September 5th, 2009 Los Angeles, CA was graced with FYF Fest or more colorfully refered to as Fuck Yeah Fest Fest, and it was just that. This year was the festival's fifth run and its first attempt at turning a three-day festival into a one-day three staged outdoor fest. This year the festival was dedicated to saving California's State Parks, which face almost complete closures due to the Golden State's enormous budget deficit. At 20 dollars a ticket into No-Fi Heaven; its a pretty sweet deal. Groups of note included: the Black Lips, No Age, Wavves, Dan Deacon, Times New Viking, Tim and Eric, the Thermals, Fucked Up, Mika Miko, Japanther and others.
To be honest, I was really disappointed with No Age live. The problem with no-fi live is that its near impossible to replicate the amount of production and layering that goes into their albums. That being said they played mostly off their newest album, Nouns. I've seen them earlier this summer at the Hollywood Palladium to similar disappointment and was really hoping the festival atmosphere would be enough to really bring out their live act. FYF was no different. Best example: No Age ended their set with Eraser (their biggest single), which at face value sounds awesome but not when it was performed solo by drummer Dean Spunt playing over a recording of his bandmate who had just left the stage earlier. For a band that tries to play the whole post-punk, "We're from the Smell" they sure do a lot of complaining (most notably about the lack of vegan options while on tour in Japan). Don't get me wrong they produce good stuff, I'm just reeling from a strong dose of reality.
No Age - Eraser (YSI)
The Black Lips on the other hand, killed it. They're known for their live shows and
I can see why. Their stage antics have gotten them kicked out of venues around the world, including one case where they had to flee India to avoid arrest after having too much nudity on Indian national television. FYF was no different. The show was highlighted by rhythm guitarist Cole Alexander making-out with fellow band mates then proceeding to vomit throughout the show only to cover it up with cardboard and finish singing the chorus. The band played mostly from their most recent album, 200 Million Thousand but hit all the needed highlights from their older albums.
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