Hideout - Top of the Pops

As musical bang for your buck goes, the Hideout Block Party is a pretty good value. On Saturday I paid $20 for a full afternoon and evening of musical entertainment. It's not quite $10 for 24 hours, but really, what else is?

I arrived in time to see the end of O'Death's set, followed by Dan Deacon. Since he was set up on ground level I couldn't see any portion of his set, but it was certainly high-energy. Most of the folks up front were pogoing with gusto. I appreciated the fact that he warmed up the crowd by playing "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid on his iPod. He even mentioned Sebastian by name, earning extra points.

I met up with Sam and Paul just in time for Mucca Pazza to parade right past us to the North Stage. We noticed a Detholz! member on cymbals. I've only seen Mucca Pazza once before, at the Conan taping over a year ago - which barely counts. I get the sense they'd be more fun in a smaller enclosed area - where things would probably get kind of crazy - but that's not to say they weren't also fun to watch on a big stage in a large truck parking lot.

Following Mucca Pazza was a short set from the Hideout Punk Band, a merry collective of Hideout bartenders plus Sally Timms and Jon Langford. Jon may have been under a blanket; I think Sally was wearing some sort of sheep outfit. They did a bit of an Art Brut tribute, and ended by insisting they were the real Art Brut - while the more widely accepted version got ready to start its set at the South Stage. I'm rather sorry we didn't get to see more of the Punk Band, actually. They were definitely one of the more fun and unique and aspects of the block party.

I wasn't familiar with Art Brut prior to Saturday, aside from seeing them perform on a late night TV show recently. I enjoyed their set, but I have to be honest - probably at least 50% of that was because I enjoyed their accents so much. And by "their accents" I suppose I really just mean Eddie Argos. I'm not usually that much of a sucker for your average British accent, but what can I say? It added a lot to the whole Art Brut experience. I'm not sure I'd buy one of their albums, but I would see them live again.

Art Brut was followed by the Blue Ribbon Glee Club on the North Stage, but I'm afraid I didn't see much of their performance. I'd decided to ride the wave of people who surged forward after Art Brut to get into a better position for The Frames, the next band due at the South Stage.

Last time I saw The Frames was also at the Hideout, more than three years ago. That was inside - not exactly a festival atmosphere. Whether there are 200 people or 2,000 watching, though, Glen Hansard is an excellent showman. I know The Frames aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I've been a fan since the first time I casually checked out this random Irish band playing at the Annex in Madison. That's due to their music, of course, but also due in a large part to Glen, who exudes charisma.

I haven't done a great job keeping up with The Frames of late, which means that I'm not familiar with their two most recent albums. Despite this, I knew most of the songs they played on Saturday night. If I attended a lot of Frames shows, that might have bothered me. As it was, I loved hearing so many of my favorites - "Revelate," "Fake," "Rent Day Blues," "The Stars Are Underground," "Lay Me Down," and "God Bless Mom" to name a few. I was pleased to see some subtle differences in their performance this time around - no "Ring of Fire" snippet interjected into "Lay Me Down" (though a couple of weeks ago 16 Frames actually became the sixth band I've seen perform part of that song live.) And Glen imitated a leprechaun during "Revelate" on Saturday as he sang "my lucky charms," instead of pretending to eat a bowl of cereal. These are the details that make me happy.

That's not to say that there weren't plenty of cover song snippets thrown in at various points in The Frames' set. Their soundcheck was actually a lovely rendition of "Into the Mystic," for starters. During the main set we got bits of "Wave of Mutilation," "Lilac Wine," "Leader of the Pack" (ha), and even a few lines of "Reservations" (by that other band I see a lot) during "Pavement Tune." One of the coolest things that happened all night was when Glen made the fangirl fantasies of two women come true. I guess I can't say that with 100% certainty, but he did invite a female fan onstage to sing Marketa's part in the duet "Falling Slowly." Seriously, how neat is that? Two women wound up onstage because the first one claimed she knew the song but then had second thoughts, so another woman came up as well, but then it turned out they both knew the song after all. I don't know. It was really fun to watch, though. Both of the women looked like they might die of happiness.

The last song The Frames played was "Where is My Mind," which I've actually seen them cover before. But they brought out the Blue Ribbon Glee Club to sing it with them, which was very fun. They came back to loud cheers for an encore of "Red Chord," which put them well past their scheduled end time. I didn't notice many people caring.

After The Frames there was a frenzy of tear-down and setup, and then it was time for the headlining Andrew Bird. If you've read this blog before, you may know I'm quite a fan of Andrew Bird. Saturday night, though, wasn't one of my favorite performances. I'm not sure why - I think he's better suited to theaters, but that by itself wasn't really the issue. Andrew has always been one to change up the live arrangements of his songs compared to the album versions. That doesn't lend itself to singing along, since it's hard to know exactly what lyrics are coming or what changes might be made to the melody. That doesn't usually bother me, but maybe on Saturday night I was in the mood to communally belt out some songs - and it frustrated me a little that I couldn't do that. (Well, it didn't totally stop me. Some songs still work.) In particular, though it was nice to hear "Opposite Day" get played for a change, I wasn't a fan of the arrangement.

This isn't to say that Andrew gave a bad performance. "Fake Palindromes" was three minutes of pop bliss as always, and I enjoyed the buildup of "Simple X" into a swirl of sound that I appreciated even more than the album version. "Armchairs" was lovely in person, and Andrew even played "Dr. Stringz" from his big Nickelodeon debut on Jack's Big Music Show. His encore of the Handsome Family's "The Giant of Illinois" was unexpected (at least by me), and I enjoyed hearing something I'd never heard him play before. Still, I'd say The Frames were my favorite act of the night.

Once Andrew finished (thirty-seven minutes past the music curfew, according to Tim Tuten) the Chicago Short Film Brigade began running films on a big screen next to the stage. I loved them when they "opened" for Andrew at the Union Theater, but I was just too tired to stick around for more than a few. (Carmichael and Shane did crack me up, though.)



More photos here.