The Post-Rockist

The Comerica Cityfest 2008 has come and gone and I’m absolutely exhausted. I do win the 5-day attendance award, but not without losing some much-needed rest and 4th o’ July relaxation. But another great festival it was, and thanks to everyone at The New Center Council for making it happen–and for making the shows free–for the twentieth straight year. If you didn’t get a chance to pay for any of the food or drink that pays for the acts that you got to see for free, you can always put in your time by signing up to volunteer for something.

Well, I told you about Wednesday night already and tried to contribute some thoughtful ideas about The Zombies’ performance on Thursday (ideas which, I fear, may be misconstrued as negative), so here’s a recap of everything else I remember. Let me know if I forgot to remember something.

Friday’s headliner was Broken Social Scene. For some reason, I’ve just never really given BSS a good listen, but I will say that they went out of their way to put on a good show after admitting that they almost had to cancel. Apparently, they played with a skeleton crew of 8 musicians, but still put on a great show. Here’s a more informed opinion on the matter.

Millions of Brazilians played a free show Thursday night at the Garden Bowl, continuing the new tradition of the Garden Bowl Cityfest, and played the Pure Detroit stage on Friday afternoon. These guys get better and better with every new pedal that the guitarist/bassistant buys, and the sound on the Pure Detroit stage throughout the weekend was pretty great. The Millions have two new songs, “Hammer Hammer Carrot” and “Armenia,” that they’ll be recording soon, both of them building on the strengths of their previous songs but adding new textures of sound. This band also has the best worst publicity photos in Detroit.

I saw Four-Hour Friends at the Park Stage and was pleased without being wowwed, but I think it’s because the vocals weren’t mixed for optimal awesomeness and fullness. Any Detroit band that offers me good harmonies is ok by me–I just need to be able to hear them. The band is composed of lots of talented musicians, so my guess is that I’ll be satisfactorily wowwed when I next see them play.

Saturday afternoon began for me at the Pure Detroit Stage for Zoos of Berlin, who I try to never miss whenever they play a show. They have a song called “Electric Way” that they think “people are going to like,” as singer/bassist Daniel Clark pointed out. Guess what? He was right. Word on the street is that Zoos are in the midst of recording that long-awaited LP we’ve been awaiting longly for. Yes!

I then checked out Silverghost and Lightning Love at the Park Stage. I liked Silverghost, despite the Garage-y-ness of the vocals and lyrics. I loved Slumber Party when Marcie Bolen was in the group, but was never a big fan of The Von Bondies stuff, so I guess that’s why I like Silverghost without loving them. Silverghost really helps me to place exactly what Bolen brought to both of those groups. But perhaps that says more about my personal tastes than about any of those three bands.

On the other hand, I’ve been crazy about Lightning Love since I first saw them on a whim during Blowout. I felt a little embarrassed for them when they were introduced as “a gamble,” because this band to me was one of the best and most obvious choices for Cityfest. The band is paying their dues, playing lots of shows over the past 6 months, and are currently at work on their first LP, which I personally think would be a fantastic addition for one quality local label (ahem, ahem).

Like Broken Social Scene, I’m not too familiar with the music of Calexico either, but their tex-mex style kind of won me over. My girlfriend danced a lot during their set. That’s enough for me to like them (my standards are so logical, I know!).

Then came the afterparty. Oh man. What a great time, and thanks to Art F?g for putting it on, with The Dead Bodies and Deastro playing. The Dead Bodies played a great set and played “Hugs and Kisses,” one of my favorite songs of the year.

Deastro played with a full band. Deastro is really great by himself. Deastro with a band is pretty much amazing. Deastro with an orchestra would blow the world apart. Deastro with a bunch of other famous rocks stars in a studio singing “We are the world” would bring world peace.

I concluded the night with a bad decision that would hinder any enjoyment of Sunday: playing flippy cup in a back yard in Ferndale at 4:00 in the morning.

So I awoke bright and early on Sunday afternoon (2:00pm, to be precise), had a few errands to run, but wanted to get to the Pure Detroit stage by 5:00 to check out TAN! before heading off to see George Clinton. Luckily, I got there right at 5:00. Unluckily, TAN! played at 4:00. I am an idiot.

And to those of you who kind of wanted to see George Clinton but were too tired to make it: you probably made the right decision. I think this is my 6th or 7th Cityfest, and I have never, ever seen it so packed around the main stage. I was nearly impossible to get through the entrance toward the main stage. Fighting to get through all of those people, in the hot sun, hungover and tired from four days of Cityfesting and four nights of afterpartying just took it all out of me. And despite my tired, aching body, telling me “no more!” my foot tapped and hips swayed unconsciously for the 50 minutes of P-Funktitude I could manage before fleeing. As I walked out, I saw probably a good hundred people sitting around the parameters of the area, unable to see, but just listening and dancing. The aisles of food vendors nearby the stage were packed too, with people just hanging out there because it was the closest they could get to George Clinton. I hope it was a Cityfest attendance record.

And that’s it. So I, weary-laden but satisfied, am now about to hibernate for a day or two. I saw a bunch of new bands, saw some old faves, did a bit of dancing, and tasted some tastes. Can’t ask for much more than that I suppose. Except maybe some sleep.

A picture post to come soon.