A few weeks ago, the city of Philadelphia hosted a wonderfully eclectic indie festival called Popped! Taking place over the entire weekend, artists from all points on the genre spectrum made an appearance. Philly is an old, northeast urban environment and the available space for a large festival is hard to find. The organizers decided to bring each day of Popped! to a different venue, leading to a diverse group of environments for the attendees to visit over the weekend. Being that the festival was on a smaller scale than some of the more famous national events, this worked out extremely well.

Friday – The Trocadero Theatre, Chinatown

The first night of the festival took place at one of my favorite spots in Philadelphia, the Trocadero Theatre, located in the heart of Philly’s Chinatown. The Troc is a classic rock venue that hosts small to mid-range acts, as well as other events (such as the Monday movie nights and punk rock flea markets.) While never claiming to be the most modern of establishments (it’s also a bit grungy), it is a truly special place, with high ceilings, beautiful columns, a great bar up on a balcony with tons of seating, and good acoustics.

At 10:45, I stood hanging my elbows over the balcony of the Trocadero at the first night of the inaugural Popped! Festival in Philadelphia. I peered down at the scene, gazing at an empty stage and an empty dance floor. Taking a deep breath and releasing a therapeutic sigh, I noticed the smell of a fraternity party. The kids around me seemed to be having a good time, but the Troc is a concert venue, not a venue for a danceless party. At least the music was good. White T’s & White Belts and Steven Bloodbath took shifts on the tables, giving the party a nice mix of music with a slight lean towards hip hop.

Finally, Slick Rick the Ruler stormed the stage and he came out rocking, doing a nice selection of his “newer” and older material. The crowd was surprisingly young for what I expected to see at a Slick Rick show and, while a good portion was well-versed with the classics, many seemed lost during “Children’s Story,” my personal highlight of the evening. Still, he got the audience going with “La Di Da Di.” Rick ruled the stage for a mere 35 minutes (maybe). The backing band, the Eclectic Collective, did not even leave the stage before the encore. Rick returned, but did not perform another song. Instead, he sort of chanted for about three minutes and then made his final exit.

Fortunately, his backing band was exceptional. Rick was great, but the band equally impressed me. In particular, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the saxophonist, keyboard player and drummer, as they exerted an almost tangible energy and clearly had a ton of fun with the performance. They were amazing all night, but after Slick Rick finished, they had an opportunity to show off their full talents. My favorite song had to be a cover of the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy,” where the lead singer handled both Biggie’s and the female’s vocals.

I had the opportunity to catch up with a member of EC after the show and find out a bit about them. Apparently, they are a cover band out of Boston that snagged an opportunity to play with Slick Rick. The legend fell in love and soon anointed EC as his new live band. Concurrently, EC has another project, called Bad Rabbits and are working on an album of original material.

Saturday – Outdoors at Drexel, University City

The first full day of the festival featured a nice, eclectic group of acts. Popped! put up the stage at Drexel University, setting it on a street at the top of a hill, which gave the audience a nice view from a fair distance away. Another plus of the location was the grassy square adjacent to the street, where early in the day, people set up picnics and sprawled out in the sandy beach volleyball area.

I arrived a little later than planned, but caught the end of Mr. Lif. As a hip hop veteran, he was able to get those in attendance excited with his set. Dan Deacon followed with a short set, heavily contrasting the chill flow of Mr. Lif. He jumped right in the crowd, leading everyone in a set full of dancing, singing and even a quick game. I would have preferred to see a longer set and I think the organizers could have done a better job planning the schedule. Dan Deacon emits energy and aptly enthused the crowd for Gogol Bordello. Crystal Castles is still lesser known than Gogol, but the energy was right. The vitality took a dive during Mates of State, leaving a somewhat chilled-out crowd for Vampire Weekend. A better order probably would have been Mr. Lif, Mates of State, Dan Deacon, Crystal Castles, Gogol Bordello, Vampire Weekend.

Regardless, the crowd was pumped for Gogol Bordello. The audience went nuts for the single “American Wedding.” In my opinion, this isn’t even one of their best songs, so I find it a bit strange how crazy the crowd became, but I appreciate the distinguishable aspects of the new album. Soon the band dug into “Purple” and released the crowd into a large group-pogo session. I even noticed a girl in a purple shirt climb on top of the crowd with a fist pumped in the air, which brought a huge smile to my face. Eugene Hütz, the band’s vocalist is clearly the star of the show and band. Whatever he does the crowd responds with a large applause, not that it is not deserved. At one point, Hütz was using a bucket as an instrument, banging the underside. He placed a bottle of wine in the bucket and subsequently added the microphone before shaking the filled bucket over his head. At the song’s final chord, he threw it all in the air. Each came crashing down separately, the wine spilling everywhere. The bottle was practically filled to the top before the toss and this was the first time I saw Gogol without seeing any of the members drinking much. Perhaps it was just too hot for wine.

