Tame Impala / Blood Orange / Yeasayer - Live 2019.08.13 Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin, Germany

I'm still only marginally aware of the connection between this concert and the Musikexpress magazine, but whatever, they threw a birthday party and invited three strong acts to perform on one stage. Calling it a festival is probably a bit ambitious, but whatever.

Event: 50 Jahre Musikexpress – Das Festival

Artists: Tame Impala / Blood Orange / Yeasayer

Venue: Max-Schmeling-Halle

Location: Berlin, Germany

Date: 13 August 2019

Yeasayer immediately gave me a Devo vibe, although it might've just been their focused stage presence and the bassist's red tracksuit. There was something mechanical, bizarre, entrancing, absurd, and precise about them as well, and the way they took R&B and funk grooves and mutated them into something danceable but unexpected also reminded me of Devo's famous streak of successful reinterpretations. None of it would have worked if the songwriting and performance hadn't been solid, though, and I was quite impressed.

The high points were the fretless bass, which was fluid, expressive, all over the place, and yet still always perfectly tight, and the vocals, which were almost always sung in harmony. All three core members sang, and they consistently nailed their parts, even when some segments featured minimal instrumental accompaniment. Before their last song, "Ambling Alp", they claimed that the lyrics mentioned the namesake of the venue, Max Schmeling, and I thought they might be joking, but it really does. That song also featured a heavy synth-like effect on the bass that rendered it completely unrecognizable, and it even featured a wild but superb solo! Meanwhile, they had psychedelic and frequently creepy projections mostly using images of the members' heads while presumably screaming.

[Yeasayer. I unfortunately didn't get a good picture of the projections.]

Yeasayer's setlist (thanks to setlist.fm!):

01. 2080

02. People I Loved

03. 24-Hour Hateful Live!

04. Fluttering in the Floodlights

05. O.N.E.

06. Ecstatic Baby

07. Ambling Alp

Devonté Hynes' Blood Orange continued the trend of vocal prowess and harmonies, and took the R&B to another level, but otherwise was quite the opposite of Yeasayer. His sound was sparse and wispy despite the sizeable backing band (guitar/keyboards, bass, drums, sax, and two backing vocalists), and the mood was decidedly chill, casual, and thoroughly non-aggressive. The music was always danceable but still textured and nuanced enough for several of the performers to take brief solos. Hynes played a lot of keyboards but also frequently picked up a guitar and even busted out some decent lead bits. Most of his video projections were just people grooving, hanging out, and being stylish, although several inexplicably featured amateur drag racing footage. I appreciated the vulnerability and queerness that was otherwise present.

[Blood Orange.]

Blood Orange's setlist (thanks to setlist.fm!):

01. Champagne Coast

02. Dark & Handsome

03. Saint

04. Augustine

05. Jewellery

06. It Is What It Is

07. Hope

08. Holy Will

09. Losing You [Solange cover]

10. You're Not Good Enough

11. Negro Swan

12. Happiness

13. Today

And then finally came Tame Impala, obviously the biggest draw for me. After being blown away by their thoroughly psychedelic set at Levitation in 2015, I was a bit let down by their lighter, more dance-oriented set later in the same year at Austin City Limits Festival. Currents (also 2015) hasn't really grown on me in the meantime, and their only other releases since then have been the deliberately pop-oriented singles "Patience" and "Borderline" earlier this year (okay, and a cover of "Confide in Me" on a Triple J compilation). The trend here is clear, and it doesn't really speak to me. But knowing that the band are supposedly working on a fourth record, and still holding out hope that they'll move in a more interesting direction, I had to take the chance.

[Tame Impala.]

Unfortunately, my hopes were unfounded. Most of the set consisted of Currents songs, and along with the two new singles, the overwhelming sound was dance-heavy and poppy. There's absolutely nothing wrong with making dance-friendly music, but it came at the cost of the complexity of their arrangements and their free, improvisational jams. There was still a taste of psychedelia, even in the pop, but the guitar jam bliss was restricted. Other than "Sestri Levante", which is at least six years old and mostly a fixed part of "Mind Mischief" at this point, the only other real jam or improvisation was at the end of "Apocalypse Dreams". That was wisely chosen as a set closer, and it was probably the highlight of the night, but it was the only moment like that. (By comparison, at that 2015 Levitation set, at least half the songs had improvisational sections or extended instrumental surprises.)

