Fletch and I started out the day with Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. I've seen this tight group twice this year at the Someday Lounge and then Holocene; both venues filled with the large sound of Thao's lead guitar strumming, beat boxing, and entertaining antics. Unfortunately, her sound was lost upon the lawn in the outdoor indie stage and her vocals screeched out in an abnormal scratchy cry for throat coat. I hope her voice was racked from previous performances and not indicative a new style. The good news for us was the announcement of a private showing of !!! later that day for which we snagged tickets. 
!!! was fanfunktastic. In a room of approximately 150 people and the backdrop of a small but cozy stage, the members of !!! danced around somewhat awkwardly in that "yeah, I know I'm a dork, but that's hip" fashion. They combined electronic, guitar, multiple drummers, and both male and female vocals (the chick of chk (!) has a phenomenal voice) for a huge cohesive/balanced sound and lots of visual stimulation. They played mainly new songs leaving the hits for the night time performance, but as the lead male vocalist pointed out, most of the people in our audience would be watching Beck at the !!! main performance time slot.
Next off to the main stage to wait for Band of Horses (BOH). Twenty rows back, I sat in the middle of the crowd with
my monster burrito and waited out the encroaching darkness. A perfect soundtrack for a richly colo
red sunset. The swooning sounds of BOH melted the night, as the lead singer (Bridwell) continually said whooo! with gusto. After a few songs, Bridwell made an announcement that his friend had a special question to ask his girlfriend, whereby a guy a couple rows in front of me got down on his knee and proposed. With the following acceptance, BOH played marry song as the happy couple embraced in a slow dance. Pretty fucking sweet, don't you think? The mood changed a few songs later when the drummer got up and broke a beer bottle over the head of one of the guitarists and proceeded to flip him off. This seemed strange until that guitarist broke a bottle over the basists' head. This stunt continued until everyone in the band had been properly flogged, at which point Bidwell took a piece of broken bottle, put it in his mouth, and proclaimed: schnozberries taste like schnozberries! I was a little put off by the stunts, but overall the concert was enjoyable. The addition of Armone really rounds out their sound allowing for more organ forward and funk laced new tracks, but maintaing sweet country musings.
Next, Beck. Wow. Beck. He played the usual tracks, opened with Loser and then turned to some new tracks of which
I'm less familiar. I was starting to get a little bored until he came out with a rendition of Bob Dylan's Leapord Print Pill box = fantastic, Guero, and Nicotine and Gravy (yum.) The band put down their instruments and huddled up front with some drum machine like boxes. I have no idea what these things were, but a beat based version of Hell Yes and Black Tambouring were fun and mixed up the alternative groove. The band took it down a notch with some Sea Change while a camera projected onto the stage background light backdrop providing a pixelated image of Beck's face and guitar. The camera then turned on the crowd with the Chemtrails lyrics "so many people, so many people, where do they go?", good work, good times. What an experience. He wrapped it a
ll up with a bow and two turn tables and a microphone. It amazes me how diverse his tracks can feel, when the underlying chords, progressions and instruments are so similar. He's an alternative rock mainstay and a genius from 20 rows back.
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