Sunset Junction 2009 Review: Day 1

The annual Sunset Junction Street Fair officially kicked off yesterday, and BeatCrave was there to cover the goods for you!

What started out as a very hot and sticky day eventually transformed itself into the perfect breezy summer night just in time for the late acts such as Delta Spirit and Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. Although there were three stages altogether at the festival, the Bates stage was the place to be for both your favorite and upcoming bands.

Check out what each set had to offer through the day in the re-cap below! We’ve also got a photo gallery for your viewing pleasure.

Now before I actually got in to the festival itself, I learned many things had changed.

First of all, this year provided no tickets or wristbands. All you got was a stamp. Cheers to the promoters of Sunset Junction for saving some bucks and helping out the environment! However, it was very hard if you had a +1, especially if they weren’t already there with you. It was also extremely difficult if you had bought several tickets under one name. Will Call didn’t actually have tickets either. Instead, your name was crossed off before you were given a temporary tattoo.

Secondly, they didn’t not have a Heineken tent! I had raved about this tent last year because while you guzzled down your beer in the refreshingly cool shade of the tent, you still had a perfect view of the Bates stage. When it’s uncomfortably hot like it was yesterday, beer in a tent equals nirvana. However, I can’t completely complain. The beer promoters this year are Amstel Light, Newcastle, and Dos Equis. You can’t really go wrong with beer that’s a little more high up in quality like that. (I would have been upset if they charged me $6 for some crappy beer like Budlight.)

However, as soon as I had gotten some food and my first beer of the day (12:30 pm!), I was all set to see what the stage would bring.

Gran Ronde

So many people miss out on the bands that open up the event and it’s a complete shame. Usually the opening bands are local ones, but if they’ve made it into the Sunset Junction line-up they’ve got something worth for you to see.

Although I had heard of Gran Ronde before, I had never actually seen them live. They did a great job opening with incredibly addictive new wave hooks and guitar riff-heavy songs such as “On and On” and “Wisdom.” In fact, I would recommend everyone to go to their MySpace page and listen to “Wisdom” right now. That guitar melody is simple yet so catchy it’s equivalent to my love for high-fructose corn syrup, and I love that stuff.

Miss Derringer

Before Gran Ronde had even taken the stage, I saw a petite blond in pirate-esque costume off to the left. I knew she had to be part of Miss Derringer, and my guess was right. Although their male members wore as much eyeliner as their leading lady did and put on quite a production with back up dancers (who wore red complimentary costumes and geisha-like red lipstick), their tunes were solid.

Speaking of eyeliner, their song, “Black Tears” had a very indie-pop sound that could be head to head with Camera Obscura and The Pipettes. Seeing Miss Derringer was like seeing pirates team up with a secret cabaret society who decided to put on a music show for the public. Oh, and they also dedicated a song to vampires (while I was getting dehydrated from the sun). How ironic.

War Tapes

War Tapes is not a new band to BeatCrave. They previously made our BeatCrave Fav series a few weeks ago! Unfortunately, I was only able to catch the end of their set. (Have you ever tried to walk through the entire festival?) So, in my case, while I was walking back to the Bates stage, I could hear War Tapes from afar. They sounded great with the distance but as I got closer, the songs just got better and better. “Heart quaking doom-pop” is exactly the vibe you get from these guys. They had just the right amount of adrenaline, metal, and a splash indie rock quality for them to fit right into the line-up.

Rumspringa

I was ESPECIALLY sad for anyone who missed out on this amazing duo. Joey Stevens and Itaru de la Vega of Rumspringa completely KILLED their set. Their fusion of Americana, blues, and rock hits the spot anytime and anywhere. Of course, this wasn’t the first time I had seen them live (we’ve also interviewed them in our Know Your LA Bands series) but it was an amazing experience once again. I’m not even afraid to say that they are one of my favorite LA bands.

It was really nice to see that they were finally getting the recognition they deserve, because these two guys, alone, bring out the soul in rock with their gritty vocals, amazing guitar skills, and drumming. (Too bad the emcee accidentally introduced them as Warpaint though.) Seeing Stevens caress his guitar like it was the world and simultaneously hearing him shout those vocals was incredible. Although I was disappointed they didn’t play my favorite Rumspringa song, “Goldmine,” the set was still golden.

Warpaint

Warpaint is another band we were lucky enough to feature in Know Your LA Bands series, and man did they rock their set. Their drummer is a male and they may not like this pigeon-hole description but they are the baddest (as in sick – as in phenomenal) female rock group I have come across in years. Both guitarists, Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman, had vocals that were the most powerful of the day so far. Jenny Lee Lindberg also played that bass like no other.

It’s difficult to find a shoegaze band that doesn’t play the same droning melodies over and over which eventually put you to sleep, and I just know Warpaint will be huge in just a couple of years. Maybe, even sooner.

Nico Vega

Nico Vega is another amazing LA band. It was all about the local artists at this festival and I was lovin’ it. For a three-piece band, they brought the energy and noise a five-piece band. Leading lady, Aja Volkman, had an amazing stage presence. People may have been fooled by her long summer dress, but this girl had vocals that rivals the biggest rock stars out there. Many liken her vocal stylings to Janis Joplin for its raspiness, but Volkman has this mystique charm to her that makes every song’s performance enticing and rare.

Sure, they have no bassist like The White Stripes, but forget about The White Stripes. Nico Vega could easily own them.

