Rate & Describe Your Roo Shows 2013

The Stepkids - 4. Wasn't into it, I don't get why people dug them. Way too repetitive, every song had just about the exact same funky riff. Music seemed disingenuous.

Milo Greene - 8. I love Thursday bands where you can tell they're genuinely pumped to be there and bring their energy accordingly.

Futurebirds - 6.5. Solid but didn't quite live up to when I was very pleasantly surprised by them in 2011.

Araabmuzik - 8. Would probably be a half-point higher if it didn't start 20 minutes late, but he was so awesome when he got going. Crazy talented.

Ariel Pink - 7. First half of the set when he was actually playing songs was a solid 9, second half where he droned on and mumbled nonsense was a 5. Had to know he was gonna do some unpredictable sh*t, that's his steez; I expected him to storm off the stage early, but instead he stayed on 10 minutes late just to drone out for 10 more minutes haha.

Django Django - 9. They were like Devo up there. Such engaging and fun, rhythmic, synthy songs. They did an awesome job of keeping the crowds into it and they reminded me of LCD Soundsystem of how they did so much with synths and drums/drum machines.

Purity Ring - 7.5. Only caught the last 25 minutes but it was solid. The girl was great and more appreciative than I thought she'd be (I kind of assumed she'd be one of those dark, gothy hipster girls who are angry at everything, not sure why) and the visuals definitely fit the music.

Father John Misty - 6. Was kinda disappointed with this one. It sounded nice but not as explosive as when I saw him at a 1,000-cap club. He wasn't being as weird and hilarious as I thought he'd be for a show this big. Granted I only stayed for the first three songs b/c I wanted to get a good spot for...

Alt-J - 7.5. Really fun show, sound wasn't as good as it could've been, but it was still a blast. Super super f*cking crowded.

Local Natives - 7.5. Not much to say about this one, just really solid harmonies, well-executed performance of songs that I highly enjoy.

Wilco - 8. First time seeing Wilco and I thought they were a phenomenal warm-up for Sir Paul

Sir Paul- 10. I mean, really. It was perfect. Neck-and-neck with Radiohead last year as the two best shows I've ever seen in my life.

The xx - 8.5. The people complaining they were too low key must've just not been familiar enough with their music to know what to expect. I loved it.

Animal Collective - 6.5. Meh.

Patrick Watson - 7.5. Really, really solid. This was a nice surprise. Guy is very meticulous.

Lord Huron - 8.5. Maybe because I already loved their songs, but they did a great job of rocking them out. Loved this show.

Tallest Man on Earth - 7.5. Solid.

Four Tet - 8. Obviously was wishing this was a late night, since the tent was just about empty. He still ruled, though.

Nasty Nas - 8.5. One of the more pleasant surprises of the weekend. Not that I don't love Nas, was just slightly surprised by just how good his band is.

Bjork - 9.5. It was interesting how she did this set. The first half of it was super mellow but enjoyable, if not very high-energy and then the second half she turned it up to 11 and just went crazy with awesome dancy songs. As Horn pointed out to me in the pit, she may have been waiting for the sun to go down when the lights would be able to be seen for the wild dancier songs. Such an awesome set, she is like a f*cking alien and so are her backup dancers. She was wearing the Hellraiser sh*t on her head and a costume made up of about 10 pairs of horribly misshapen breasts.

Jack Johnson - 0. And I didn't even go. Just kidding, I actually heard from several people that it was actually not bad. I'm sure I would've been bored out of my everloving mind, though.

Superjam - 10. Couldn't have been better for this sort of thing. R Kelly sang "A Change is Gonna Come" and it was wonderful. Billy Idol came out and sang T-Rex's "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" and then hung out on the stage I think longer than Jim/John Oates wanted him to just to sing backup, haha. Setlist was just so awesome. Do regret that I missed R. Kelly, but at least I got to see him sing a few songs at this.

Empire of the Sun - 8. Don't remember everything about this one but I remember loving it.

Boys Noize - 8.5. Again, don't remember everything about this one but it was super fun. He flashed sh*t like "FUCK" and "TAKE IT" over and over on the huge screen behind him, it was hilarious.

Holy Ghost! - 7.5. Really fun and catchy. I randomly met the frontman for this band in the Tom Petty pit haha. He was trying to barter for weed and ended up trading these two girls I was hanging out with his artist's wristband for some pot haha. He talked to us for like fifteen minutes, he was super super cool.

