh or Fantasy” – yikes!
Incredibly, though, ALL of it worked. His command of his body, the stage, and the crowd was impeccable. And unlike the previous two performers, he could actually sing! His voice showed power, tone, precision – everything you look for in a vocal. He was such a pro that you even accepted the outfits: half-buttoned shirts, quarter-buttoned shirts, unbuttoned shirts, three-piece suits – everything fit!
The best songs were, admittedly, the most famous: “Dancing with Myself,” “Cradle of Love,” “White Wedding,” and “Rebel Yell.” Idol tore into them with the greatest fervor, and audience members followed his lead – pumping their fists, shaking their hips, and shouting “more, more, more” whenever prompted. It’s hard to pick the overall best part of the show. The moment in the first song when I realized Idol was the real deal was memorable, and Stevie Stevens’ behind-the-back guitar solo was, as Idol described, “pretty bada--.“ In the end, though, the top moment would have to be midway through the concert when Idol stopped a song a few notes in. “We were about to play a slow song here,” he explained, “but whaddya say we rock out instead?” Awesome.
Grade: A
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