Pemberton Music Festival: July 16-19, 2015
Without further adieu here are my runner-up and top spot for best musical performances at Pemby:
2) Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta
The first name I read when the lineup was announced and the only name that I needed to read to know that I was attending Pemberton 2015. Kendrick Lamar was the final performer of the weekend (the same slot OutKast had last year) and the anticipation could not have been greater. Every show that I had seen so far built up to this epic climax of live music at its finest. With Molly Kermit leading the way, the whole crew moved through the masses to stake out a good spot, right side as always.
After last year's somewhat disappointing set (disappointing because he came out almost one hour late, only somewhat because he still put on a helluva show and brought out ScHoolboy Q for "Collard Greens") he owed us a true headlining set. And he delivered. From the opening beat of "Money Trees" he had the undivided attention of the entire crowd. "It was absolute command over tens of thousands of people" as my long-time friend Trevor put it in his excellent blog, The Trevorium, titled Dust Bowl Chic (Day 4). This is an excellent first person account of the entire festival and I highly recommend that you check it out (https://trevorium.wordpress.com/2015/08/01/dust-bowl-chic-day-4/).
The first half of the set featured mostly good kid, m.A.A.d. city classics such as a raucous version of "Backseat Freestyle", "Swimming Pools (Drank)", and "Poetic Justice." He also did a cover of A$AP Rocky's "Fuckin' Problems" and snippets from 2Pac and Kanye West. This first half of the set closed with "m.A.A.d. city (Part 1)" where he brought up a fan that was going absolutely crazy to come on stage and claim the prize of his shoes. The dude rose to the moment and rocked out hard, moving like a mad man all over the stage. I couldn't even begin to imagine what that would have been like, looking out at the thousands in the crowd as they cheer you on.
One reason why I absolutely love Lamar's performances is that he treats each song as an individual moment, closer to that of a rock band versus the typical hip-hop show where a verse or two are rapped before the song ends and a new one quickly begins. This method was best exemplified throughout the second half of the show. He started by taking things down a notch, performing all seven minutes of the emotional tour de force "Sing About Me"; the crowd clinging to his every word and singing along too. This was followed by the first song from his brilliant new album, To Pimp A Butterfly, "i" (also the first single released from it). With a full live band rocking hard this song was a highlight, with the high-energy performance echoing his legendary SNL outing (see below). Up next was the Cali classic "The Recipe" that was a five minute love in for the place of "women, weed, and weather." When I first saw Kendrick in 2012 he only teased 2 verses of "The Recipe" so it was awesome to get to hear the full song.
After bringing out his buddy from Compton, YG Hootie, for one of his songs Kendrick launched into the next TPAB track, "King Kunta." A candidate for my song of the year this is the one I was waiting for and Kendrick delivered with a home run. The funky backbeat sounded even better live as Lamar duck walked across the stage and by the end the funk was within us all. The final new song was "Alright", another highlight and the best visuals of the show that channeled the masterpiece black and white music video for it. All three of these new tracks were amazing, though I would have liked at least 1 or 2 more from TPAB, which would've launched Kendrick into the top spot. To close the set Lamar dug back to his first album, Section.80, for "A.D.H.D." and the whole crowd sang along about "eight doobies to the face." This is another reason why Kendrick Lamar is such a thrilling performer: he enunciates every single word he raps, allowing the audience to hear, and more importantly, understand exactly what he is saying. After a powerful freestyle he returned for an encore of "Compton" the horn-heavy ode to his hometown. But for this particular night Pemberton was his home and he owned it.
1) Father John Misty - The Ideal Husband
One of my only regrets from Pemby 2015 was that I didn't try to convince any of my friends to come and see Father John Misty. They were all set on seeing some dude named Post Malone and to find some refuge from the blazing midday sun at the dance tent. But how could I truly do my best persuading without knowing what he was like live? All I knew was that his 2012 debut album (as Father John Misty), Fear Fun, was excellent and that his follow-up, this year's I Love You, Honeybear was even better. I also knew that his musical style is incredibly difficult to describe and pinpoint. His songs range from acoustic folk to piano-led ballads to rock-out-with-your-cock-out to hip-hop and electronic influenced tracks. It seemed like a daunting task and once I realized that one other couple in our group was planning to attend I decided to just go with them and leave the rest behind.
We arrived just as Father John Misty was launching into opener "I Love You, Honeybear". With the crowd relatively sparse still we easily moved up quite close and just within the shade of the stage. Clutch. Right away I was feeling good about my decision as FJM (real name J. Tillman and fun fact: original drummer of Fleet Foxes) strutted around the stage with a charm and charisma that I have rarely seen before. It all started with his look; his beard: burly, grizzled, and manly. His hair: long, flowing, and sexy. And his outfit, a full black suit with white shirt (see pic below) that, after pointing out how different he looked to everyone in the crowd, he described that he's "skied down piles of money in this outfit. And then I go fuck on a pile of beef jerky! And then afterwards I buy these hills up and this suit and turn it all into a Chipotle. It's from my new masters of industry line" (see video below). Confusing? somewhat. Hilarious? most definitely. This between song banter continued throughout the show and only got more funny and more ridiculous.