It's not like their newer work is bad, though, and they thankfully skipped "'Cause I'm a Man", but I felt like the band were playing something static and pre-programmed, even though it appeared to be almost entirely live. There was a rigidity to it, like they no longer had the flexibility to throw in surprises. Again, a few songs like "Elephant" had brief moments of a diversion from the recorded version, but they were the same tricks as four years ago, and infrequent and brief enough to be easily overlooked. The presence of two drumsets and a separate percussion rig with congas led me to hope there might be some rhythm section workouts, but oddly the same drummer just switched from one set to the other for no apparent reason, and I only saw a guest percussionist at the other rig for one song ("Patience" if I recall correctly).

The worst crime was that the low end was overwhelmingly over-biased. I never thought I'd complain about the bass being too loud, but if this is what Kevin Parker meant when he's talked about trying to get his music played in clubs, then count me out. All texture and subtlety was lost in favor of earth-shaking low end vibrations. This was particularly apparent on the pre-recorded tapes played as the band walked out at the start and again for the encore. In both cases, the recordings were deafeningly and headache-inducingly loud in the low end.

On one hand, I appreciated that the band brought out "Led Zeppelin", a b-side from Lonerism (2012), but on the other, it was the only curveball from their back catalog in the whole set. Otherwise, all five other pre-Currents tracks were also played at both shows I saw in 2015. What happened to the rest of their songs?

If there was one particularly fun element, it was probably that for once I was down in the middle of the pit, and the laser light show was a delight from that perspective. Mixed with the heavy smoke machines, it made for an oil-on-water type of effect above our heads. At three points in the show, they released confetti cannons upon us, and combined with the lights, it made for some cool visual effects. I'll ignore the wastefulness and the cost of cleanup for the present, and I'm well aware that none of these tricks are new or unique to Tame Impala, but it was my first time experiencing them from such a central location, and that was admittedly enjoyable.

[The smoke and light effects.]

I'm still curious to hear where Tame Impala goes next, and I'm not sure I'll be so quick to jump on concert tickets next time around, but we'll see what happens!

Tame Impala's setlist (thanks for setlist.fm for the taped track names):
01. List of People (To Try and Forget About) [Tape]

02. Let It Happen

03. Patience

04. Led Zeppelin

05. The Moment

06. Mind Mischief → Sestri Levante

07. Nangs

08. Elephant

09. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

10. Borderline

11. Love/Paranoia

12. Yes I'm Changing

13. Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?

14. Eventually

15. Apocalypse Dreams

Encore:

16. Mutant Gossip [Tape]

17. The Less I Know the Better

18. New Person, Same Old Mistakes

Scores:

Yeasayer: A-

Blood Orange: B

Tame Impala: B-

P.S. This show was originally scheduled to take place in Parkbühne Wuhlheide, a large open-air amphitheater in the former East side. I've never been and was looking forward to it, but it was moved due to the demands of Tame Impala's light show. Oh well. Hard to complain about a venue that's walking distance from my apartment, though.

Austin City Limits Festival 2015, Weekend 2, Day 1

Event: Austin City Limits Festival 2015, Weekend 2, Day 1

Venue: Zilker Park

Location: Austin, Texas

Date: 9 October 2015

Introduction: Yet again, I couldn't resist going to ACL even though I was entirely unexcited by all the headliners. In fact, this time, there weren't even many second- or third-tier acts that I was interested in. Still, after the good time I had last year, I figured it would be worth picking one day and making the most if it. Of course, the day I decided upon was Friday, which is annoying in that I had to take off work to go. Nonetheless, I went for it.

I am unashamed to admit that the main draw for me was Tame Impala, even though I just saw them earlier this year at Levitation. I was also excited to see Songhoy Blues again, whom I had caught earlier this year at SXSW. However, a few weeks before the event, I noticed that they were no longer on the schedule. I can't find any information about their disappearance except for this similarly disappointed Reddit thread.

