By Gene Wagendorf III
 |
| Chelsea NoPants| Photo Credit: Gene Wagendorf III |
Day Two of
Riot Fest was loaded with sets by legends: UK ska icons The Selecter, LA punks X and hip-hop pioneers Public Enemy. Not your thing? Well, aren't you a picky bastard. Luckily the promoters had you covered, inviting the circus sideshow troupe
Hellzapoppin to set up shop and freak out festival goers. A mix of gravity-defying stunt work, sword swallowing and straight luncay (glass eating, human dartboards and a man snorting popcorn kernels and shooting them out of his eyes), Hellzapoppin had the crowd buzzing cringing all weekend. After all the glass had been washed down with Windex (for real), there were plenty more great bands to catch...
Dinosaur Jr.
 |
| J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr |
...Plenty more great bands, some of whom dropped really disappointing sets. I've seen
Dinosaur Jr four or five times before- everywhere from Subterranean to Lollapalooza- and this was easily the most uninspired of those performances. Part of it was the muddied sound, which crippled J Mascis' voice and took the edge off his guitar, and part of it was the band's seemingly disinterested demeanor. Most of the set suffered from a fuzzy directionlessness, including hit single "Out There," a song that normally sways with desperate energy. Saturday it came off as bland and whiny, despite a couple laser-hot guitar licks. The group finally woke up when covering Deep Wound, a hardcore punk band that Mascis and guitarist Lou Barlow played in before forming Dinosaur. The song was all buzzsaw and raw energy, and in an ideal world would've been the first in a series of Deep Wound tunes. Their closing cover of "Just Like Heaven" had them ending on a high-note; its gurgling bass got people moving as they sang along. Even there though, the lead guitars felt buried in the mix, leaving me wanting more just as much as wanting something else all together.
Blondie
I once drunkenly uttered the words "
Blondie did more for fashion than they ever did for rock." I know, I know, I'm a fucking moron, and Debbie Harry had a whole hour at Riot Fest to rub it in. The singer's voice sounded perfect romping through "One Way or Another," steeped in her trademark combination of playfulness, seductiveness and edge. "Hanging on the Telephone," a Nerves cover off 1978's
Parallel Lines, found Harry's vocals dripping with sass against her band's magnetic bop. Blondie even found a way to jazz up what I've always considered one of their most boring songs, tacking on a snippet of "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" onto the end of "Rapture." The strutting crunch they attacked the Beastie Boys song with came off very Joan Jett, which is to say it kicked complete ass. Aside from that little surprise the group threw down pretty straightforward renditions of their songs; tightly polished but never mechanical.
Blondie ended their performance with a couple more massive hits; the disco carousel of "Heart of Glass" and high octane fist-pumper "Call Me." The former found Harry accenting the glee by nailing every
ooh-ooh and
ah-ah. Saving her best vocal performance for last, the singer snaked between a cooing sing-song and boisterous salvo. Pushed by charging guitars and serpentine keys, Harry sounded as invigorated onstage as on any Blondie record. The crowd was left in a euphoric tizzy, and I was left with my foot crammed way down my throat.
Posts
