FM 94.9 Independence Jam: A Review

I apologize for my lack of blogging...

Anyways, about I week ago I attended my local radio station's annual indie jam. It's always a good deal, $30 no service charge and the venue is beautiful, almost on the beach. Very strong lineup this year; Dead Confederate, Metric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Black Keys. I was postponing this review in hopes I could find a picture of Karen O. hilariously singing in a bodyguard's face, but no such luck. 

Dead Confederate: Meh. Solid, slightly emo grunge. The had some intense rockin' moments, but they definitely didn't blow me away. BORED. The singer and drummer were sporting some ridiculous bangs, I don't know how they could play their instruments. 

Metric: Canadian synth-poppers brought the dance-ability. Their set was mostly made up of songs off of their latest album "Fantasies", and of course the fist-pumper "Monster Hospital".  I have a huge girl crush on lead singer Emily Haines now. She's been described as "sassier than fuck". It's true. 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Most of the sold-out crowd was there to see Karen O. and co, so everyone pretty much lost their shit when they came on and went straight into "Dull Life".  They played a good balance of new and old material, I was very happy they played "Rockers to Swallow", it's probably one of my favorite YYY's songs. It was a short set, but a good one. Good timing as well, since the sun was just starting to set. Very high energy, the three of them have such good stage presence. They played "Maps", naturally. Here's the thing, I think Maps is a beautiful song, but I really don't understand why it's so popular. I just think they're just better at the raw, higher energy songs. Give me the glitzy, angsty, foot stomping, dancing music! 

The Black Keys: I had not heard much of their stuff beyond "Strange Times", and "I Got Mine", but they killed it, despite some technical issues. They had some guitar problems and had to stop a couple times, spurring the crowd to start screaming for a drum solo. A lot of their songs sounded the same, but I didn't really have a problem with that since all the songs were good. There was lots of headbanging and blusey swaying going on in the audience. 

Minus some obnoxious high school hipsters and the usual douchebags, it was one of the better shows I've seen lately.