I started my day off with The London Souls. On record, this guitar-and-drums duo sounded like straight classic rock throwbacks with a giant debt owed to Led Zeppelin and maybe The Beatles. On stage, they came off much rawer and even tighter. They were unexpectedly almost punky, but they held their act together far better than most could. Both musicians are incredibly expressive with their instruments. They just kept throwing in little surprises and clever riffs, so the music was always groovy yet captivating in its detail. All the extra touches really held my attention, but one could also opt to just lean back and enjoy the instruments in lock step. The downside is that their lyrics are completely devoid of originality. These are great players, and they both have good voices, but the main draw is the rock, not the words.

[The London Souls.]

Next up was Wolf Alice, an exclusive to Weekend 2. I was attracted by a slight psychedelic edge to their music, which manifested live as fitting in somewhere between dream pop and The Sisters of Mercy, but seemingly without the deliberate campiness. The heavy reverb and delayed space guitars worked in their favor, but a tendency for bland songwriting and awkward vocals did not. They occasionally attained great moments but mostly settled for a standard issue poppy metal/heavy rock vibe. There were some good riffs and sounds, but something was missing to take it to the next level. It didn't help that Cherub's crappy electronic beats wafted over from the Miller Light stage to distract from the experience. The setlist is available here.

[Wolf Alice.]

I was then caught at a crossroads between two bands I was interested in, so I split the difference and saw some of both. First I saw most of Billy Idol's set. The full setlist has been posted online:

01. Postcards from the Past

02. Dancing with Myself [originally performed with Generation X]

03. Can't Break Me Down
04. Flesh for Fantasy
05. Eyes Without a Face
06. Ready Steady Go [originally performed with Generation X]
07. Blue Highway
08. Rebel Yell
09. White Wedding
10. Mony Mony [Tommy James & the Shondells cover]

I've never been a great Idol fan; I find his music catchy and likable but not especially meaningful or especially attractive. I do, however, appreciate that his music has a touch of deliberately over-the-top excess. His performance is absurd and yet the audience is complicit. He's something of a punk, but he makes few excuses about his music really being just good time rock 'n' roll, only slightly heavier, dirtier, and weirder. (This of course is discounting his awful but visionary Cyberpunk album from 1993.) On stage he just played to expectations. Guitarist Steve Stevens was less of a showboat than some, but the band did everything else they could to live up to a rock 'n' roll fantasy. I almost started cracking up when Idol took his shirt off.

I trekked across the entire park grounds to get to the other side to see the last few songs from Leon Bridges. Hailing from Fort Worth, this guy seemed to come out of nowhere and instantly start rising. He is very rooted in old school traditions of soul, R&B, and gospel. His strong voice is well suited to his retro style. The band's performance was tight, consistent, groovy, and solid, but his lyrics were fairly basic. It was easy to forgive, but it would help if he played a bit less by the numbers.

While enjoying some amazing Korean BBQ Tofu Tacos from Chi'lantro, I caught a few songs from Moon Taxi on the nearby Austin Ventures stage, but it was so generic that I can't remember anything of note from what I saw and heard. It was some type of indie or emo thing, but it didn't do anything for me.

I then camped out for Tame Impala, holding my spot despite unceasing surges and rushes of the crowd. I've never seen so many people try to squeeze in where there was obviously no room for them. This was also the only time during the day that I saw people smoking despite the ban. Anyway, here's the setlist:

01. Intro Jam

02. Let It Happen

03. Mind Mischief

04. Why Won't They Talk to Me?

05. The Moment

06. Elephant

07. The Less I Know the Better

08. 'Cause I'm a Man

09. Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?

10. Unknown Jam

11. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

12. Apocalypse Dreams

I thought Tame Impala's 80-minute headlining, show-closing set at Levitation earlier this year was incredible. I gave it a rare A+. It was everything I could have wanted and more: it rocked, it was psychedelic, they jammed all over the place, they threw in curveballs and surprises, the visuals were good, and they debuted a fairly good new song. I wished it had gone on longer, but that's just the nature of festival appearances.

