Passion Pit. *barf*
I was looking forward to completely avoiding Passion Pit. Unfortunately, because of a scheduling switcharoo, I was submitted to wading through hordes of douchy fans (apparently ready to trample women and children so they could get close enough to lap up singer Michael Angelakos’ spittle) to meet up with my crew who were excited to see them.
Who would have thought piss-poor screeching falsetto could inspire grown men to launch elbows at women, step over dozens of people and spill their $7 Coors (“They don’t have ‘Natty at Red Rocks? Drats, Batman!”) all over helpless bystanders. Maybe they just wanted to get close to Angelakos, sing along, and talk about being huge, misunderstood and complicated meat heads.
Angelakos encouraged all to shuffle down to the main stage to see Phoenix as Passion Pit mercifully ended their set. Preoccupied with imploring what good friends Passion Pit and Phoenix were, Angelakos made his best move of the night: sending people away to see Passion Pit’s “besties 4ever,” Phoenix.
To summarize: Passion Pit sucked. The crowd sucked. Then we went to Phoenix. Hoo-rah!
Monolith Festival: Phoenix.
Phoenix
As Monolith wound down, we sought refuge in Phoenix to preserve our positive outlook on the festival after the Passion Pit farce we had just endured.
And my, did they deliver. Phoenix has a reputation for being an air-tight live band. All six Frenchmen were perfectly efficient, just like Phoenix’s catalog of pop songs.
A few technical sound issues aside, singer Thomas Mars & Co. deftly breezed through their hits for a packed main stage. With their U.S. tour sold out, the scheduling remix was a wise one — Phoenix up top at the SoCo Stage would have probably led to a roof collapse.
We didn’t stick around for The Mars Volta. This is why. Yikes.
And there you have it! Intern Whisperer’s coverage of Colorado’s own Monolith Festival, 2009! Let us know how you enjoyed it and shoot us tips for other music to cover at info@internwhisperer.com or internwhisperer@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @internwhisperer. Cheers!
Phoenix — “Long Distance Call” live at Monolith Festival: