B.O.M.B. Fest 2011 Preview

Weezer, 10:30 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

While the new output from Weezer (QRO photos at a festival) like last year’s Hurley (QRO review) and Death To False Metal (QRO review) or the previous year’s Raditude (QRO review) isn’t up to their nineties classics (and 2008’s red album-covered self-titled – QRO review – can’t hold a candle to the blue- and green-covered earlier Weezers – QRO blue Weezer live review – or Pinkerton – QRO deluxe edition review), they still play those nineties classics like "My Name Is Jonas" (QRO video), "Say It Ain’t So" (QRO video), "Buddy Holly" (QRO video), "No One Else" (QRO video), "Surf Wax America" (QRO video), "Falling For You" (QRO video), and "Dope Nose" (QRO video), which can even lift later pieces like "Islands In the Sun" (QRO video) and "Beverly Hills" (QRO video).  And their live show (QRO live review) – especially outdoors (QRO live review outdoors) headlining a festival (QRO photos headlining a festival).

And dude, Hurley (QRO photo)…

EOTO, 9:15 PM, Viva La B.O.M.B. Stage

Electronics go live with Boulder, Colorado’s EOTO.  The duo of Jason Hann and Michael Travis perform without a script or loops to close out Saturday night at the Viva La B.O.M.B. Stage.

George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic, Budweiser Stage

If you don’t know who George Clinton is, then you should really be ashamed.  One of, if not the innovator of funk, Clinton took the Motown soul sounds of the seventies and, well, funkified it.  With Parliament/Funkadelic (QRO photos at a festival), he not only blew that sound up, but also blew it up on stage, introducing the kind of spectacle that all other acts still measure themselves against.  "Make my funk the P. Funk / I want my funk uncut / Make my funk the P. Funk / I wants to get funked up!"

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, 8:50 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Alex Ebert, former singer of Ima Robot (QRO interview), got a ton of buzz right after forming Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (QRO live review) – is it justified, or just PR hype (QRO spotlight on)?  Judge for yourself (QRO photos) – but watch out for him jumping into the crowd (QRO photos at a festival)!

Best Coast, 7:40 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Los Angeles’ Best Coast (QRO live review) is a practical veteran at the still-new garage-scene, but a goodie, combining surf, garage, indie, and pop for a sound (QRO photos) that’s sure to be sweet coming from frontwoman Bethany Cosentino (QRO live review) outdoors (QRO photos outdoors).

RJD2, 7:30 PM, Budweiser Stage

Producer/DJ/performer Ramble John ‘RJ’ Krohn, or RJD2 (QRO photos), comes to B.O.M.B.  While he got his start in instrumentals & production, 2007’s The Third Hand (QRO review) saw him stretch out into a full-fledged act of his own, including singing, and has kept it going with last year’s The Colossus (QRO review).

Woods, 7:00 PM, Viva La B.O.M.B. Stage

Like their name implies, Brooklyn’s Woods traffic in outdoor, ‘woods-y’ sounds, but add some freak to that folk with electronica (QRO photos at a festival).

The Felice Brothers, 6:30 PM, Budweiser Stage

The Catskills’ Felice Brothers (which includes both actual and honorary Felices – QRO spotlight on) have moved up from playing in subways stations (or, only slightly more up-market, for tips at Living Room – QRO live review) to becoming the go-to band (QRO live review outdoors) in today’s roots-revival with records like The Felice Brothers (QRO review) and Yonder Is the Clock (QRO review).  After the departure of Simon Felice (for The Duke & The King) in 2009, the brothers Felice (QRO interview) took a break from touring (QRO photos at a festival) and recording, but are back with this year’s Celebration, Florida (QRO review), where they change-up their backwoods stomp for some sadder & even techier fare – but still hit up great live staples like "Whiskey In My Whiskey" (QRO video), "Love Me Tenderly" (QRO video), and "I’m Saved" (QRO video).

HEALTH, 5:50 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Los Angeles’ HEALTH (QRO photos) not only bring the noise-rock to B.O.M.B., but are also known for their mash-ups, most notably with electronic dance duo Crystal Castles (QRO live review), though outdoors (QRO photos outdoors), they’re more ‘noise’ than ‘rock’…

Real Estate, 5:10 PM, Viva La B.O.M.B. Stage

Pitchfork loved Ridgewood, New Jersey’s Real Estate’s (QRO photos at a festival) self-titled debut, so see for yourself if they were right.

The Cool Kids, 4:45 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

The hip-hop duo of Antoine ‘Mikey Rocks’ Reed & Evan ‘Chuck Inglish’ Ingersol (QRO photos) hail from right around the Great Lakes, and have played with numerous non-hip-hop acts, so are a good fit to bring da beats to da B.O.M.B. – such a good fit, in fact, that this they’ve played every year of the festiva1 (QRO photos outdoors at a festival)!

Dan Deacon, 4:00 PM, Budweiser Stage 

Bringing the wild, DIY element to B.O.M.B. is Dan Deacon (QRO photos).  The Baltimore native is a man of many talents, including throwing his own DIY festivals & tours, like last year’s recent ‘Round Robin’ tour (QRO live review) with No Age & Deerhunter.   But he’s still best known as an electronic musician, most recently with Bromst (QRO review), which gets wild live, whether with his fifteen-piece backing band (QRO live review) or Deacon standing & playing from in the crowd (QRO photos, outdoors at a festival).

Titus Andronicus, 3:05 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Straight outta Jersey comes Garden State pridesters Titus Andronicus (QRO photos at a festival), who have been hitting all fifty hard (QRO photos out-of-state) even before (QRO photos at a festival) the release of their Civil War-inspired The Monitor (QRO review), and now bring it outdoors (QRO photos outdoors).

Turbo Fruits, 2:10 PM, Budweiser Stage

Be Your Own Pet guitarist Jonas Stein formed Turbo Fruits while BYOP was still in existence, and the garage-rock fruits have just kept on going (QRO photos at a festival).

EULA, 1:45 PM, Viva La B.O.M.B. Stage

Somewhere between irresistible dance beats and unforgettable no wave guitar lies EULA, playing B.O.M.B. for a second year, fresh off their new Maurice Narcisse (QRO album review).

Wavves, 1:20 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Redemption?  After WAVVES singer/guitarist Nathan Williams (QRO photos at a festival) had a very public breakdown, on stage last year at Barcelona’s Primavera Festival (later blaming technical problems, and ‘alcohol addiction’ – isn’t that what disgraced Rep./To Catch a Predator favorite Mark Foley said?…), the San Diego act cancelled their whole European tour.  However, since then Williams got back on the road (QRO photos at a festival), recruited the backing band of the late Jay Reatard (QRO photos), put on the much-praised King of the Beach (QRO review).  And he seems to have cut down on imitating Pauly Shore…

Free Energy, 12:20 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

The seventies-rock inspired (and looking – QRO photos) Free Energy (QRO photos at a festival) somehow found themselves on James Murphy’s electro-dance label DFA (LCD Soundsystem, The Juan MacLean, YACHT) for debut Stuck On Nothing (QRO review), which has only earned them (QRO photos) more attention (QRO photos at a festival) as they try to bring back the cowbell (QRO photos outdoors).

Snoop Dogg, 10:30 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Do you really need to be introduced to Snoop Dogg (QRO photos at a festival)?  Unless you’ve been living on that island from Lost with The Others for the past twenty years, you’ve seen Snoop from his part in Death Row Records’ West Coast rap ascendance with "Gin and Juice" through his legal troubles and ‘less-than-amicable’ split from Death Row to today’s chart-topping success in hip-hop and mainstream, most recently with this year’s Doggumentary.  His high profile and relatively laid-back, but charming, persona these days have also made him ubiquitous on screen, whether cameoing as himself in everything from Showtime’s Weeds to T-Mobile Sidekick ads, or guest-spotting as a rapper from Showtime’s L Word to ABC daytime soap One Life to Live (not to mention having his own reality show, Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood, and filling the quintessential pimp role as Huggy Bear in the big screen remake of Starsky & Hutch).  But Snoop will be returning to rhyming when he’s on stage, as the latest hip-hop star to try to woo the indie-crowd (QRO photos outdoors at a festival).

Big Freedia, 10:05 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Just as the post-Katrina rebuilding of New Orleans has been taking a while, so has the post-Katrina (re)discovery of New Orleans music – but one of the biggest & best to come out of the Big Easy is bounce music, mixing hip-hop with local dance and Mardi Gras call-and-response, and one of the biggest & best in bounce is Big Freedia. 

Dam-Funk, 9:00 PM, Viva La B.O.M.B. Stage

Pasadena funk singer/DJ Dam-Funk is coming off throwing down five full-lengths worth of new material last year, edited and compiled into double-disc Toeachizown.

Wiz Khalifa, 8:50 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

A few years ago, no one had heard of Cameron Jibril Thomaz, or Wiz Khalifa (QRO photos outdoors in 2009) – but then "Black and Yellow" shot to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Atlantic Records debut Rolling Papers made it to #2 on the album charts, and he’s just kept on rolling (including, yes, an arrest for marijuana, in the middle of his ‘Waken Baken’ tour…).

Shpongle, 8:30 PM, Budweiser Stage

It’s rare even in their native U.K. for ambient psychedelic trance – or ‘psybient’ – act Shpongle to play live, and even rarer in the U.S.A., where at B.O.M.B. they present The Shpongletron Experience.