This time around, they didn't even play a full hour, and there were no surprises at all. The only curious part was a brief jam near the end. In fact, excluding the songs from the new album, Currents, every other song was also played at Levitation in the same order! Sure, these are great songs that I've come to love over the past couple years, but it just seemed like they weren't really trying. The new songs were a mixed bag; "Let It Happen" is fairly good, and the bassline to "The Less I Know the Better" is enough to sell me on the song right there, but "The Moment" didn't quite work, and "'Cause I'm a Man" fared even worse. The only reason I can tolerate that song at all is the subtle lyrical shift near the end to "I'm a human", but a subtlety like that was entirely lost in the shuffle of the live performance.

The keyboards and bass were right on the mark, but the guitars, apart from being more subdued in general considering the material, were not up to par, and nor were Kevin's vocals. The psychedelia was mostly absent in favor of a more lightweight electronic dance vibe. It was still good, but not magical. It felt short, like I was waiting for the big moment, but it never came. It didn't help that the crowd was pushy and rowdy and that someone was drunkenly singing along off-key whenever they could half-remember the words.

[Tame Impala.]

After that slight disappointment, I went to see George Ezra, a singer-songwriter somewhere between soul, folk, and light blues. He has an incredible voice with a theatrical level of expression. His music was pleasant but unsophisticated. It was clean cut and smoothed of any uneven edges. It came off just a bit fragile and lifeless, which was only exacerbated by the awful electronic beats coming from Flosstradmus' set at the nearby Miller Light stage. I knew it was my cue to leave when he started into "Girl from the North Country". He sounded quite a bit more straight pop than I had been expecting.

I bailed and headed over to catch most of Gary Clark Jr.'s set. His setlist has been posted online:

01. When My Train Pulls In
02. Bright Lights
03. Stay
04. Hold On

05. Cold Blooded
06. Our Love

07. Grinder
08. Ain't Messin' 'Round
09. Travis County
10. Church
11. The Healing

Clark plays a bluesy rock with a bit of groove and funk. His lyrics were unimaginative, but the vocals were clearly secondary to his guitar, anyway. I know he's from Austin and I'm supposed to like him, but I just didn't find his performance very special. Most of his set featured Hard Proof, or at least their horns players (including my former landlord!), which was definitely a highlight. During "Travis County", Clark handed his guitar to a friend to finish out the closing guitar solo, and he brought out his sisters to sing along for "Church", although they unfortunately didn't add much. Clark was a good performer and played decent tunes, but the set just didn't take off like I might have hoped.

[Gary Clark Jr. with members of Hard Proof.]

The closing headliners of the night were Foo Fighters and Disclosure, neither of which held any appeal for me. I sat around for a few songs by Foo Fighters – enough to see Dave Grohl in his bizarre throne – but I just couldn't get interested. The setlist is available here. On my way out, I caught a few minutes of Disclosure's uninspired electronic beats. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to like in their performance and so I left early.

Scores:

The London Souls: B+

Wolf Alice: B-

Billy Idol: C

Leon Bridges: B

Moon Taxi: D

Tame Impala: B-

George Ezra: C-

Gary Clark Jr.: C+

Final Thoughts: This was probably the most middling festival experience I've had yet. The band I was most excited about didn't deliver like I was hoping, the band I was second-most excited about was canceled, and no other band was truly exceptional. I saw several acts that put on a good performance, but left little under the surface. The one actual blast from the past, Billy Idol, was fine, but not really up my alley. I had a good enough time, but now I'm wondering if I had picked the wrong day solely because I was drawn so strongly by Tame Impala.

Another issue was sound bleeding over from one stage to another. Twice when I saw bands at the Austin Ventures stage (Wolf Alice and George Ezra), it seemed like the volume was lower than whatever electronic garbage was coming from the nearby Miller Light stage. In both cases, their lower-key moments and nuances were lost to the incessant synthetic bass drum. It overpowered their sound and their spirit. I know that volume levels at major events on public grounds in Austin have recently come under new ordinances, but it seemed like there was still some work to do about managing and balancing the levels between stages.

