The Party Weirdo Festival
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 The Party Weirdo Festival turned out to be more of a party than a festival last night in Long Beach. The event featured 15 bands, some local and some from other parts of California. For $10 it offered a great opportunity to see some bands that stayed mostly close to the Psych/Rock formula, but not too similar where it all sounded the same. The event took place in two places: a outdoor parking lot with a bar ($2 draft beers) and porta-potties, and a indoor venue which was 21 and over (but had way expensive drinks) . The reason it felt more like a party than a festival was the low turnout. Cold weather probably had something to do with that, but hopefully this doesn't dissuade the promoters from staging future shows there.
I got there in time to see San Francisco's LUMERIANS and was greatly impressed. Their sound reminded me of The Heads with a lot of percussion, throbbing bass, congas, and retro keyboards. All they were missing was some go-go girls gyrating around and it would have been Peter Sellers' "The Party" all over again.
LOWER HEAVEN was very good also, with a Kinski(ish) sound that also cried out for go-go dancers. This band is from Silver Lake, and played a tight set with great bass and drums, and churning guitars. Check them out!
DEAD MEADOW took the outdoor stage as the headliners, and Jason Simon joked about the cold weather. "Til Kingdom Come" was a surprise opener off of Old Growth, and "White Worm" seemed to be the highlight as the fine Dead Meadow sound echoed all over the downtown buildings. Just as the crowd was starting to get into it, the band had to stop due to time curfews. Hopefully the boys in DEAD MEADOW will be back soon to Long Beach and can really unwind and jam (like they did at the Art Theater show last month).
Looking forward to seeing Party Weirdo's next event. Long Beach needs you guys (and the $2 Heinekens).
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