All photos courtesy of Daniel Jackson.
The 9th Annual Fun Fun Fun Fest kicked off on a cool and sunny Friday afternoon in Austin, Texas last week. The fest, which is held at Auditorium Shores each year, featured dozens of bands and comedy acts that performed at various stages laid across the beautiful park located right on Lady Bird Lake.
My afternoon commenced at the Blue stage with alternative R&B artist Solana Rowe, better known as Sza. The bouncy and vibrant St. Louis native moved across the stage in comfortable black leggings, a cropped top and a colorful kimono. She was approachable yet sexy with her natural hair and broad smile as she sang chillwave-inspired R&B tracks like “Ur” and “Hiiijack.” She moved on to the playful rap parts of “Child’s Play,” from her third extended play Z, released earlier this year on Top Dawg Records. The 25 year-old was energetic and fun, as she giggled into the mic “tomorrow is my birthday,” which was met with warm sentiment from the audience. To close out the set she asked the crowd to sing along to the popular “Babylon,” then exclaimed how happy she was to be in Austin and bounded off the stage.
Just over an hour later, on the same stage, came one of this year’s most exciting and talked about acts, Run the Jewels. Comprised of producer/rapper El-P and Killer Mike, this hyped up duo immediately owned the stage. After walking out to Queen’s “We Are the Champions” Killer Mike shouted “it is our sincere desire to burn this motherfucking stage down” initiating a giant roar from festival goers as he and El-P jumped right into the lead track on their first self-titled studio album. El-P turned it up to 11 telling the audience to get their fists and thumbs in the air creating the unmistakable gun position we have come to associate with the twosome as they spat new tracks off their sophomore album which was released in October. Across the park Mark Kozelek a.k.a. Sun Kil Moon was angrily singing his War on Drugs diss track while El-P told the crowd about a run in he had with Kozelek backstage. The longtime hip hop producer seemed entertained at the feud between to the two bands, explaining how it’s typically “shit rappers do” and at some point told Kozelek to suck his dick. El-P quickly got the entire Run The Jewels mob on board to follow his lead and held a countdown that ended with one big “SUCK MY DICK SUN KIL MOON!” yelled in unison.
El-P continued engaging the eager crowd with equal parts silly and inspiring advice on how to succeed in life. Citing hard work as the first step, the rapper went on to instruct the audience “instead of paying your rent and instead of paying for toilet paper go out and buy a 36-inch chain so you tell your boss to suck it.” The punchy beat and sonic beeps from “36” Chain” drowned out the crowd’s cheering as the two rappers murdered the third track on their debut Run the Jewels album from last year. The stage may not have burned to the ground, but the Atlanta-meets-New York rap pair made sure every single person walked away from their set feeling like they were wearing a gold chain around their neck.
From the Blue stage, I headed over to the Orange stage where Sun Kil Moon had just finished up “Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes.” The pot-bellied indie star wore denim on denim and kept one hand in his pocket and the other on the mic as he sauntered back and forth across the stage and looked out into the crowd. Thankfully, there were no loud “fucking hillbillies” to interrupt and he finished out his set without insulting any of his audience.
Later, I was taken back to my early college years where it seemed an entire crowd of the Blood Brothers fans traveled through time and gathered at the Black stage Friday evening. The Seattle-born sound of Johnny Whitney and Jordan Billie has not been replicated since their incredibly unique, post-hardcore gem …Burn, Piano Island, Burn in 2003. The lack of formidable comparisons in over 10 years, coupled with the fervor and intensity with which they played the album’s title track “Ambulance vs. Ambulance” amplified the feeling of going back in time. The duo’s high-pitched wails carried far across the park and caused every eardrum in attendance to violently throb. The crowd joined in and sang the “love, love, love” chorus in “Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck” when the Blood Brothers moved the set through their dancier 2004 release, Crimes. During the title track the rhetorical “is anybody listenin’?” sung by Billie drifted and floated in the air pensively, but was abruptly punctured by the sharpness of Whitney’s severe and haunting shrills as the sun set across the fest grounds.
The nighttime skyline of downtown Austin was a perfect backdrop to the giant, elephant trunk-nose prop that glowed ghostly white behind Death from Above 1979. Time stayed voluntarily suspended in 2004 as the two members of the Toronto punk rock band played “Romantic Rights” from You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine in front of their unmistakable two-headed emblem. Bassist Jesse F. Keeler was dressed in all black and stood hunched over, his hair thrashing across his face as he dragged a pick across the steel strings of his bass to open up the killer dance-forward track. Opposite him sat drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger dressed in white jeans and a plain tee who stomped on the kick drum with focus and intensity. Grainger maintained impeccable posture while his arms flailed in the air and crashed back down against the drum heads, which showed off a skillful balance of both purpose and power. The dark-haired frontman’s vocals were breathy and sexy, his lips touched the mic as he sang “I don’t need you, I want you.” They followed up with a new track called “Crystal Ball” from their first studio album since 2004 entitled The Physical World. Keeler’s metal-esque guitar riffs echoed repeatedly as Grainger splashed water across his drum kit. With the first smack of the drumstick, water droplets flew through the air and I was instantly transformed back into the teenage girl who had just discovered Death from Above 1979 and couldn’t help but swoon.
As it got darker, the Fun Fun Fun Fest ushered in NITES, the more intimate and post-festival sets to be played at popular venues around downtown Austin. I headed over to the Mohawk for Ted Leo who looked especially dapper in a bright, red jacket and black slacks. The set was endearing and intimate as Leo made jokes and entertained the crowd’s bad requests for songs like “Rock Lobster” and at one point teased the audience by saying “this is not a jazz show, folks.” He opened up more as the set went on, confiding in the room his dislike for Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and how guilty he felt that would have liked it if somehow it could be sung by Billy Bragg instead. Leo then made a silly remark about refusing to use capos for most of his career, begrudgingly affixed one to his guitar then, after a short song, tossed it back into his case. The crowd, which was already lively for it being hours passed midnight, perked up even more for Pharmacist songs like “Bleeding Powers” and “High Party” and couldn’t help but sing along. Halfway through his set, Leo ditched the red jacket and asked for feedback on whether it was ok for him to play “some new stuff.” The mood felt eager and excited and it was easy to tell the audience had an amazing time watching the pop punk pioneer play old favorites and try out some of his unheard work on a room full of captive ears.
