POPPED! Fest came back once again for another year. Unfortunately, with the change in venue from FDR Park to Temple’s Liacouras Center and the elimination of stages, bands, comedy acts, and food trucks from the original promise for the festival, you can’t be blamed for feeling a bit underwhelmed by the whole experience, but there were definitely standout moments throughout the weekend. However, most of them came on the second day. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. was an act on the first day that really captured our attention. We are looking forward to seeing more of them.
Saturday was stacked with most of the acts that we were excited about seeing. The sound and light system also got a boost from the first day which might have been due to Pretty Lights traveling setup. Cults provided an enjoyable set after a quick much-needed adjustment to the system for Madeline Follin’s vocals. Hometown boys Sun Airway’s sound transferred quite nicely to the big stage proving that they deserve to be part of bigger tours and festivals in the near future. Charles Bradley sang with the heart of a warrior defying time and the cruel world of the music biz (now, if only someone would take Sly out of the van that he is currently living in and get him back in the studio or on stage). Titus Andronicus was a whole other beast when they took the stage, and really showed why they have received so much buzz. (BTW: Amy Klein fuckin’ rocks! We felt a little guilty inside about how turned on we were getting while she performed.) It was an honor to experience the performance by legendary rapper Rakim. Though we could have gone without the crowd participation that a lot of emcees go for during their sets and what felt really awkward when Rakim refused to perform and just have his deejay scratch until they fixed the sound to his liking, but we have never experienced what it is like to perform in front of thousands of people when you can’t hear the music so that’s OK. What wasn’t acceptable was the gentleman who ran all over the stage like a madman in the middle Rakim’s performance to cut his final tune short. That was really rather lame and a buzzkill. We guess that he wasn’t a fan of hip hop. Kreayshawn was really nice in the media room, but honestly, WTF!?! Not a very good idea to have her come after a hip hop legend. (And was that Arthur Kade who kept reiterating to us in the media room about how we were missing out on her genius?) Foster the People was one of the first acts that we felt really captivated the whole audience. Though we weren’t fans of their vocals, there performance was tight, and their sound was huge! For those who recently caught them at Kung Fu Necktie, you were very fortunate. We don’t think that you’ll find them on a stage that small for a long time if ever again. After the truly tired A.D.D. pop mash-ups of Girl Talk, Pretty Lights delivered the throw down dance party that most of the day was setup to do. There you have it. Those were our highlights from this year’s POPPED! Fest. We also do have some KILLER photos to share with you HERE. Enjoy! (Photos by David Turcotte)