The Submarines

This duo is one of the greatest pop bands to come out of LA in these recent years. Not just because their song, “You, Me, and the Bourgeoisie,” is automatically paired with any iPhone commerical in my mind, but they’ve got fantastic skills as songwriters. With Blake Hazard on a turqoise guitar and John Dragonetti rocking a gold one, they played for the audience but to each other as well. Overall, they were one of the happiest acts of the day.

Hazard, who wore pigtails for the set, looked a bit like a cheerleader but all judgement was dissolved once she started dancing around with her xylophone mallet. She was really getting into the music and so was their drummer. I’ve never seen a drummer smile so wide like that before. Prancing around with her mallet which looked more like a wand in her hand, Hazard and her band members charmed the crowd with that darn cute pop music. Cute isn’t a bad thing, especially when it sounds like The Submarines.

Delta Spirit

Delta Spirit (billed as The Delta Spirit on the Sunset Junction flyer) was the best thing that happened to me all week. In fact, they were the best act that night; hands down. I had always wanted to see this band but it seemed like my bad luck kept me from missing any of their shows here in LA. Delta Spirit definitely built up a following with their colescense of soul and rock and the Bates stage had its largest crowd yet.

Matthew Vasquez’s vocals went from a smooth twangy tone to a dirty, raw, and gritty sound. The entire band drew in the crowd like no other act with their tenacious chords, beats, and vocals. My favorite part was when Vasquez took a seat at the keys. To hear him sing and tickle that ivory was certainly a treat. Delta Spirit completely blew my mind from the first song to the last – just incredible. This band, alone, was worth reducing my comfort level outside yesterday.

Islands

As a band who will always remind me of another Of Montreal (without the unecessary shock factor stage antics), Islands put on a great set as the latest opener for the headlining act. The Montreal, Quebec-based band did a fantastic job of combining electronica and indie pop rock elements. Just as people were filling in the street fair and getting ready for Conor Oberst, their songs pumped us up just enough. Their set didn’t start a massive rave, but their music was the perfect union of upbeat tempo and laid-back groove.

As I watched the band perform, I couldn’t help but notice one thing. Why did the lead singer, Jamie Thompson, look so much like Bruno? He had it down to the blond hair cut and black outfit complete with skinny jeans. Then I had to ask myself: Why is he hula dancing? However, I didn’t have much time to ponder that question because all of a sudden LA-based rappers, Busdriver and Subtitle, pounced on stage and spit some mad lyrics on top of their electro-rock music. I love it when two genres converge, so that was definitely the highlight of the set for me. Thank god for Busdriver’s prior work with The Unicorns and Islands’ Thompson. That was an unbelievable collaboration.

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

The headlining act (billed as Conor Oberst and the Mistic Valley Band) was finally taking the stage and they were actually on time! All Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst, and Mystic Valley Band fanatics were there. There was a sea of girls saying “Awww… He’s so cute!” after every other song. I swore I even saw an 8-year-old girl there with her dad! (HE definitely didn’t know who Oberst was.) I didn’t know that he had such young fans. I suppose it’s from his Bright Eyes days. Perhaps they just recently discovered those emo anthems of his?

Nonetheless, Oberst and his band members put on one amazing set. He made a great leader and although I had never really gotten into his music, I could hear why his fan base was so large. As they kept on playing, I also couldn’t help but wonder: Is Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band the new Ryan Adams and The Cardinals? Both have country and soul roots as well as a great lead singer who can write a diverse set just like the one I was hearing at the moment.

Besides the amazing musicianship that was happening on stage, there were two particular ocurrences that really made me love this set. (You can bet your ass I stayed until the entire festival was done!)

First off: Since there were so many young girls in the crowd drooling over him, I knew the next incident was bound to happen. One young lady eventually shouted out, “Conor, will you go to prom with me?” (PROM!) Usually random shouts and screams like this go unheard or ignored and the next song just starts. However, Oberst was surprisingly very personable throughout the entire performance. He actually heard this fan screaming out his name and looked in her direction, repeating “What?” over and over again before concluding “This is hopeless.” (That all made us chuckle for a moment or two.) However, he hadn’t really given up just yet. He really wanted to know what this girl was saying. After attempting to make out what she yelled, he finally took it as, “Can I play some Prodigy?” The crowd roared at the miscommunication and off he went into another song with a smile on his face.

Secondly: Toward the end of the set (but before the encore), he did the usual routine of introducing his band members. I remember him saying one was from Glendale and one came all the way from Koreatown! (More laughter.) Shortly after, he expressed how glad he was to be playing Sunset Junction because this show happened to be the kick-off to their four-week tour. He explained that he really wanted to be part of the neighborhood and he was a fan of Silverlake. Then he did something that sent me over the edge. He went on to say, “Actually, one of us is from Silverlake,” then introduced the one and only JENNY LEWIS. As a huge Jenny Lewis/Rilo Kiley fan, I completely flipped the f*** out as she walked onto the stage and, sadly, I became one of those screaming teen girls surrounding me. When Lewis and Oberst started the riff to “Portions For Foxes,” it was if I had died and gone to heaven. This may be a cliché conclusion but it is the only way to describe what I was feeling. Oberst sang the second verse to the song and they both played and sang out the rest of the tune like they had been band members together for ages.

Although many were disappointed with the lineup to Sunset Junction this year, those who didn’t come really missed out on a day that turned out great. Each set ran into each other nicely and surprise guests will always be a bonus. Sunset Junction Day 1 was a success.

Check back for a re-cap of Sunset Junction Day 2 tomorrow!

LIVE PHOTO GALLERY:

See MORE of Sunset Junction!

Photography courtesy of Praveen Sharma