Free Press Summerfest 2010 (Day One)

So when you live in Houston, the live music scene pretty much consists of DJ sets, awful rap, and god awful metal bands.  Today's  lineup at Summerfest had all of this, and more.  Not all of it was awful.  Some of it was.

Perseph One

We arrived at Eleanor Tinsley Park just before 5pm, so we missed a lot of the earlier bands that went on (sorry, The Eastern Sea...next year?).  I headed over to the 29-95.com stage and caught the majority of Perseph One's set.  Perseph One (like Persephone...get it?) is like a female Zach de la Rocha, but instead of rapping about social injustice, most of the lyrics I got were about girls in pumps and "dick ladders."  It wasn't half bad really, and you can listen to some of the stuff on her myspace page.

Sugar and Gold
So after that, we headed all the way across the grounds to the Dos Equis stage and checked out Sugar and Gold, a pop band from California.  Now I won't just come out and admit to loving this band, but they did have some admirable qualities.  Their songs were all pretty danceable, and some of the synth and guitar work was catchy as hell.  Lyrically, it was a little brain dead, but that helped with the vibe they were trying to give off.

I make music on the side, and while what I make doesn't sound exactly like this, it's definitely along the same lines.  So I got some good ideas from the band, and I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.  As long as they don't go all 3OH!3 on us, we should be fine.  You can purchase their latest, Get Wet! from Amazon.com.

Ra Ra Riot
Ahh...finally a band I've heard of.  I feel bad for Ra Ra Riot, because although they were one of the biggest bands on today's lineup, they went on 3 hours before the headliner and were only allowed a 30 minute set.  Seems kind of a waste to come all the way out for that.  But the band soldiered on (despite some initial sound issues) and played an awesome set.  Sadly, an emergency situation in my group forced me to miss a lot, but I was able to hear the band play "Can You Tell," which I know better as "Can You Discover?" from Discovery's LP. That was a nice touch that I really enjoyed.  The band was the best act that I saw today.  Easily.

Ra Ra Riot has a new album coming out in August apparently, so be on the look out for that one.  I'm totally psyched for it now.

Kid Sister
Shit....just absolute bullshit.

Detroit Cobras
I had heard some good buzz about this band prior to the show, so I was excited to see what they were all about.  Unfortunately Detroit Cobras are a really bad cover band, or at least they sound like one (I think they ARE an actual cover band though.  How did they get this booking?

Girl Talk
Girl Talk was headlining the festival today, and even though I'm not really a big fan of the "music," I was excited to see what their show would be like.  Watching a bunch of people fill the stage and have a dance party, separate from the giant dance party in the crowd was a cool thing to experience for all of 15 minutes.  I left early because sometimes I enjoy original music.  Note to Houston Free Press.