Happy Halloween - Go Sharks

(I posted these two years ago, but they're still awesome)

Treasure Island Festival 2010, Sunday October 17th

The Mumlers open up the Tunnel Stage (the secondary stage)

Ra Ra Riot was fantastic, although their set was truncated due to the weather.

Papercuts

Jim Wilbur of Superchunk

Mac McCaughan and Jon Wurster of Superchunk

As thick as this crowd is, it's positively light compared to the Saturday crowd... could have been the weather.

Matt Ward of She & Him

Mrs. Ben Gibbard, aka Zooey Deschanel of She & Him

Ami Shalev of Israeli garage rock band Monotonix; this was my second time seeing them, and like they always do, they brought the show to the crowd. Literally.

Ami definitely puts on a show, built much more upon "stage" presence than musicianship.

Broken Social Scene played a solid set on the Bridge Stage.

Up-and-coming indie band Surfer Blood was a highlight of the night.

The National, contenders for Greatest-Band-in-the-World status.

Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave, performing as the second to last act of the evening.

Belle & Sebastian played their first San Francisco show in over 5 years; they played some new ones and old ones, including "Like Dylan in the Movies."

Treasure Island Festival 2010, Saturday October 16th

The Treasure Island Festival is an annual 2-day music marathon on (surprise!) Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. In its 4th year, the autumn festival boasts a bevy of electronic and indie rock artists on two stages, with performances being lockstep, unlike in most other festivals. I went the first year it was held (2007), but hadn't been back until last weekend. Here are some photos of Day One, i.e. the electronic / dance music day.

Parking Lot A outside of AT&T Park in San Francisco. Patrons of the festival are lined up for the free luxury bus shuttles to Treasure Island. Kudos to the festival organizers for being, um, organized.

Inside a standard Bauer's luxury bus shuttle

On the island, to the side of the entrance = Deadmau5 ("deadmouse") fans, wearing the DJ's signature costume piece.

The only thing I can think of to improve the festival is to have organized lines at the entrance... but this is the teacher in me.

Large array of booths at the festival

There was also a pretty cool ferris wheel

The views of The City were fantastic

I missed the three first bands / artists of the day, but got there to see the French band, Jamaica, play on the Tunnel Stage

The Bridge Stage, aka the main stage

South African hip hop group, Die Antwoord ("the answer")

Nic Offer of !!! (pronounced "chk chk chk")

Nic ventures into the crowd

Back at the Tunnel Stage, Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) performs

There's always been a pirate theme to the festival, hence these guys on stilts

Late afternoon view of San Francisco

This is a new one = the poem booth. I overheard someone scream "thirty dollars?!?" but didn't follow up on it.

View over the crowds and on to The City

A rare stateside (and daylight!) appearance by Austrian duo Kruder & Dorfmeister

Night falls over the festival, only enhancing the mood... but also bringing the temperature down considerably.

The height of the mercury was inversely proportional to the length of the coffee line = I had to wait 45 minutes.

Joel Thomas Zimmerman, aka Deadmau5 (that's him in the Mickey Mouse ears)

One of the two acts I was extremely excited about (as opposed to just regular excited) = Swedish group Miike Snow

Miike Snow was the highlight of the night for me. However, I really came to the festival to see one group = LCD Soundsystem. They were on next, so I had to leave Miike Snow prematurely to get a halfway decent spot.

This girl also wanted a good view of LCD Soundsystem. The man in blue had other ideas.

LCD Soundsystem was really great. It kills me that I had a ticket to see them at the Mezzanine in 2006 and sold it for about $20. Hey, when you're student teaching, $20 isn't peanuts. If only I could go back in time and kick my old self squarely in the nuts for being so shortsighted...

Day 2 photos will be posted later this week.

33 Reasons I Love Live Music

1. Openers. [One Thousand Pictures, opening for Mew and Kasabian @ The Independent, San Francisco, 10-13-06]

2. Enthusiasm. [Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave @ The Independent, SF, 10-12-07]

3. Unpredictability. [Iggy & The Stooges @ The Warfield, SF, 4-19-07]

4. Predictability. [The Shins @ The Warfield, SF, 4-16-07]

5. Experimentation. [The Dears @ The Independent, SF, 12-1-06; they're actually playing their instruments here, not tuning them]

6. Getting to say goodbye. [Kirk Rundstrom of Split Lip Rayfield @ The Attic, Santa Cruz, 11-15-06, three months before he passed away of terminal cancer]

7. Getting to say hello. [Rogue Wave with fans, Santa Cruz, 5-25-07]

8. Chicks. [The Pipettes @ Rickshaw Stop, SF, 6-12-07]

9. Venues. [Cafe du Nord / Swedish American Hall, SF]

10. False humility. [Kasabian @ The Independent, SF, 10-13-06]

11. Reinvention. [Damon Albarn of Blur / Gorillaz, performing with The Good, The Bad & The Queen @ Regency Ballroom, SF, 4-29-07]

12. Wizardry. [Angus Young of AC/DC @ HP Pavilion, 9-2-09]

13. Sexiness. [Liz Phair @ The Independent, SF, 10-10-10]

14. Wear and tear. [Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices @ The Warfield, SF, 10-5-10]

15. Catharsis. [Arcade Fire @ Greek Theatre, Berkeley, 10-3-10]

16. Costumes. [Patrick Wolf @ Slim's, SF, 6-8-09]

17. Stalking. [Richard Thompson backstage @ Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, 10-8-06]

18. Bragging rights. [Radiohead @ Greek Theatre, Berkeley, 6-24-06]

19. Bearing witness. [Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, playing with Flipper @ Cafe du Nord, 12-20-06]

20. Surreality. [The Flaming Lips @ Greek Theatre, Berkeley, 7-22-06]

21. Guitars. [J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr @ Slim's, SF, 5-15-07]

22. Friends. [My friend Jimi Bartlett of Day One Symphony, on the right, @ Blank Club, San Jose, 12-2-06]

23. Gimmicks. [Dark Hand & Lamplight @ Great American Music Hall, SF, 10-31-06]

24. The emotional. [Daniel Johnston @ Bimbo's, SF, 8-22-07]

25. The unconventional. [Beirut @ Great American Music Hall, SF, 10-20-06]

26. Legends [BB King @ Paramount Theatre, Oakland, 12-28-06]

27. Escapism. [Arctic Monkeys @ The Warfield, 5-31-06]

28. Vice. [Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs performing with The Twilight Singers @ Great American Music Hall, either 6-29-06 or 10-24-06]

29. Focus (and a temper). [Lee Renaldo playing with Sonic Youth @ The Fillmore, SF, 7-14-06]

30. Festivals. [Sasquatch Festival, Gorge Amphitheatre, George, WA, 5-27-06]

31. Proximity. [Love Is All @ Bottom of the Hill, SF, 11-20-08]

32. Maturation. [Wire @ The Fillmore, SF, 10-15-08]

33. Envy. [Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds @ The Warfield, SF, 9-19-08]