Scenestar

ARTICLE BY CHERYL CHENG
PHOTOS BY LESLIE KALOHI

AUG. 23-24 | SILVERLAKE—This past weekend in Silverlake was the 28th annual Sunset Junction Street Fair, which offered an impressive lineup of bands and paid tribute to the recently deceased Issac Hayes, who had been scheduled to perform. Though most festival-goers could be heard outside the gates complaining about the $20 entry fee, which was a donation when the fair first started, there was some validity to their complaints. In years’ past, the cheap cost helped attendees reason away the usual performance kinks, but with a higher fee, many were less forgiving. In fact, the two words that would best describe the music-going experience at the Bates Stage would be “sound problems.” Despite the faulty mics and amps, however, Broken Social Scene, Cold War Kids, The Black Keys and !!! managed to enthrall the crowd and create the community atmosphere that the fair originally intended.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: Touring in support of Brendan Canning’s Something for All of Us, this Canadian band was a definite Sunset Junction highlight, despite also being an act that had a lot of sound problems. The set started with a song written about California, “Pacific Theme,” and went on to touch on their respective albums, from You Forgot It In People (“Cause=Time”) to Broken Social Scene (“7/4 Shoreline” and “Fire Ey’d Boy”). Land of Talk’s Elizabeth Powell joined the band for female vocal duties, which were performed by Metric’s Emily Haines at the Orpheum last year. Haines has stronger vocals, but Powell’s weaker performance could also be blamed on the mics, which cut out at various times. After the frustration of the mics and then Kevin Drew’s guitar not being heard, the band nearly ended their set early. But they stuck it through, leading the crowd into a scream-along, which had everyone yelling as loud as they possibly could at the count of three. Yes, it was as cathartic as it sounds. To end the set, Drew promised just one more quick one, leading into the nine-minute-plus “It’s All Gonna Break,” which was a rousing and amusingly apt conclusion.

COLD WAR KIDS: Before the Long Beach locals even hit the stage, a surge of people were rushing to the Bates Stage. Before Broken Social Scene had even ended their set, shoves and pushes were underway. Cold War Kids have so-called made it, and they were the band to end the first night of the Junction. After building significant buzz from their last record, Robbers & Cowards, the band is touring in support of new full-length Loyalty to Loyalty, which offers hit single “Something is Not Right With Me.” Wisely, the band chose to save that one for the end. Cold War Kids traversed their catalog with a tight performance and without sound problems, yet seeing the band live wasn’t particularly compelling. But for those who had attended the fest only to see this band, everything was, in fact, right.

!!! (Chk Chk Chk): Brooklyn-based !!! (Chk Chk Chk)’s lead singer Nic Offer has the best dance moves. Rather, Nic is a great dancer with hilarious moves that only he could get away with. There’s the flat palms, move your arms side to side, keep your mouth open one. And then there’s the simple pelvic thrust. But fans tonight might have had a difficult time noticing, as they were too busy dancing themselves; some even crowd surfed. Though !!! had a few mic problems, with Nic’s vocals cutting in and out, the pure energy of the band got them through. During “Must Be the Moon,” Nic grabbed everyone’s attention when he climbed the scaffolding to show off some impressive pole-dance moves, eventually humping the metal. The overall set was the closest thing to an outdoor nightclub environment, sans disco ball. And most notable, !!! was able to get L.A. hipsters to dance.

THE BLACK KEYS: Blues-rock duo Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney ended the night and concluded the festival with a rocking 15-song performance that included a cover of Captain Beefheart’s “I’m Glad.” Upon hearing the band perform, it’s a marvel to hear such a rich, full sound from just two musicians on stage. The Akron, Ohio-based band included in tonight’s set three tracks from new album Attack & Release (“Same Old Thing,” “Strange Times,” “I Got Mine”), but also went as far back as first album The Big Come Up (“Busted”). Dan and Patrick kept conversation to a minimum, simply filling the street fair with their bluesy rock. At the end, Dan commented, “It’s kinda cool out here. This is a nice block party.” It was a perfect way to describe the Junction. The festival has its flaws and is becoming increasingly corporate, but for the time being, it is still an enjoyable East Los Angeles attraction.

For more Sunset Junction photos, check out The Scenestar photo galleries of Day 1 and Day 2.