The tale of my meeting with Haim has come to a sad end. Last weekend was the weekend in Singapore when we were supposed to hang out, and we did not. I didn't even get so much as a text in response. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.
But let's not dwell on it. I went to my first music festival this weekend, too (the reason Haim was in Singapore in the first place). I have no idea how it took me so long, especially having grown up so close to Coachella, but it did. And I'll actually be getting 2 in 2 weeks. I have been to electronic music festivals in Beijing, but not so much because I wanted to, as they were there. Also they were generally in awesome locations (like an old battleship, an abandoned steel factory and the Great Wall of China) and lots of fun. So I can't really say I didn't want to go to those, but I have never been to a music festival where I went because I was actually excited about the lineup.
And this was quite a lineup. I was there to see CHVRCHES, Daughter, Haim, Jagwar Ma, Frightened Rabbit, James Blake, Savages, The Jezabels, Vance Joy and Youth Lagoon. And thanks to the wonderful layout, I saw all but Jagwar Ma. They had 3 stages, but 2 of them were each half of the main stage, which means while one band performed on half, they set up the other half, and so we only had to wait like 5 minutes between sets. Jagwar Ma was the only one playing at the other stage, and it was at the same time as Daughter, so it was a no brainer for me.
I'd say the biggest surprises last weekend were Savages and Youth Lagoon, both of which were much better than I expected. Jehnny Beth from Savages is pretty bad ass. And Youth Lagoon is pretty weird, but in a good way. He was wearing what seemed to be black plastic pants with more than enough space between the hems and his shoes so that you could see his hot pink socks. It was pretty great, though I'm sure he was sweating his ass off in the Singapore humidity. Also he closed with July, which I was hoping he'd play, and it was incredible. One of my favorite performances of the entire day, in what surprisingly turned out to be one of my favorite sets of the day.
We got right up to the front for Daughter, which would have been great except apparently Daughter is like the most popular band in Singapore and there was a lot of squishing and screaming, things I'm probably too old to enjoy, especially in that humidity. I don't think there was as much screaming for any other band. Every time Elena would go to the wings to talk to the sound people before her set, people would be screaming like mad. It got to the point where Jehnny Beth actually commented on it when she announced their last couple songs. Haim definitely wins for being the most entertaining, joking around and talking with the crowd the most, and at one point Alana actually jumped off the stage and crowd surfed for a couple of minutes. And Lauren Mayberry from CHVRCHES is adorable. Not at all what I expected her to be like. Also they may have been the only band to play all the songs I wanted to hear.
Top prize for the day definitely goes to James Blake, the day's headliner. Sadly the crowd did not seem to agree. It seems like a lot of people had no idea who he was and didn't seem to get it. I heard a lot of people complaining about him being the headliner, and about it being too slow. Fucking philistines.
I, however, loved it. At this point my friends had already left, so I was on my own, which was fine because I didn't particularly want to talk to anyone during his set anyway. It was too good. The guy sounds amazing live, he really has an incredible voice, which I think is easy to miss when you're listening to his albums. With all the synthy stuff it's easy to get distracted. And it was a great set. He opened with I Never Learnt to Share, which may be my favorite track off his first album.
He then proceeded to play pretty much all my other favorites off the first album throughout the set, including Unluck, Lindisfarne I/II, and Limit To Your Love. The only one missing was I Mind. Obviously there was plenty off of last year's album, Overgrown. I'd say the most crowd pleasing performance was probably Voyeur, which is actually one of my favorites off of Overgrown, because it was like the only upbeat song of the entire set. And towards the end he slotted in Retrograde, which I think is one of he best songs of 2013.
He closed out the night with Measurements, off of his first album, which was kind of perfect. His band left the stage and he was on his own, and asked the audience to be quiet so he could loop the vocals. He wasn't too direct about asking us to quiet down though, so it took a bit of shushing from the audience, but in the end it managed to work.
All in all, it was an awesome day. I was there for like 12 hours, on my feet most of the time, and was extremely sore and somewhat sunburned at the end, but I can't wait to do it again. And I don't have to wait long. I'll be at the same festival next week in Melbourne during my Chinese New Year vacation. The lineup is mostly the same, but with a lot more. Sadly James Blake won't be there, but there are two bands I'm very excited about that weren't at Laneway last weekend that will be there next: Four Tet and Warpaint. This time around I also have a few choices to make. I'm torn between CHVRCHES and Daughter, who play at the same time. And the worst thing ever is that the two bands that did not play this last week that are playing next week that I really want to see are both at the same time. Though I'm pretty sure I'm leaning towards Warpaint, because Warpaint.
