MoogFest Day 2

After Day 1 of MoogFest, I was pretty sure there was no way Day 2 would stack up. Afterall, can you get away with having Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation, both of whom I've liked but more in a laidback way, follow the throbbing madness of Dan Deacon, Girl Talk, et al.?

  The answer is yes. Massive Attack puts on an incredible show. If they come to your town, city or college campus, go to see them, regardless of what the ticket costs (unless you know the sound guy is going to be incompetent*). Walls of sound, that most of the show leaned toward some psychedelic industrial feel, blasted out against a backdrop of LED panels that flashed everything from transcript tidbits of the WikiLeaks "Collateral Murder" video to stats on global access to drinking water and other factoids.

*On an aside, with the exception of a little technical delay about two songs into Dan Deacon's set, the sound engineering at every show I saw in the Asheville Civic Center was spot-on, and under some difficult circumstances (going from sub-bass-heavy dubstep sets to multi-piece bands blending electric and acoustic instruments). Props due to the folks running boards.

 Also, managed to be in the right place at the right time for a secret DJ set by Four Tet and Caribou. They spun some crazy experimental house to a small, but appreciative dance floor. A few hours earlier, Caribou played a sweet set that focused heavily on the newest album, but with some extended hard dancing parts. The guy playing drums was incredible. I think there were two songs off Andorra that were both excellent, and it kind of made both Carrie and I wish that they snuck in a track off Milk of Human Kindness, because it probably would've awesome.

One of the best things about the evening was the array of costumed folks littering the streets.