Zitfest Day 2
With Sumsun, the Dewars, Plains, the Monster, This Heart Electric, LLLR, Little Beard, Teepee, Go Ghosts, Band in Heaven, Guy Harvey, the Jameses, and Love Handles.
The Orange Door, Lake Park
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Read Day 1 coverage here.
The seriously anticipated second day of Zitfest lived up to all the expectations
-- massive, killer, seamless. The Orange Door in Lake Park functioned much like a house show -- the crowd was
a hundred-deep group of best friends and there was a genuine appreciation for
the bands, since most are face-melting hometown heroes. Mingling, excessive in
between sets, would cease totally once the music got going
again.
The Orange Door was the breakout star, and this is
purely from an outsider's perspective. Seated in a shopping plaza in a
relatively desolate intersection, the pale yellow warehouse features a banner
on its exterior advertising it as the go-to destination for "Christian,"
Alternative," and "Blues." Obviously a local mainstay, it had a comforting
mien: bartenders who might've been there for years, rainbow Christmas lights, a
checkerboard floor bizarre and sprawling enough to make the place look like an
extension of its neighbor, Party City (also: a caged skeleton). The festival came with its own paper
program containing a map highlighting The Orange Door's location, plus the
nearest place to get pizza. No point in that, though, because local food vendor Pete Cavanagh was armed with charcoal grills to create vegetable
paninis, and chicken salad.
A rundown of the magic itself: LLLR, the first act caught by this reporter, is CJ Jankow's fast-paced
guitar paired with Nelson Hallonquist's textured, lightning-storm drones. Miami's Little Beard, both
adorably twee and gritty, played a slew of new songs and averted
disaster when singer/keyboardist Sarah Attias avoided a fall. She later shared
a microphone with Teepee, whose organic-but-psyched-out fuzz was exceptionally
lush and beautiful.
Go Ghosts'
candied indie rock had catchy, seemingly-love-fueled tunes that were fun enough
to temper some early technical difficulties. The DJ followed them with "Goodbye
Horses," which the Band In Heaven, joined by a drummer and tambourine-player,
then played, as if in immediate homage. The Cranberries' "Dreams," though, served as crowd-charmer. "This is another cover," said guitarist
Ates Isildak. "All of our songs
are covers."
Guy Harvey's melodies
are so guitar-driven that, after the equally energetic Band in Heaven, the guys resembled the Feelies in both style and
their ability to get people moving more wildly than before.
As for the Jameses -- organizers, roadies and buddies of everything this weekend -- the set resulted in the happiest kind of mosh pit: hand-holding, mid-dance
hugging, a loving swarm around Jesse Bryan and requests from Dan McHugh for
everyone to get much closer.
Love Handles played as Love Handles Extreme, a
nine-piece of friends featuring maracas, bongos, a horn, and emotional
confetti.
So eager everyone was to support
each other that the vibes became familial, and while trains blared on the
nearby railroad tracks, certain members of Miami bands, after the draining drive,
felt comfortable enough to nap in cars parked right in front of the venue.
Critic's Notebook
Better Than: Day 1 of Zitfest -- but only the category of lineup size.
Random Detail: Every
single person in attendance danced (or swayed enthusiastically) for at least one song per set.
By the Way: This
event was not actually thrown in support of The Tea Party.
Overheard: "Is Matt
Cutler [of Tumbleweave] here? We
hate you, Matt Cutler." -The Band In Heaven's Lauren Dwyer in a moment of sweet
sarcasm.
