Don Julio
Ikon Class
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2011
I hate music "festivals." They usually involve standing for long periods of
time; vast stretches of interminable boredom while each band tears down and sets
up equipment; wretched food; "Port-A-Potties;" you name it. However, the
organizers of the Austin Psych Fest 4 almost gave me a reason to revise that
opinion by having the good sense to ask Cold Sun to reunite and play this year.
I say "almost" because in the end, they managed to screw that up as well, and I
still have no reason not to despise music "festivals."
There were two reasons I bought tickets to the Psych Fest: Cold Sun and Roky
Erickson. This sounded great in theory. There was no reason why it couldn't have
been great in actuality. I started to get nervous when I learned that there were
two stages, and Cold Sun was scheduled to play on Stage 2 at 9:00 and Roky on
Stage 1 at 9:30. Two stages is usually a good thing -- it cuts down on the
boredom listed above -- however, this schedule was absolutely ludicrous.
Everybody wanted to see Roky, and a lot of people wanted to see Cold Sun also,
and there was no way to see both (even if they had miraculously stayed on
schedule).
Needless to say, the festival did not stay on schedule. Cold Sun didn't start
playing until about 9:30, and had only performed four songs when Roky plugged in
and started his set. So the net result was that I was forced to choose between the two acts that I
had come to Austin to see. I stayed with Cold Sun, and they didn't disappoint,
though they only played three songs from their legendary 'Dark Shadows' album:
'South Texas,' 'For Ever,' and 'Here In The Year.' The rest was new material,
which I liked but would have preferred 'Twisted Flower,' 'Fall,' and 'Ra-Ma.'
Miller, McGarrigle, and Waugh played exceptionally well (unlike most of these
reunion shows where at least one of the group brings the rest down).
Fortunately, after their set ended, Roky was still on stage, and I was stunned
to hear the band launch into "Reverberation." I had not expected to hear Roky
perform anything from the first Elevators album, and while he struggled mightily
with "Reverberation" (confusing most of the lyrics), as far as I knew this was
the first time he'd sang it on stage since 1967. That was followed by "Splash 1"
and an even bigger surprise, "Roller Coaster." Rok did better with this ... the
backing group was fantastic (including an electric jug), the light show was also
great, and for a minute or two there I could almost imagine I was in a time-warp
and back at the Vulcan Gas Company.
There was no reason why Bill Miller couldn't have joined Roky on stage to supply
autoharp for the Aliens' songs, which would have made the night truly magical,
but of course that would have involved 10 minutes of planning ahead of time,
planning which was beyond the capacities of the organizers of this event.
Pics
http://galleries.austin360.com/gallery/austin-psych-fest-050111/#167737
time; vast stretches of interminable boredom while each band tears down and sets
up equipment; wretched food; "Port-A-Potties;" you name it. However, the
organizers of the Austin Psych Fest 4 almost gave me a reason to revise that
opinion by having the good sense to ask Cold Sun to reunite and play this year.
I say "almost" because in the end, they managed to screw that up as well, and I
still have no reason not to despise music "festivals."
There were two reasons I bought tickets to the Psych Fest: Cold Sun and Roky
Erickson. This sounded great in theory. There was no reason why it couldn't have
been great in actuality. I started to get nervous when I learned that there were
two stages, and Cold Sun was scheduled to play on Stage 2 at 9:00 and Roky on
Stage 1 at 9:30. Two stages is usually a good thing -- it cuts down on the
boredom listed above -- however, this schedule was absolutely ludicrous.
Everybody wanted to see Roky, and a lot of people wanted to see Cold Sun also,
and there was no way to see both (even if they had miraculously stayed on
schedule).
Needless to say, the festival did not stay on schedule. Cold Sun didn't start
playing until about 9:30, and had only performed four songs when Roky plugged in
and started his set. So the net result was that I was forced to choose between the two acts that I
had come to Austin to see. I stayed with Cold Sun, and they didn't disappoint,
though they only played three songs from their legendary 'Dark Shadows' album:
'South Texas,' 'For Ever,' and 'Here In The Year.' The rest was new material,
which I liked but would have preferred 'Twisted Flower,' 'Fall,' and 'Ra-Ma.'
Miller, McGarrigle, and Waugh played exceptionally well (unlike most of these
reunion shows where at least one of the group brings the rest down).
Fortunately, after their set ended, Roky was still on stage, and I was stunned
to hear the band launch into "Reverberation." I had not expected to hear Roky
perform anything from the first Elevators album, and while he struggled mightily
with "Reverberation" (confusing most of the lyrics), as far as I knew this was
the first time he'd sang it on stage since 1967. That was followed by "Splash 1"
and an even bigger surprise, "Roller Coaster." Rok did better with this ... the
backing group was fantastic (including an electric jug), the light show was also
great, and for a minute or two there I could almost imagine I was in a time-warp
and back at the Vulcan Gas Company.
There was no reason why Bill Miller couldn't have joined Roky on stage to supply
autoharp for the Aliens' songs, which would have made the night truly magical,
but of course that would have involved 10 minutes of planning ahead of time,
planning which was beyond the capacities of the organizers of this event.
Pics
http://galleries.austin360.com/gallery/austin-psych-fest-050111/#167737
