this is dudical.

A continuation of my P4k coverage for the lovely RadioK. Head over there for more exciting things (like interviews!).

Photos by Jules Ameel

The first chills-inducing moment of the day came from Titus Andronicus. On a stage decorated with American flags, Titus slayed the mid-90s heat with cameos by tourmates Hallelujah The Hills, including a full set with Andy Dick-lookalike/keyboard guru Elio DeLuca. These guys turned the stage into a party; I counted 9 people playing during the anthemic ‘…And Ever‘. Trumpets turned choruses into monsters, guitarist Amy Klein had The World’s Biggest Smile Ever glued to her face for the entire show, and Stickles was swimming in sweat by the time the set was up. At one point I looked over to see a guy with the longest handlebar mustache I have ever seen, fully decked out in an overcoat and longpants (in other words, exactly the type of Civil War-era dude Titus sang about on The Monitor).

By the time Titus finished, the heat had almost taken me to the grave, so I checked out some of the vendor tents, which featured dozens of stands manned by great poster artists and booths loaded with enough vinyl to make my hands tremble. Amp was giving away free screened t-shirts, and Toyota Antics (whatever that is) was offering free screened tote bags. I grabbed both.

Wolf Parade was the highlight of the day. The guitars were razor sharp, the songs were somewhat faster…and it was LOUD. Spencer Krug’s yelps seemed to have much more protopunk influence in a live setting. (I definitely got some Stooges and New York Dolls vibes at times.) Awesomely, the band played plenty of older stuff, including a thundering version of ‘Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts‘. They finished things off with the entire 10 minutes of ‘Kissing the Beehive‘, which led to all kinds of freakouts—including dancing makeout sessions in the crowd.

LCD Soundsystem brought the night to a close with a rave-up danceparty extraordinaire. James Murphy pulled no punches, going huge early—the second song was ‘Drunk Girls‘—and turning it to 11 from there. He had the crowd losing its mind 15 minutes into the set with a MONSTROUS version of ‘All My Friends‘ (one of the Festival’s highlights). People were hula-hooping, a six-year-old was dancing on her dad’s shoulders, the crowd was loving every second. The obvious comparison here is Depeche Mode, but LCD more than held their own tonight. After more than an hour of nonstop danceable jams, Murphy put an end to the night with the comedown of ‘New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down‘, which seemed strange at first (but was ultimately perfect).