Day 1 of Fucking Awesome Fest wasn't very thrilling, and never really drew large numbers of people.
The Majestic Theater for the most part was holding DJ sets that night. The crowd never got much past 50 people during these sets, and they didn't move around too much. Flashclash probably drew the most people out to the theater, about 200 or so. I guess neon tape is really their thing. They had it all over their equipment, on about 100 of their fans, and all over the floor of the theater (which I'm sure theater management is grateful for).
In Flashclash I heard some of the same elements that I hear in Yeasayer, but I just wasn't impressed. It seemed like their whole set is synchronized with their video projection, and backing tracks. In fact, most of what I heard seemed to be backing tracks, and it was hard to discern what they were actually doing live.
Over at the Magic Stick, God Is An Astronaut drew a loyal crowd of about 100 people or so. After waiting about half an hour for their Macbook to reboot (or whatever the hell the hold-up centered around their laptop was), they launched into their set. Their music is very atmospheric and instrumental, and would often up build up to powerful rocking riffs.
(Did anyone stick around to see Iceage?)
Well, tomorrow has a fuller itinerary, and I'll try not to be such a cranky old man.
Pewterclub and Pink Lightning are two local bands I keep hearing about, but never got around to seeing, so I'll be sure to catch them. I like what I hear so far from The Ettes, so I'll try to catch them too. Other than that, I'll just be wandering around, trying to sample as much as I can.
Mixtapes for Thursday's bands:
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I'm a dork, I live in the Detroit area, and sometimes I take blurry photos on an outdated camera