Kendrick Lamar - 8.5. Super energetic and the entire field was sooooooo with him for the whole show.

The National - 10. Best National show I've seen. Only thing that would've sent it wayyyyyy over the top would've been a "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" encore.

Tom Petty - 9. In four years of going, this is the only time where I was actually pleased with the show that ended the festival. There's a level of tightness between Mike Campbell and Tom Petty that can only be learned through forty years of playing together.

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers-6/10 Was a decent set, but I really only went to this show in order to get a decent spot for Milo Greene.

Milo Greene-8/10 Their vocals are really impressive. Great harmonies, nice chill set on a Thursday afternoon.

Walk the Moon-8/10 Very entertaining, although crowded, tent show. They look like they genuinely enjoy being on stage performing.

Django Django-7/10 I only rate this a 7 because I was so far back and only caught the first 30 minutes or so of their set. From what I heard, I enjoyed their set.

Japandroids-7/10 They were very entertaining and full of energy. Crowd was into it. I only rate it a 7 because I'm not really into their music. Was only there to get a decent spot for Alt-J

Alt-J-8/10 Such a talented band. Very, very tight musically. It's a different kind of music, but I sure get a kick out of it.

Capital Cities-8/10 This was a fun, packed, Music Lounge set. Really fun covers (Pink Floyd's "Breathe", Prince's "Nothing Compares to you") and their own songs were fun.

Polyphonic Spree surprise fountain set-8/10 This was really fun. I was literally about 5 feet from the stage (left side of stage) with nobody in front of me. They're an interesting group, that's for sure. While walking back to my tent, my gf says to me "I wonder how the people in the band explain to their families what exactly they do for a living". "Have fun," I replied.

Reptar-8/10 Very energetic start to Friday. I had seen them a couple years prior, but don't recall them having so many people on stage. They have a very raw, but talented sound to them.

DIIV-6/10 Saw them in the Ford tent. Had never seen a performance in the Ford "Garage". Was pretty cool to see them in such a small venue. They weren't bad, but I could tell they were thrown off by playing for a crowd that was, for the most part, sitting down. They also began their performance by dedicating their performance to their keyboard player, who had quit the band that morning. Multiple songs throughout the set were dedicated to their keyboard player, it was very amusing. There was a keyboard sitting to the side of the stage which the lead singer/guitarist would play a couple notes on here and there. At one point, before a song, he said "look, it's our new keyboard player!" while holding a roll of tape, and proceeded to throw the tape at the keyboard.

Sea Wolf-7/10 Caught the first 15 minutes of their Sonic Stage set. My plan was to stay until he played "You're a Wolf". He led off the show with it, so I was content. But then he played "Priscilla" next, which is my second favorite song by them, so I had to stay. Ended up staying for one or two more songs before heading over to the Which Stage for...

Of Monsters and Men-8/10 My gf and I did the VIP package this year, and this was the first show where I was extremely thankful for it. We spent the first half of the set in the VIP viewing area, which was very crowded, but certainly less crowded than GA. We spent the second half of the set watching from one of the lawn chairs in the VIP lounge lawn. Gave me a nice relaxing break.

Passion Pit-8/10 Watched the next three shows from the VIP hill. This was a fun show. Probably a lot more fun for those that were up close or in the pit. I had heard they weren't very good live, but I came away impressed with their live show. Very enthusiastic frontman.

Wilco-7/10 I was familiar with Wilco going into this show, but had never really been more than just a casual fan. This set made me want to go home and listen to their discography. It wasn't the most exciting of shows, but had moments of great music. I heard a report of how McCartney's band was watching from the side of the stage, and the drummer went nuts during Via Chicago because he was so impressed.

McCartney-10/10 No details needed.

The XX-6/10 Their music doesn't really do it for me overall. I like a few of their songs, but for the most part, I find it boring. I will say that "Intro" was really fun.

Pretty Lights-9/10 I'm not really into EDM, but this was simply a fun set (I only made it about an hour, then had to woose out). The energy in the crowd was amazing. He led off with my favorite song of his "I can see it in your face", so I was in a good mood quick.

Animal Collective-N/A Before heading back to camp, I stopped by this set for a half hour or so. It was different, interesting, and seemed technically good. I was just too tired to stay and can't really give it an honest review.

