Live performance Recap: This Ain’t No Picnic Festival Blurs Genres, Generations

The Brookside Golfing Club at the Rose Bowl has noticed a ton of foot website traffic around the final handful of months, considerably of it unrelated to the sport. The expansive class has turn out to be a handy placing for a number of songs festivals and cultural events, such as This Ain’t No Picnic, which touched down in Pasadena this earlier weekend.

The all-ages, loved ones-helpful, two-working day pageant — named right after the Minutemen song — boasted a monthly bill that study like an NPR playlist. A apparent alternative for Los Angeles’ defunct, and sorely skipped FYF Fest, This Ain’t No Picnic experienced a musical some thing for anyone — pop, hip-hop, dance, punk and rock were properly-represented genres — and highlighted the kind of left-of-heart artists who’ve come to be darlings of the indie scene, like Phoebe Bridgers, Wet Leg, Seashore Home, Courtney Barnett (pictured over), and of the final 20 yrs, as represented by Le Tigre, Caroline Polachek, and headliners the Strokes and Lcd Soundsystem.

Amidst golf ball scraps and broken tees lodged in the grass and filth, a crowd comprised of different ages — say 25 to 50 yrs-outdated — represented the vast majority of attendees, but also apparent was the number of younger children in attendance (those underneath five ended up specified no cost entry), outfitted in exceptional festival put on as opposed to their dad and mom. The a few-generational scope of festivalgoers mirrored that of the line-up which spanned artists from the 1960s by to present day.

There were two distinctive poles at Ain’t No Picnic: guitars and decks. On Saturday, on the Fairway Phase, Yves Tumor, who channels Andre 3000, with a band that appears to be like like it’s on mortgage from Ozzy Osbourne through his Randy Rhoads period, turned it up to 11. Tumor’s metallic-studded codpiece (which at just one place essential some altering accompanied by some humping from a roadie), thigh-significant leather-based boots, bondage straps and spiked bracelets extra to the showmanship they have in spades with songs that is a cross in between Joy Division and Billy Idol. The shredding ongoing on The Greens Phase with Magdalena Bay’s multi-instrumental producer, Matthew Lewin. The duo’s sense-great jams enjoy like Billie Eilish had she emerged in the ‘70s, except with frontperson Mica Tenenbaum as a sunshine and rainbows K-pop cheerleader avatar.

Nigeria’s Mdou Moctar who slice rather the figure with his and his band’s iridescent caftans and blinding white turbans, tore up the Fairway Stage on Sunday. His assurance washed over the group as he smirked, singing intermittently in his native Tamasheq, enjoying his guitar — with out a decide on — with immediate actions the “regular” way and more than the top rated of the neck.

In other places, it was the clash of the amazing chicks with guitars when Moist Leg joined Phoebe Bridgers to close out her set.

More than on the Greens Phase, Deafheaven, which was delayed, had its sizable group on pin and needles. They proved well worth the wait around offering a heavy bass, Overcome-like sound. Also on this phase were the humor-filled, oft-imitated iconic Sparks who have entered their sixth decade in music. Clad in all-black bar vocalist Russell Mael’s neon yellow pants, it’s only when they go by way of their large-power established that you recognize just how a lot of hits they have: “Angst in My Trousers,” “Tips for Teenagers,” “Music That You Can Dance To,” “When Do I Get to Sing ‘My Way.’” Quirky as ever, Ron Mael’s keyboard reads “Ronald” rather of “Roland.”

If there was a thread operating by means of This Ain’t No Picnic, it was punk will under no circumstances die. From classics like Circle Jerks, the Descendents and Mike Watt + The Missingmen to newer groups like the at any time-well-liked Idles, new favorites Turnstile and Disgrace, the ability and launch of a punk rock set are unable to be denied. Circle Jerks reliably blasted as a result of a track every single two minutes or so and Disgrace experimented with to gamely do the same. The Descendents ripped by their established with the depth that arrives from knowledge. Turnstile, 1 of the most talked about points of interest of the pageant, drew an overflow group. And Idles, who have immediately grow to be major stage materials, ended up in major type. Even missing guitarist Mark Bowen, solid drummer Jon Beavis and emotive vocalist Joe Talbot delivered.

Bridging the guitars and decks were Jungle on the Back Nine Phase. To quotation Spotify’s Carly Eiseman, the duo is “the Steely Dan of digital music” and the group danced up a storm for the duration of the duo’s set. The effectiveness strike a frenzy when they broke into “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees — apt thinking of the group’s have been as opposed to every other much more than the moment.

On the opposite pole, Kaytranada led an eclectic established of dance-centric tracks on the Fairway. The 19th Gap Stage, which featured an excellent array of “cool” DJs, proved extra difficult to accessibility. This was specially real of Honey Dijon who, clean from her Beyonce collaboration, shut out the evening.

The most hard location to obtain entry was James Murphy and Soulwax/2ManyDJs’ Despacio is Contentment location. Despacio is dubbed the biggest audio process in the earth, and for fantastic reason. Pitch-black apart from for the blue-and-eco-friendly glow from the McIntosh speaker stacks positioned about the black-and-white checkered dancefloor, a big disco ball dead-heart and red and white spotlight flashing on and off, furnished really very little visible on the DJ, which is section of Despacio’s ethos. Operating with vinyl only, the slow rolling rhythms furnished by Murphy and Soulwax’s Stephen and David Dewaele give a sensual come to feel to the place — in particular throughout a hard-hitting remix of a further Bee Gees’ perennial, “Love You Inside of Out.”