By Justin Yee //
Milky Chance //
Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco
October 23rd, 2014
Milky Chance made their SF debut this past Thursday to a sold-out crowd at the Rickshaw Stop. Though the German duo was booked as an opener to Chris Malinchak for POPSCENE’s weekly club night, it seemed apparent that the majority of people in attendance were not there for the headliner. In fact, as soon as Milky Chance hit the stage, they were welcomed with such a loud roar and applause that one would be convinced they were the main event.
Vocalist/guitarist Clemens Rehbein and DJ/drummer Philipp Dausch make up the band. Playing their mix of folk-, reggae- and electronica-influenced pop music, or “folktronica” as I’ve heard some people call it, they had the crowd bouncing to their beats and singing along to tracks from their recently released debut album Sadnecessary. In between songs, the two did not say much, as it seems like they are still learning English. However, based on their expressions and body language, the two looked surprised by how many fans were there and knew their songs.
They closed with hit single “Stolen Dance”, which had the crowd going nuts — so much so, that they came out for an encore, something I’ve never seen an opening band do before. They finished off a top-notch set with “Down By the River” and walked around the stage giving high fives as they soaked in the cheers from the crowd.
The duo will be returning to SF on April 14th-15th to play The Regency Ballroom on their own headlining tour. So, if you missed them this time around, get your tickets now because those are sure to sell out.
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With perhaps the most appropriate name for musical act on the planet, Massive Attack capped Treasure Island Music Festival 2014 in stunning fashion. With a balancing act of bass-infused downtempo brilliance highlighted by Martina Topley-Bird’s singing and industrialized synth-stabbing electronic pieces, a range of emotion is achieved for the listener. With contrasting tempos and a duality of tranquility then intensity, a cause-and-effect narrative starts to take shape — especially when paying attention to the video elements of the intense songs. “United Snakes” left nothing to the imagination with its barrage of corporate logos and national flags. It appeared the expanded duo slipped in one frame of a Ferris wheel, reminding us that yes, us consumers at TIMF, the only U.S. festival Massive Attack played on this tour, are part of the system. “Future Proof” visuals stripped out rows of zeroes and ones, using the simplicity of computer code to inspire multiple paths of thought, especially while absorbing this show in the Bay Area. And Tunde Adebimpe from TV On The Radio joined in for “Pray For Rain” for the grand finale.
It’s almost the end of the biggest reunion tour in decades, and TIMF patrons were lucky enough to witness one of OutKast’s last shows. The Bridge Stage was more packed in than any show in memory, and festivalgoers outwardly had more fun compared to performances from past years. The set was perfectly paced, with André 3000 seemingly having a fun time — an important part of the equation compared to Big Boi’s rock-steady appearances throughout 2014. The guys gave shout-outs to Casual and The Misfits in the “local love” part of the show, and “Roses” (including a half-hearted apology for the “crazy bitch” outro) once again was one of the highlights. The set ended at least 20 minutes before the scheduled end of the day, emptying a large percentage of patrons into the shuttle line at the same time — there were some reports of people not making it back to SF until 2 a.m.
TVOTR gave one of the best sets of the weekend with their wonderful mix of slow burners, dance-punk blasts of energy along with three new songs: “Happy Idiot”, “Careful You” and “Could You”. The latter two were particularly impressive and fit perfectly into the band’s catalog. A couple other notes on the show: producer and multi-instrumentalist David Sitek now looks like Bono, Kyp Malone is still professionally chill and Tunde Adebimpe continues to be offended when listeners don’t give him full attention. After completing “Wolf Like Me”, wherein the TI faithful went nuts, the lead singer said that he couldn’t believe he saw someone leave during the song. Agreed Tunde, and we’re looking forward to the forthcoming record.
Chet Faker had the crew bring out a huge bass speaker to put directly behind him after his first song to give his music more oomph. And when he dipped into his career-making collaborations with Flume, “Left Alone” and “Drop the Game”, the Tunnel stage instantly began moving like the rhythm of the ocean. But otherwise, the set was downtempo to the point of boredom. And it’s not a good idea to take one of your best songs, “Talk is Cheap”, and strip it down even more. Some ladies still felt compelled to rock their friend’s shoulders as if it was a dance show, something that I’m still trying to figure out.
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Hardcore fans came dressed to the nines in their own homemade headdresses and were eventually invited on stage to be part of the production. First-time viewers were dumbfounded by the intensity of the group’s fully immersive, theatrical performance with backing band and dance crew.
An all-incorporated amalgamation of dance, punk, performance art, graphic design and party philosophy, YACHT’s conceptual stage show brought a much-needed turbo boost of energy to the festival-weary Sunday evening crowd.
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