Cults-6/10 I've seen them live before, and don't really remember their set. It's now Tuesday, and I don't really remember their set too well. I like a few of their songs, and was glad to hear them live, but wasn't anything extraordinary.

Lord Huron-7/10 One of my more anticipated sets. They were fun and put on a good show. Nothing spectacular, but nothing bad by any means. A really nice afternoon tent show. "Time to Run" was amazing.

Portugal. The Man-8/10 A band that I had heard of, but wasn't familiar with until I started listening to them once the lineup came out. Very glad I learned about them. Already bought tickets to see them when they come in town this fall. Seeing Weird Al join them on stage for "So American" was glorious.

Matt & Kim-9/10 Wow, this set was crazy. I had heard their show was high energy and that their crowd interaction was great, but that was an understatement. Although the tent was packed, this show was so much fun. At one point in the show, Kim said "we see all of you outside of the tent all the way in the back. If you want to get closer, you'll have to crowd surf your way up." For the next song and a half or so, there were dozens of bodies on the way up. Quite a sight.

Lumineers-9/10 Say what you want about their music, they put on a fun show. They got "Ho Hey" out of the way early (I believe the 4th song on the setlist) and then proceeded to play a very solid set. Bringing the sign-language interpreter on stage for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was half hilarious, half incredibly impressive.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band-8/10 Only really saw their last three songs, but enjoyed all three. Jim James joined them for one song. Such a talent.

Rock and Soul Superjam featuring every musician on the farm-9/10 Wow, this was fun. Only stayed for the first 45 minutes, then had to leave because my gf was getting trampled, plus I wanted to go check out Billy Idol to get a decent spot for Empire of the Sun. At one point before the show, my gf went to use the restroom and came back saying "I heard R. Kelly singing Ignition at the Which Stage"...I was concerned why she smelled like urine.

Billy Idol-7/10 Only caught the last half hour or so of his set, but it was fun. You could tell he was really having fun on stage, and was loving the crowd.

Empire of the Sun-9/10 One of my most anticipated sets of the weekend, and my most anticipated late night set. Their show was as crazy and ridiculous as advertised. The tent was packed. But extremely entertaining.

Kacey Musgraves-6/10 I don't like country, but I knew I had to go see this show because my gf is nice enough to go with me to a music festival that she really has no interest in going to. So if there's a random country musician, I know I have to see it (although I only had to watch Dwight Yoakam for about 15 minutes, because we wanted to get a decent spot for Lumineers).

At this point, I got word that a friend of mine had just arrived and was going to be helping out with Bob Saget's show at the comedy tent, so I went over and met up with him. Unfortunately, this meant I missed Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. However, I was able to watch David Cross from the side of the stage in the front row.

Somehow I was then allowed to go into "Artistland" backstage, which was surreal. Seeing various musicians that I recognized just hanging out, taking it easy before or after their set, was amazing. Oh hey, Noam Pikelny, arguably the greatest banjo player in the world, just said excuse me while walking past me. Nice.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis-8/10 I only really planned on seeing this show just for the novelty of it. I have to admit, it was very fun. I ended up getting to watch this from the artist area, so we had an awesome view. I'm not much into rap, but I had to respect the effort and enthusiasm the group had on stage.

Bog Saget-9/10 Hilarious standup. Sorry for the namedrop, but he was telling me before his show about how he pretty much just makes up his routine on the fly. He has his jokes that he relies on, but just goes on the fly and tells the jokes as he thinks of them. Kind of an organized improvisation, with a LOT of audience interaction.

The National: 9/10 My favorite band, so of course I enjoyed this set. I was curious how their music would translate to such a large space as the What Stage, and came away very impressed. Watching Matt get drunker and drunker as the show goes on is one of the more underrated elements of seeing this band. When Matt gets into the crowd to sing, it's always entertaining.

David Byrne and St. Vincent: inclomplete. I watched this from the back corner of the VIP viewing area while calling my father for father's day. I love the Talking Heads/David Byrne, so I mostly enjoyed the Talking Heads songs, but still enjoyed some of the St. Vincent songs as well as their music from the album.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: 9/10 Perfect set for a Sunday closer. At this point I was exhausted, and it was raining, so I watched the show while laying down on the VIP hill. Petty has been a bucket list band of mine for years, so it was great to finally say I saw him live.