It’s not every day you see effeminate goth rockers in
leather pants open for The Flaming Lips. But such was the vibe at
All Tomorrow’s Parties, a two-day rock festival on Nov. 6-7
in Long Beach.
Lou Reed was the highlight of Saturday’s performers,
headlining the show and receiving the longest performance time of
any act. The former Velvet Underground leader dipped into his back
catalog for the show, opening with “All Tomorrow’s
Parties” and closing with fan favorites “Walk on the
Wild Side” and a stunning twelve-minute version of the VU
classic, “White Light/White Heat.”
Reed was prevented from playing an encore by a midnight curfew,
which meant acts had to be on schedule all day. Modest Mouse, the
festival’s curators, ran 15 minutes behind on their sound
check and only got to play about 45 minutes at their own gig.
“We’ve got five minutes left to play,” Isaac
Brock said at one point, which of course meant it was time for
“Float On.”
Sunday had one of the strongest one day line-ups in recent
history, with the Constantines, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, The
Shins, and Built To Spill playing one after another.
The Shins’ set was especially noteworthy. They played
large portions of both their albums, opening with mostly “Oh
Inverted World” tracks before playing their newer songs.
The band has found a lot of crossover success recently, which
was represented at ATP by a dyed-blonde girl in a USC sweatshirt
and her friends standing motionless on stage during the set after
taking pictures of the band on their pink phones.
All Tomorrow’s Parties made good on its name, offering a
plethora of quality musical acts in a setting so relaxed that Wayne
Coyne, the lead singer of The Flaming Lips, could be seen walking
around signing autographs between bands.
““ David Greenwald and Jake Tracer