I enjoyed Crystal Castles’ bouncy “techno”-type music with videogame-electro sounds. The lead singer, Alice Glass, has star quality. Early in the set, I found myself wondering if the visible appearance was the true color of her eyes, as they pierced daggers through the crowd. She caught me off guard when she lifted the mic over her head and began to bang it against the side of her head. The front of the crowd seemed to recognize many of the songs – or, at least, it cheered at the beginnings like it did. As strange as Glass comes off (at one point she announced, “I’m gonna pee” or “puke” – I could not quite make out the last word), she made it a point to continually thank the crowd for the support. Crystal Castles played a short set, lasting only five or six songs, but they came back out for an encore.

Next up, Mates of State showed off their great voices. The duo’s music felt thick, as in it was an extremely dense and layered sound for only two people. Clearly experts in harmonizing vocals, the two blended their voices through both the verses and choruses. The set was full of good, chill, laid-back poppy music. There is nothing negative that I could say about the performance, but I do think they had the wrong set time, as they relaxed the crowd before the headliners.

The last band of the day was the hot Vampire Weekend. When they took the stage, all I could hear was screaming girls and I thought for a second that I might be at a Jonas Brothers show. Ezra Koenig, the singer, announced that this was the band’s first concert in a week and some yells of “Bonnaroo!” popped out of the crowd. The band dug into the mellow songs with pounding bass guitar and drums. I think Vampire Weekend’s best song to dance to is the single “A-Punk”. I moved up to the left front of the crowd to get some crowd shots and noticed a terrible echo, bouncing off a building behind the crowd. Apparently, this clash was present all day and had a strong, negative impact on the sound.

I find it interesting how Koenig is so soft-spoken when he speaks between songs, yet he is extremely articulate when singing. His high voice harmonizes beautifully with the keys, while clashing dramatically with the snares, toms and heavy bass guitar. At this point in the evening, the crowd’s layers had multiplied. Strangely, the party was in the sand pit where a small hippy dance party took over the beach volleyball court. Unfortunately, I noticed that as the band reached the middle of many of the songs, a large portion of the audience looked distracted and almost bored, with wandering eyes focused towards the sky or something in the distance. That is until the guitar-plucking started, which the audience responded to with some “wooooos!” The crowd managed to find some energy for the new single (and video) “Oxford Comma.” Vampire Weekend ended the set on a high note with “Walcott,” which was certainly appropriate for Popped! The audience roared at the lyrics: “All the way from Jersey. All the way from the Garden State.” During the final two times that the band played the hook, most of the crowd jumped in place with fists pumping in the air.

Saturday’s crowd had a young appearance, yet everyone I met turned out to be older.

Sunday – World Café Live, University City

The final day of Popped! took place at the newest of Philly’s music venues, World Café Live. The building, which hosts the great public radio station WXPN, is extremely nice for what us Philly locals have grown accustomed to over the years. It actually houses dual performance spaces. The main concert venue with large stage, bar and balcony is located downstairs, while the smaller café is upstairs.

The first band I caught on Sunday was Gildon Works, a Philly band specializing in what I can generalize as moody indie-pop music. The drums drive through thick harmonic riffs.

I spent the next set interviewing the New York band, Sam Champion.

I went back downstairs to catch some of PWRFL Power, which is not a band, but rather the alter-ego of Kazutaka Nomura. He has a smooth, gentle voice – except when it is not and, on these rare occasions, he can make it quite harsh. I was most impressed by his dynamic guitar skills, as he nimbly worked his way through very difficult melodies and structures. The songs are full of humor and irony. My personal favorite was a self-explanatory song called “How to Use Chopsticks.”

Next up was Takka Takka, a five-piece out of Brooklyn. The singer’s voice was a bit monotonous (in a positive way, similar to the sound of Jim Morrison), yet at times he let it wander, almost in a Middle Eastern style chant. He worked a sampler that I assumed caught and ran loops. The intensity of the band picked up at times and at one point, the vocalist literally slammed the tambourine repeatedly against the ground. Many of the songs featured long instrumental sections. The live sound was reminiscent of the old Louisville post-hardcore scene (e.g., Elliot-like riffs and drums).