Levitation (Austin Psych Fest) 2015 Day 1

Event: Levitation (Austin Psych Fest) Day 1
Venue: Carson Creek Ranch
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 8 May 2015

Introduction: I had such a good time at Austin Psych Fest last year, even with the many minor faults, that I couldn't wait for it to come around again this year. Unfortunately, I have been so busy with other activities that I knew I couldn't go all weekend, so I just picked one day. Sunday features the first reunion of the 13th Floor Elevators since their breakup in 1969, which would be an amazing sight to behold, but I went with Friday, primarily for the opportunity to see Tame Impala, whom I missed my chance to see at Austin City Limits in 2013 due to a rainout. Ironically, this week in Austin has seen record-breaking rainstorms, so I knew going into it that it would be rainy and muddy. This was not at all my first experience with rain-drenched outdoor concerts, so I figured I could deal with it. The worst part was just that the festival grounds had to be reconfigured, as the riverside Elevation Amphitheater was not tenable.

Unlike last year, the grounds didn't open until 3pm, with the first band starting at 3:45. I rode my bike downtown during a downpour around 3pm and waited for the shuttle while seeking shelter in a covered doorway. A group of three Australians joined me, and after they quickly grew impatient, I joined them in an Über ride to the venue. (Thanks again, Steve and Caroline!)

I started with Hundred Visions. I was fairly disappointed by their noisy, thrashy punk sound and quickly departed to Willie Thrasher and Linda Saddleback. I wasn't entirely sure what to make of them. Thrasher is an old school Inuit folk musician hailing from Aklavik in the Northwest Territories of Canada. I admired his spirit (and he sung and spoke plenty about spirit!), but his performance was not actually very accomplished. Part of his claim to fame at the moment is the appearance of several of his older songs on the recent Native North America, Vol. 1 compilation. He played "Spirit Child", which he claimed to have forgotten until he heard it again on the collection, but most of his songs followed a similar pattern: rapid, heavy strumming on an acoustic guitar; shouted, nearly strained vocals; a not-so-steady pulse on a bass drum; and vocal and tambourine accompaniment from his partner, Linda Saddleback. I dug his message and ageless energy, but he could benefit from a little variety of style.

[Willie Thrasher & Linda Saddleback. Note that this is the weather-afflicted relocation of the Elevation Amphitheater.]

Mr. Elevator and the Brain Hotel: I was immediately surprised that the centrally-located figure on stage, the bassist, did not have a mic and did not appear to be a frontperson per se. In fact, it was rather ambiguous who, if anyone, led the band. The two keyboardists on either side of the stage both contributed vocals, as did the drummer. Usually, all three sang together. I was pleasantly surprised at my own confusion as to what was happening on stage, and it was all the better in that the music was great. It was groovy and bright with a deep psych vibe.

[Mr. Elevator and the Brain Hotel.]

Ringo Deathstarr: I had missed them at SXSW, despite that I was rather excited by them. Their studio output sounds straight out of 1990, as if they were still right in the middle of the shoegaze phenomenon. Their sound might be a complete ripoff, but the recordings are just so good that I don't care. On stage, they come off like much less of a My Bloody Valentine soundalike, instead leaning in a heavier, harder direction. Unfortunately, in the absence of the thick psychedelia I was expecting, there wasn't much left. They were missing a lot of what I thought made them special, but they still played a fun set.

[Ringo Deathstarr.]

The Holydrug Couple: This late addition to the lineup turned out to be a most welcome bonus. Hailing from Chile, they play a classic psych sound that they have thoroughly mastered. They had great keyboard and guitar sounds and a great groove. The highlight was probably an instrumental featuring the lead vocalist on percussion effects and keyboard. I appreciated their careful integration of various effects into their total sound without letting them overwhelm the instruments and thus come off as gimmicks. They ended with a long, drawn out space jam.

[The Holydrug Couple. This is sadly the last picture I managed to capture!]

Holy Wave: I'd just seen them at SXSW, but enjoyed their droney, stoner groove enough to want to see them again. I like that their vibe is mellow but still full of movement. Their five members really blend in with each other well.

