Musicfest NW, 2009
Musicfest NW 2009
by Brianne Turner, Photography by Justin Patterson
Dominating Portland, Oregon’s primary music venues, Musicfest NW began Wednesday at Berbati’s Pan with a lineup featuring Fences, Portland Cello Project, Damien Jurado, and Will Sheff of Okkervil River. Not so much a “Let’s get this party started!!1!” vibe for the festival’s inaugural show, but Portland Cello Project covered Britney’s “Toxic” (on cellos!), and Will Sheff had the venue packed by the end of his soundcheck.
Just off the plane from a show with his band in Tel Aviv and a subsequent 23-hour flight back to the States, Sheff used his Musicfest NW set to create a place where the grizzliest, beardiest bastards in Portland could sing along and sway with every WASP with a fairly credible music collection.
Thursday was the only day during the festival that called for any amount of planning and sacrifice. Torn between being an indie music blogger (Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), an indie music blogger (We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit), or participating in a sweaty mess of an underage (hi, all ages venue) dance party, we opted for Girl Talk at the Roseland.
Too sweaty and crowded to take notes with a pen, I took notes with my mind and with our Twitter account.
If Hot. As. Fuck. is not yet a scientifically recognized measure of body heat, someone should look into taking a thermometer to the next Girl Talk show. With the audience dancing and sweating all over each other below him, Gregg Gillis played maestro-dj while he extended his dance party to the stage and buried the crowd in toilet paper and confetti.
Friday’s obvious show choice was Sunny Day Real Estate, but we instead ventured out to Mississippi Studios for Weinland, Port O’Brien, and Deer Tick. For the last song of their set, Port O’Brien handed out pots and pans to anyone willing to sacrifice his PBR hand and become an extended member of the band’s rhythm section. When Deer Tick emerged for their set, lead singer John McCauley lifted his mini kilt to flash his gray briefs to the audience, so that was a special moment. The crowd spent the remainder of the evening dancing it out and enthusiastically shouting McCauley’s lyrics back at him.
[ Side note: Before the Beach House show at Berbati's Pan Saturday night, a van pulled up across the street and ninjas came spilling out to play two punk songs, draw a crowd, then drive away. Guerrilla ninja punk band (not "from outer space" because this really happened). If you know what that was, email me. I'm serious. Odd (and also awed). ]
Opening for Beach House were Avi Buffalo, The Morning Benders, and John Vanderslice. The crowd for Avi Buffalo and The Morning Benders was sparse, but the full sound of both bands helped to fill the empty space. Neither band was big on banter, but the crowd made up for it by talking both between and during songs. John Vanderslice and Beach House kept the vibe mellow and rounded out the last full night of Musicfest NW for us. We cover that more extensively here.
The apex of the week was easily Girl Talk at the Roseland Theater, because sweating all over yourself and also strangers has never been more enjoyable. If nothing else, Musicfest NW effectively created a lineup for eclectic music fans who don’t need big-name headliners to carry a festival.
