A$AP Rocky – Saturday, 8:45 p.m., Blue Stage
I admit, I was just going to catch “Goldie” and get out of there, but Rocky’s mic was messed up, the sound was way off, and the set—and “Goldie”—was kind of a miss. Stuff happens.
Reality Check – Time To Fast Forward Again
There were approximately 300 bands at FFF, which is approximately 295 too many to highlight. But I will add that Araabmuzik was far better live than his records; Titus Andronicus wasn’t nearly as good live as their records; and The Sword ruled (if you’re into that sort of thing). OK, back to it:
Rakim Bosnian Rainbows – Sunday, 6:10 p.m., Blue Stage
If you’re into old-school hip hop, FFF Fest was the place to be: RUN DMC, De La Soul, and Rakim were all here. Well, were all supposed to be here. As we headed over to the Blue Stage to catch Rakim, I was psyched, even if he was without his old DJ, Eric B.
But when we got to the stage, some super creepy weird chick was screeching and convulsing around the stage. I was actually a little scared. I’d never witnessed an exorcism before, but it seemed clear that was what we were watching. Oh, and where the hell is Rakim!
Turns out, Rakim cancelled. I don’t know why. And in his place was this terrifying crazy lady.
But then, the guitarist started playing. And he was amazing. I asked somebody who it was. Answer: Omar Rodríguez-López!
Turns out that Omar’s van or bus or whatever broke down on his way to FFF, so he had missed his Friday afternoon show. So when Rakim cancelled, Omar filled the slot with his latest Mars Volta side project, Bosnian Rainbows. I was going to get to hear the 11th best guitarist in history after all.
And then, a funny thing happened: the weird creepy lady became less creepy—not less weird, but less creepy—and increasingly hot. She was doing all these yoga / athletic moves around the stage, she had a great voice, and the caveman / witch / gymnast thing she had going on became mesmerizing. And I think I now might have a crush on Teri Gender Bender, lead singer of a “Mexican garage punk band,” Le Butcherettes.
This is definitely the weirdest crush of my life. Especially since she still is mostly terrifying. Let’s move on.
Explosions In The Sky – Sunday, 7:55 p.m., Orange Stage
For any scenesters keeping score, I suppose that Explosions stopped being a band that you could brag about seeing three or four years ago. But nobody at this show cared about any of that. Explosions In The Sky is from Austin, and this was a mutual embrace, band and crowd: there was no “We’re too cool to be playing this little festival” attitude from the band, and there was no “We’re too cool to act like we care” vibe from the crowd.
Explosions was genuinely excited to be playing FFF, and at one point, one of the band members leaned into the mic and said, “We love you, Austin. We are you, Austin.” You probably had to be there, but it was a really nice moment.