This chatter was followed by early set standout "True Affection", a ballad with shimmering keyboards and a hip-hop backbeat in which Tillman's voice floats effortlessly above it all. Up next came "Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)" with it's quirky lyrics about how "a queen would have ostrich and cobra wine" and mariachi horns. By now the crowd was really digging Misty and when I looked back it was clear that word had spread as a throng of revelers had taken up all the space available at the second biggest Mount Currie stage. A few tunes later my second favourite track from I Love You, Honeybear, "Strange Encounter", really brought out the showman in Tillman. He moved all around the stage and made stops on top of the bass drum, to the far right for a perfectly timed moment in front of the video camera, and then into the crowd. This movement can be much better described as "gyrating lunacy" (once again stole this from the Trevorium Blog, https://trevorium.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/dust-bowl-chic-day-3-pt-1/) as Misty blazed a trail that his mic cord was barely able to keep up with (I felt for the poor stage lady that kept having to come out to untangle it to seemingly no avail). "I'm Writing A Novel" kept things going with its bop along guitar and chord progressions that evoke The Beatles' "Paperback Writer." Another highlight in a set that was jam packed with them.
As good as the first three quarters of his set were what came next was quite possibly the most entertaining three songs to close out a set that I have ever witnessed. It began with "Bored In The USA", a stand-out track from his latest album. The slow, piano-led ballad showcased Tillman's powerful singing voice and brought the crowd in to join him during the emotional chorus. Misty was up front and personal with the crowd, leaning over the gate and belting out "bored in the USA" when, out of nowhere and in a complete deadpan speaking voice he said "give me that." "That" was a long pole with the poop emoji on top and he was quickly granted his wish. So there was Misty in his black and white suit waving a poop stick while singing a harsh critique of middle-class American life. It truly was a sight to behold! Next came "Nothing Good Ever Happens At The Goddamn Thirsty Crow" and, besides being an amazing song title, it boasts one of his most hilarious lyrics as his baby "gets down more often than a blow up doll." And of course Tillman was up to his same tricks on stage, posing on his side like a bikini model (see pic below) and off stage as this time he grabbed a crowd member's phone and sang a good minute of the song into it, stopping once to say "Hello, YouTube" before returning it to its delighted owner (well as long as they had pressed record. Side note: I checked YouTube and found no such video...).
Finally came the final number, my chosen song "The Ideal Husband." The hardest rocking song in his catalog made for the perfect closer as the crashing drums, pounding keyboards and howling sirens blared away while the crowd began to really move. Misty stormed about the stage with wreckless abandon like a man possessed; it truly amazed me that he could top his antics from earlier and that he had this seemingly endless energy. By this point his cord wrangler simply could not keep up with him. Near the end of the song Tillman went to run one way but the mic pulled him the other way and he almost clothes-lined himself. Undeterred he kept going and just went the way of the cord, over behind the keyboards. For the grand finale he came charging back out to centre stage and, this time, was not taken back by the cord and instead took down both keyboards in a bombastic fury. The timing could not have been more on point as the song ended seconds later, Tillman waved goodbye to the crowd and left the stage. What an ending! For some reason that I've never understood a large number of people were calling for an encore. What on earth could he possibly play to top that, let alone the fact that he would be without at least one keyboard. I understand this desire for more songs and that it is a show of appreciation but the band left it all out there on the stage and did not need to play another note.
I then turned to my two friends and saw the look of sheer amazement on their faces, likely the same look that I was sporting. We all quickly agreed that that was the best show we had seen so far and that it would be very difficult to top. Clearly we were right as Father John Misty claimed the coveted prize of the EpiclyUnreal best performance at Pemberton Music Festival 2015. After reuniting with the rest of the crew and Molly Kermit at the mist tent we were still on such a high while the rest of them were in full chillout mode and said that Post Malone sucked. I tried not to brag but couldn't help it as I excitedly told a few friends all about what they'd missed. But my words then did not do it justice nor do my words now. So I would simply say that you must go see Father John Misty live the next time he's in town. I know I'll be there.
Honourable Mentions:
Banks put on a great set late Friday night at the dance tent. Her voice is even more powerful live than it is on record and her set was rad. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros were quite good and very tight as a live act. It was really cool to see Ed conduct the entire band in what seemed like quite a freestyle jam of "Up From Below." The Alex Ebert solo track "Truth" was another highlight. However, Edward and Jade recently broke up and she left the band meaning that their best song "Home" was missing her key part and the overall good vibes. Finally BADBADNOTGOOD were really cool and definitely the best pure musicians that I saw all weekend. The drummer reminded me of the dude from Whiplash and they played a sick cover of Flying Lotus' "Putty Boy Strut."
Disappointments:
Earl Sweatshirt was very bland, suffered from too early of a set time, and looked lost on the large main stage. It didn't help that it was insanely hot at this time and we hid for most of it in the shade of the beer garden. But when we finally mustered up the energy to go up close he wasn't even rapping anymore and was doing this stupid skit/DJ thing/I don't know what the fuck with his DJ and hype guy. The only saving grace was the completely out of place Florida Panthers jersey the DJ was wearing which gave me a good laugh. De La Soul were one of my top 5 acts that I was most excited to see. Therefore I was quite disappointed when they came on a half hour late and played virtually nothing from their first incredible album. It has always bothered me that these guys felt that their first album, 3 Feet High And Rising, was too soft or lovey dovey or whatever and they had to get all hard and angry to prove that they were real rappers or whatever. Their sound was so fresh in an era of hardcore gangsta rap; I really feel that they could've gone onto much bigger and better things had they stayed that course. With that being said they still had great energy and performed well. Plus they closed with the Gorillaz mega-hit "Feel Good Inc." that they guest on which saved the show somewhat.
So another successful Pemby in the books. Molly Kermit has been placed safely in his resting place, patiently awaiting his triumphant return. It will likely be at Pemberton again next year though Sasquatch simply cannot be forgotten, especially when the majority of my crew has never seen the breathtakingly beautiful Gorge.