But let's not dwell on it. I went to my first music festival this weekend, too (the reason Haim was in Singapore in the first place). I have no idea how it took me so long, especially having grown up so close to Coachella, but it did. And I'll actually be getting 2 in 2 weeks. I have been to electronic music festivals in Beijing, but not so much because I wanted to, as they were there. Also they were generally in awesome locations (like an old battleship, an abandoned steel factory and the Great Wall of China) and lots of fun. So I can't really say I didn't want to go to those, but I have never been to a music festival where I went because I was actually excited about the lineup.
And this was quite a lineup. I was there to see CHVRCHES, Daughter, Haim, Jagwar Ma, Frightened Rabbit, James Blake, Savages, The Jezabels, Vance Joy and Youth Lagoon. And thanks to the wonderful layout, I saw all but Jagwar Ma. They had 3 stages, but 2 of them were each half of the main stage, which means while one band performed on half, they set up the other half, and so we only had to wait like 5 minutes between sets. Jagwar Ma was the only one playing at the other stage, and it was at the same time as Daughter, so it was a no brainer for me.
I'd say the biggest surprises last weekend were Savages and Youth Lagoon, both of which were much better than I expected. Jehnny Beth from Savages is pretty bad ass. And Youth Lagoon is pretty weird, but in a good way. He was wearing what seemed to be black plastic pants with more than enough space between the hems and his shoes so that you could see his hot pink socks. It was pretty great, though I'm sure he was sweating his ass off in the Singapore humidity. Also he closed with July, which I was hoping he'd play, and it was incredible. One of my favorite performances of the entire day, in what surprisingly turned out to be one of my favorite sets of the day.
We got right up to the front for Daughter, which would have been great except apparently Daughter is like the most popular band in Singapore and there was a lot of squishing and screaming, things I'm probably too old to enjoy, especially in that humidity. I don't think there was as much screaming for any other band. Every time Elena would go to the wings to talk to the sound people before her set, people would be screaming like mad. It got to the point where Jehnny Beth actually commented on it when she announced their last couple songs. Haim definitely wins for being the most entertaining, joking around and talking with the crowd the most, and at one point Alana actually jumped off the stage and crowd surfed for a couple of minutes. And Lauren Mayberry from CHVRCHES is adorable. Not at all what I expected her to be like. Also they may have been the only band to play all the songs I wanted to hear.
Top prize for the day definitely goes to James Blake, the day's headliner. Sadly the crowd did not seem to agree. It seems like a lot of people had no idea who he was and didn't seem to get it. I heard a lot of people complaining about him being the headliner, and about it being too slow. Fucking philistines.
I, however, loved it. At this point my friends had already left, so I was on my own, which was fine because I didn't particularly want to talk to anyone during his set anyway. It was too good. The guy sounds amazing live, he really has an incredible voice, which I think is easy to miss when you're listening to his albums. With all the synthy stuff it's easy to get distracted. And it was a great set. He opened with I Never Learnt to Share, which may be my favorite track off his first album.
He then proceeded to play pretty much all my other favorites off the first album throughout the set, including Unluck, Lindisfarne I/II, and Limit To Your Love. The only one missing was I Mind. Obviously there was plenty off of last year's album, Overgrown. I'd say the most crowd pleasing performance was probably Voyeur, which is actually one of my favorites off of Overgrown, because it was like the only upbeat song of the entire set. And towards the end he slotted in Retrograde, which I think is one of he best songs of 2013.
He closed out the night with Measurements, off of his first album, which was kind of perfect. His band left the stage and he was on his own, and asked the audience to be quiet so he could loop the vocals. He wasn't too direct about asking us to quiet down though, so it took a bit of shushing from the audience, but in the end it managed to work.
All in all, it was an awesome day. I was there for like 12 hours, on my feet most of the time, and was extremely sore and somewhat sunburned at the end, but I can't wait to do it again. And I don't have to wait long. I'll be at the same festival next week in Melbourne during my Chinese New Year vacation. The lineup is mostly the same, but with a lot more. Sadly James Blake won't be there, but there are two bands I'm very excited about that weren't at Laneway last weekend that will be there next: Four Tet and Warpaint. This time around I also have a few choices to make. I'm torn between CHVRCHES and Daughter, who play at the same time. And the worst thing ever is that the two bands that did not play this last week that are playing next week that I really want to see are both at the same time. Though I'm pretty sure I'm leaning towards Warpaint, because Warpaint.
Wear sunscreen.
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