Indie rock is not for the weak. While Chicago welcomed Pitchfork for a mere 3 days, this past weekend was a 4 day marathon of free, outdoors shows, just in time for a heat wave. Ted Leo, the Fiery Furnaces, and Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow all played on Thursday night, with Deerhoof the next day, and the Liars, Fuck Buttons, and Team Robespierre rocking out in the sweltering Sunday heat. But the crown jewel of the weekend was Saturday’s Siren Fest, the annual migration of hipsters from Wililamsburg and outside of the city to Coney Island.
There is an annual tradition of complaining about how this year’s lineup sucks, and goddamn the Village Voice for not exhuming the Beatles and letting us see them for free. Usually, this looks somewhat foolish by the end of the night, as most people who go have a good time, especially considering they get to eat from the original Nathan’s. This year was different, though. Headliners Broken Social Scene delivered the goods, even bringing up some random girl they had met an hour before to be a substitute Feist. They were outdone, however, by Brooklyn’s own Parts and Labor. Maybe because they sounded better because they played at 2, before anyone was drenched with sweat, but Parts and Labor played a spazzy, but accessible, raucous set that impressed everyone around me (”that was fucking ace!”) (”who are these guys?”). Unfortunately, they were followed by the Dodos, who were really, really boring.
The Parts and Labor/Dodos dichotomy exposed the key to throwing summer concerts. If it’s going to be during the day, it has to be loud, and people can’t just stand still the whole time (this was proven by the great Liars/Team Robespierre show the following day). If you’re going to be watching music, and it’s 95 degrees outside, you don’t want to just stand there, wondering if you’re about to melt. If the concert were indoors, or if it was a little cooler, the Dodos may have very well stolen the show. But given the heat, it was a lot more fun to grab a hot dog and beer and wait for Times New Viking.
It would appear as if Times New Viking would be the perfect remedy for the Dodos folkish stylings. While they weren’t bad, they fell victim to Siren’s notoriously bad sound system. They were just too loud for Siren, and it was hard to really stay into the show the whole time. But when the sound system accomodated them, they were pretty great. Harkening back to bands like the Dead Boys, they were punishing - but in a way that was a hell of a lot better than feeling like you were baking. And, best of all, afterwards, it was a good excuse to get more beer and switch to the second stage.
Over at the second stage, it was time for the New York debut of Jaguar Love. They weren’t ready to come out yet. They’re actually a trio of former members of the Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves, but they sounded more like a really bad Rage Against the Machne ripoff. After a few songs, I cut my losses, and headed to the beach. Seeing how this is far too long already, and you don’t need to hear more about Stephen Malkmus or Broken Social Scene, I’ll cut my losses here too. After all, pretty much anything beats roasting in the heat without good music to listen to. Maybe next year, they won’t book Siren the same weekend as Pitchfork.
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