The most unique artist that I caught at Popped! was undoubtedly Tickley Feather. I don’t think a description could really do her justice, but I will give it my best attempt. Imagine Bjork playing weird, off-the-wall, artsy and experimental music. I mean more alternative than she already plays. Tickley’s (can I call her that?) polka-dot gloves clutched onto dual microphones, one distorted with echoes. She also used this small piano instrument that I couldn’t figure out whether it was a tiny harpsichord-type thing or a toy. She has a guy who plays a synthesizer and other small sound effect machines. I completely forgot that she was from West Philadelphia, because I thought she was speaking a foreign language until she finished a song and started to speak with a dude in the crowd.

Next, I went back upstairs to catch Sam Champion. During our interview, I asked the members of the band about their biggest influences and the answer was the Clash, which took me by surprise. However, listening to the new songs live, I could definitely hear the influence coming through. Basically, if you take Pavement and add some of the later Clash, you get Sam Champion. Noah, the lead singer, has a sleepy voice with a Dylan twang. Clever guitar riffs drive the songs along with the drums. A couple of songs that stuck out were “Sally,” where the guitarist sings lead, showing the band’s harder edge with a nice break down, and “There was a Doubt,” a song featuring a driving guitar part reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age. “For What it’s Worth” kicks some major ass. The band ended on a strong note, building to the climactic “Be Mine Everyone,” which was the most powerful song of the set.

I hustled back downstairs and caught what turned out to be my personal favorite act of the day, O’Death. This is a motley group of crazy nutballs. The band consists of the following: (1) lead singer with a taped-up guitar; (2) guy who plays a tiny ukulele and banjo; (3) bassist looking straight out of a cartoon with his shirt off and long hair (he drank water, but it would have felt more appropriate if he had some PBR or moonshine); (4) violinist with a completely shredded bow, wearing only his socks (he had one shoe, for a bit, but kicked it off at some point); and (5) drummer who likes to stand and dance, while continuously spinning his sticks. This is another tough act to describe (as were most on Sunday), but I’d say they are Southern honky-tonk, folk-indie with a punk-twang. My favorite songs feature group vocals on the choruses and were particularly fun to watch with band members leaning close to each other to share microphones. The crowd responded and built to the most rowdy that it would get all day.

The last band upstairs was Project Jenny, Project Jan, which if I had to choose one word to describe, I’d use “eccentricity.” The group consists of an MC and a DJ, who together put on an entertaining audio/visual show for the crowd to dance along with. The vocalist scatted at times, sang a little, made some noises, while dancing, jumping and sweating a ton. The DJ used a drum machine with a laptop, playing mostly electro-bouncy music. The visual show was a compilation of all sorts of random vintage clips, generally correlating (at least somewhat) to each song’s subject.

Back downstairs, the Capitol Years took the stage to play their 60s-70s mellow rock. The last song sounded a lot like the Beatles’ “All the Young Dudes.” I had heard the group built quite a reputation for their onstage presence and firing up the crowd. I did not see this energy, but they are a very solid and passionate band. The lead singer has a nice, soothing voice. I believe that they will continue to build quite the fan base in the indie scene.

The Capitol Years left the stage and, after a short break, Daniel Johnston made his way towards the center of the stage. Rocking a black Popped! t-shirt, he seemed please with the yells of “Daniel!” He performed a short set on his own, singing four songs about love. Then he slowly made his way off the stage and the lights turned on.

Fifteen minutes later, Johnston returned with the Capitol Years. Johnston entertained with his classic storytelling and bizarre songs. One of the highlights of this set was the string of four songs, consisting of a cover of the Beatles, “Man Obsessed,” “Walking the Cow,” and “Speedy Motorcycle.” I was wondering why there was a two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew sitting on the stool next to Johnston. Just then, his voice faded into a gruff-sounding groan. As if it was on cue, Johnston picked up the bottle and began to chug. Sure enough, his voice was back. Though he had problems with his voice for the rest of the show and some other issues with microphone, everyone clearly enjoyed this legend. It was amazing, scattered around the audience were all the performers from earlier in the day, mesmerized by Daniel Johnston. He sang a song about having no girlfriend and a girl in the crowd screamed that he still has some girlfriends. Showing some quick-wittedness, Johnston shot back, “See you backstage,” cracking up every single person in attendance. “Devil Town” was the finale, and the audience sang along word-for-word, appreciating each minute that was left of the performance.

Categories: Concert Reviews, Features, Festival News/Rumor
Tags: Bad Rabbits, Crystal Castles, Dan Deacon, Daniel Johnston, Gildon Works, Gogol Bordello, Mates of State, Mr. Lif, O'Death, Popped! Music Festival, Project Jenny Project Jan, PWRFL Power, Sam Champion, Slick Rick, Steven Bloodbath, Takka Takka, The Capitol Years, The Eclectic Collective, Tickley Feather, Vampire Weekend, White T's & White Belts