Sunday of Capitol Hill Block Party 2012: we took a slight downgrade in weather for a slightly less packed crowd. The line-up was arguably the weekend’s best. Read about a few of the highlights and browse through the extensive photo library below to get a taste of CHBP 2012’s final day. Check out our Friday and Saturday coverage as well.
Kithkin: Admittedly, I was pretty jazzed to see Kithkin live at CHBP. We’ve already made mention of them plenty of times on this site before. But check out their single “Peacock” if you’re unfamiliar. Anyhow, what better place to catch the exuberant, ecstatic, rhythm-happy dance dudes than two blocks from their current college campus? As Kithkin noted, “we live three blocks from here, so we’re pretty excited to play here”. Watching the show with my old bandmate–who introduced me to Kithkin–we both agreed we’re partial to Kithkin’s high energy, give-it-your-all and leave the sweat on-stage attitude as we strived for the same thing with our own band. So while Kithkin’s style may not be for everyone, for me, it was one of the most fun on the weekend. Within a few songs, they were dishing out bags of percussive equipment for the audience to utilize. And they brought a dozens crowd members on stage to take the show to the next level. Props to the Kithkinites for translating their wild basement shows into the outdoor festival setting. And while the band admitted it wasn’t their tightest show, it was an incredible effort by such a young band.
Lumineers: I tend to lazily jump the gun and group Denver’s the Lumineers with that earnest, neo-Americana folk style akin to the Head & the Heart (who played the same CHBP main stage quite recently), Mumford & Sons and Of Men & Monsters (lot of ampersands in there). However, they defined their own style as the sun slowly retreated on Sunday. They dedicated a track to those lost in the recent Batman shootings in Colorado. And they played an excellent cover of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues“.
Phantogram: The Saratoga Springs act first caught my attention with “Mouthful of Diamonds” and their Eyelid Movies album. My appreciation was furthered by their wonderful Doug Fir headlining set at MusicFestNW 2011. While the latter was certainly a great opportunity, it was wild to see Phantogram capably take over the early evening main stage set. They had no problems handling the visible set and cruised through passionate renditions of the tracks mentioned above and their new Nightlife EP. Kudos for keeping us dancing at the end of the third day.
El Ten Eleven: Walking into El Ten Eleven’s set in Neumo’s, a guy next to me commented that Kristian Dunn’s double necked instrument was “stupid”. But alas, he soon realized it was both a bass and a guitar which Dunn would loop extensively and intricately in a dance-rock set that had Neumo’s shuffling and roaring. As a two man band without vocal, it certainly takes some extra effort. But Dunn and Tim Fogarty ripped through their set with ease, yet kept the energy in Neumo’s high all the way through.
Porcelain Raft: As we mentioned in our CHBP “Bands to See” article, an original Youth Lagoon opening spot in Brooklyn tipped us off to Porcelain Raft. The one-man project of Mauro Remiddi was likened to Washed Out just by a Neumo’s crowd member just before he entered the stage. The Porcelain Raft live set featured Remiddi alone, but his looped percussive accompaniments hit much harder than the record. And he masterfully held down the later set all my his lonesome. A great-feeling produced at the festival’s end.
[nggallery id=24]