Athens Popfest officially came to an end a few days ago, but i’m finally getting around to attempt to type about everything that happened. After catching up on sleep and going over my poorly written notes, i’m more or less going from memory than anything else with this overview. It was an amazing experience and it was great meeting so many new people.
I tried to catch as many bands as I could, but after the second day I came to the realization that it’s okay to miss a few bands here and there since fatigue seemed to become progressively worse as the days went along. I also want to add how bizarre it is to see so many recognizable musicians just walking around town, which i’m sure is a normal thing to residents in Athens, but for me it ended up just keeping me in a constant state of starstruck awe.
As mentioned in previous posts, you can take a look at all of the pictures that Rich and I were able to get from the entire four days (minus the first set of bands on day one, since we were at a Cubs/Braves game) over at the Flickr page.
We didn’t officially start our first day of Popfest until around 8:00 pm, when we got to Little Kings to see Supercluster kick off their set. I’m still a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to catch Afternoon Naps, who performed earlier in the day, but i’m sure there will be audio of that soon enough. The rest of the night, though, primarily consisted of many local Atlanta/Athens bands
as I got to see The Coathangers, who’ve improved so much as a band since the last time I saw them here in Auburn. They played a great set, including many new songs off their recent LP that I had yet to hear live. One funny moment included a bunch of handmade gifts that were handed out to the crowd from the band, which included the most random items you could think of: a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card, cigarette buds, assorted nuts, jelly beans and whatever sort of randomness you could think of.
MP3: The Coathangers :: “Parking Lot”
MP3: The Coathangers :: “Shut the Fuck Up”
One set that I really didn’t care much for at the time was Hot Pants Romance, but i’ve come to actually enjoy now that I listened to their songs off their recently released debut LP, It’s A Heatwave. They’re an all female, punk-pop three-piece from Manchester, in the vein of the DIY Riot Grrrl movement. I’m still not a fan of the live stuff, but I would recommend you check out their myspace for songs that meld a little punk, a little indiepop and maybe some shouting for good measure. I couldn’t find any MP3s, but I did find this video of one of the songs that was recorded completely on camera phone.
One of the next bands that really caught my eye were Judi Chicago, an Atlanta duo comprised of Baron Saturday and P.G. Tripps – multi-instrumentalists with this hard electro-dance pop sound (the sort that seems really popular now-a-days). They really brought a lot of energy to their set, as each of the guys were jumping around amidst the crowd in their assorted costumes. We ended up getting many pictures from this, since the guys happened to be very photogenic.
MP3: Judi Chicago :: “Burger Joy”
MP3: Judi Chicago :: “Mad Ape”
That’s pretty much it for day one, as i’ll try to have something up for the following days throughout this week.
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