Indian Jewelry: I'm still not sure what to make of this band or their name, but I was encouraged enough by their recordings. Live, they were less ethereal and gauzy than I was expecting, and perhaps a little more dancey and effect-oriented. Instead of coming off like some kind of cousin to Cocteau Twins, they were something of a mess, lost somewhere between electronic dance music, trance, and spacey psychedelia. There was lots of fuzz bass and a dense web of effects. It was bizarre and hard to make sense of.

DIIV: I think I thought this was some sort of dreampop band, and while most of their songs were dreamy or hazy, only occasionally did a pop sensibility emerge. It was more some sort of spaced out rock, but their three guitarists didn't exactly make the most of their instruments and I was left waiting for the music to take me somewhere. After every song, they repeated some variant of the words, "Hello, we're DIIV from New York. This is a new song."

White Fence: Their basic sound might be somewhat derivatively based in 60s garage rock and classic psych, but I loved it all the same. They were a tight band and the music came together well. Several times, they broke free of their chains and let loose into long space jams.

Spiritualized: I've always admired the Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized, even if I've never followed them closely. My legs were strained and my eyes couldn't take the light show, so I had to sit down, but I could still hear them well. In addition to a full backing band, bandleader Jason Pierce also employed two backing vocalists to add harmonies. The set was very mellow, but very precise. Musically, it was warm and pleasant; it felt like a dream that I was being slowly guided through. It was never jarring or grating or ugly. It also seemed like every single song was about drugs, including the twisted turnaround of "She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit)". "Electricity" and the Spacemen 3 sendup "Walkin' with Jesus" were standouts. The setlist has been posted online:

01. Here It Comes (The Road) Let's Go

02. Lord Let It Rain on Me

03. Electricity

04. Shine a Light

05. Electric Mainline

06. She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit)

07. Soul on Fire

08. Oh Baby

09. Rated X

10. Walkin' with Jesus [Spacemen 3 song]

Tame Impala: I finally got to see them and I was not disappointed! They played most of their amazing Lonerism, a few tracks from Innerspeaker, two new songs to be released on Currents, and a few instrumental jams that have only been played live (and in some but not all cases, released on last year's Live Versions). The grooves were solid, the musicianship was tight and impressive, and they delivered everything I could've wanted. They switched things up on several songs, adding jam sections and extended instrumentals throughout, making it a constant pleasure to try to figure out where they were going next. This was also the live debut of "Eventually". They played for about 80 minutes, and while I would've loved an encore, they wrapped up around 1:45am and I think the festival was supposed to be winding down by then. Here's the setlist (with some help on the details from here and here):

01. Intro Jam

02. Let It Happen

03. Mind Mischief

04. Sestri Levante

05. It's Not Meant to Be

06. Why Won't They Talk to Me?

07. Elephant → Mind Melt → Jazz Prog Odyssey 3070

08. Be Above It

09. Alter Ego

10. Eventually

11. Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind?

12. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

13. Apocalypse Dreams

Final Thoughts: Sadly, the story does not end here. Last year, I had some trouble getting on the shuttle back downtown, but this time around was far worse. I'm still not clear on what really happened, but after I got in the line, two buses filled up, departed, and never returned. We were told they were stuck due to mud and traffic, but after the traffic cleared (along with the entire parking lot), they were still nowhere to be found. As taxis and Über rides started diminishing the remaining crowd, we became increasingly anxious as nothing really happened. At one point, a couple hired security staff members even openly mocked us for asking where the buses were. Around 4:30am I finally caught a ride in a taxi with a few other stranded attendees. This issue has been somewhat addressed on the festival website, the Facebook page for the shuttle, and personal email interchange, but it was rather upsetting. I finally got home around 5:30am. (Last year it was about 3:30am, which was bad enough.) Apparently, next year they will be using a different service, and in the meantime they've added extra shuttles.

Scores:

Hundred Visions: D

Willie Thrasher and Linda Saddleback: C+

Mr. Elevator and the Brain Hotel: A

Ringo Deathstarr: B-

The Holydrug Couple: A-

Holy Wave: B+

Indian Jewelry: C

DIIV: C-

White Fence: B+

Spiritualized: A-
Tame Impala: A+

P.S. Here's where the Elevation Amphitheater was originally supposed to be: