Left Coast Live: Intro
Left Coast Live: OK Go
Friday, June 25
Before main stage headliners OK Go (Main Stage, 9:15pm), the New Wave revivalists (from Utah!) Neon Trees will warm up the crowd (Main Stage, 8pm). They’re best known for their radio hit “Animal” and for touring with the Killers a couple of years ago. The “Elemental Wellness Stage” (really the Ramada Inn on Second Street done up artsy, but hey, whatever) has a great lineup, starting with garage duo Dirty Pillows (5:15pm) and local favorites Whiskey Avengers (6:30pm). San Jose punks Jonny Manak & the Depressives play twice (Milano, 6:30pm and Silicon Valley Roller Girls Stage, 8:20pm), recently reformulated mods Talky Tina are at Miami Beach Club (7:45pm), and Insolence, one of the South Bay’s classic bands, plays Milano at 9:30 pm. Monstery hip-hoppers Kung Fu Vampire play right after them at 11pm, making for a meeting of scene kings old and new. Speaking of current favorites, Careless Hearts play the Invisalign Mini-Main Stage at 7:30pm. For next-big-things, there’s rockers Northern Son (South First Billiards, 10:45pm) and poppy SJSU Battle of the Bands winners April Chase (MACLA, 10:15pm). Sheer weirdness vote goes to sheerly weird metal band Tolteca Extra (Miami Beach Club, 5:45pm).
Saturday, June 26
Headliners Yo La Tengo (Main Stage, 9:15pm) have come a long way since The Onion tweaked them with the headline “37 Record-Store Clerks Feared Dead in Record Store Concert Disaster.” They’ve had a string of great albums in the last few years, possibly hitting their high point on 2006’s I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Kick Your Ass. Their live sets are completely unpredictable: at the Fillmore recently, they played most of their newest, Popular Songs, but at Treasure Island Music Festival last year their short set ended with a 25-minute jam. Soul weirdos the Mumlers (and I say that in the most affectionate way) play before them (Main Stage, 8pm), while the Bring It Back stage has an impressive lineup of DJs, including Ichy the Killer (9:20pm). Indie-folk locals the Emerald Hill (Works, 8:30pm), along with rockers the Odd Numbers (Wellness, 9:30pm) and Worker Bee (South First Billiards, 10:45pm) are the other local highlights. The can’t-miss one-two punch for cult rock is later at South First Billiards, with surf lunatics Beachkrieg (11:45pm) and the one and only rock madman the Legendary Stardust Cowboy (11:59pm).