Coheed and Cambria, 7:35 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Sort of a successor to the storytelling complex prog-rock of the likes of Rush (not that the originals have gone anywhere…), Nyack, New York’s Coheed and Cambria combine that complex prog-rock with post-hardcore heaviness – to tell singer Claudio Sanchez’s epic Amory Wars story, spanning their five-and-counting concept albums.  Phish’s Gamehendge has nothing on Amory Wars!…

Holy Fuck, 7:10 PM, Budweiser Stage

There might not be a more ‘live’ electronic band out there today than Holy Fuck (QRO live review – whose name did bring a Canadian MP to question the nation’s support of such music acts as F*ck…), whose stated mission is make electronic music without all the studio trickery so prevalent in the genre – and which so often hampers it live (especially outside of the dance club).  Instead, the band managed to record 2007’s LP (QRO review) on the fly (with opener "Super Inuit" in front of an audience), following it up last year with Latin (QRO review), and have since worked the festival circuit (QRO photos at a festival), where there sound hasn’t wilted outdoors (QRO photos outdoors at a festival).

Neon Trees, 6:20 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Neon Trees (QRO photos at a festival) are about as alternative as Utah can get.  The Provo natives are the kind of band with a singer who’s got a neon-dyed mohawk, got known opening for The Killers (QRO album review), and just finished a tour (QRO photos) with My Chemical Romance (QRO photos from that tour).  So set your expectations accordingly.

Man Man, 6:05 PM, Budweiser Stage 

There might not be a wilder band – live (QRO live review) or on record (QRO album review) – than Philadelphia’s Man Man.  The self-described ‘Viking-vaudeville’ collective (QRO photos at a festival) bring a powerful percussion and more, setting up right at the lip of the stage, dressed in tennis whites and war paint, with more instruments than you can throw a stick at (QRO photos at a festival).   And things only get crazier outside… (QRO photos outdoors) – especially at a festival (QRO photos at a festival), playing off their just-out Life Fantastic.

The New Pornographers, 5:10 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

The middle of the last decade saw the rise of Canadian near-supergroup collectives, such as Broken Social Scene (QRO spotlight on) and The New Pornographers (QRO live review), fronted by Carl Newman (QRO solo album review), but also including singer Neko Case (QRO solo album review), singer/guitarist Dan Bejar (a.k.a. Destroyer – QRO album review) and singer/keyboardist Kathryn Calder (QRO solo album review).  Unlike their eastern Canadian brethren, The New Pornographers (QRO live review) eschew the fuzzy atmospherics for power-pop, and while some considered 2007’s Challengers a dip (but not us – QRO review), last year’s Together (QRO review) has united all (QRO photos at a festival).

Freelance Whales, 5:00 PM, Budweiser Stage 

Seriously blowing up are multi-instrumentalist alt-folksters Freelance Whales (QRO photos), whose packed shows (QRO photos outdoors) created real interest in debut Weathervanes (QRO review), and songs like "The Great Estates" (QRO video).

State Radio, 4:00 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

State Radio’s mix of reggae and alternative music leans more heavily on the former, but that has made the Sherborn, Massachusetts act a festival staple.

Nosaj Thing, 3:55 PM, Budweiser Stage

Los Angeles’ Nosaj Thing (a.k.a. Jason Chung) has been getting serious attention with his mash-up of electronica and hip-hop.

The Hood Internet, 3:25 PM, Viva La B.O.M.B. Stage

The Hood Internet (QRO photos) is one of the alt-world’s favorite DJ duos.

Against Me!, 2:50 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

Northern Florida’s given the world a lot of punk, some of it good, some of it not so much, but on the more positive side is Against Me! (QRO photos).  Fronted by Tom Gabel (QRO interview), Against Me! successfully made the jump to major label without losing their edge, most recently on last year’s White Crosses (QRO review).

Portugal. The Man, 1:50 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

This West Coast draws from far up its shore with Alaska’s Portugal. The Man (QRO photos at a festival).  The rambling grunge outfit (QRO photos at a festival) garnered new fans with 2007 sophomore release Church Mouth (QRO review), and its unhinged alt-rock, though slipped somewhat since then, even while finally playing Europe (QRO photos at a European festival).  Their latest, major label debut The Mountain In the Cloud, is out in July, so expect new material.

Small Black, 1:05 PM, Viva La B.O.M.B. Stage

Can a chillwave outfit like Brooklyn’s Small Black work outdoors at one in the afternoon?  See for yourself.

Dum Dum Girls, 12:50 PM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

One of the multitude of bands that garage ‘it girl’ Frankie Rose played drums in before fronting her own band (QRO photos), the Dum Dum Girls combine garage, girl-group, and New Wave for a sound that does stand out from the pack – especially live & in costume (QRO photos).

Quintron and Miss Pussycat, 11:55 AM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

One-man band/nightclub runner/musical instrument inventor Robert Bolson, a.k.a. Quintron, teams up with his wife/musician Panacea Theriac, a.k.a. Miss Pussycat (and we’re not to sure that "Panacea Theriac" is a real name, either – QRO photos), as they return to B.O.M.B.

Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez, 11:00 AM, B.O.M.B. Pavilion Stage

‘The Beehive Queen’ Christine Ohlman fronts Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez – when she isn’t singing for the Saturday Night Live band, at the Barack Obama Presidential Inauguration Gala, or at B.O.M.B. 2010.