Monolith Festival..::..::..(recap)

Good times, good times. The very first Monolith Festival at Red Rocks is all over, and my, what a great time! The brand new festival had two days of no rain, manageable crowds, fantastic acoustics and while there may have been a few glitches here and there, overall Year No. 1 went off well.

Friday afternoon got off to a mellow start, probably because lots of people were still at work. Temps were in the 60s and it was cloudy.

On Day One ....
The Dirty Novels checked out a tight set by The Broken West, out of LA (above).

Then Ghostland Observatory took the main stage, with a blue cape.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah got people dancing with "Summer Teeth" (below) I have to say, I like their new stuff better than their old stuff. The singer also had striped pants. New hipster trend?


Cat-A-Tac dealt with some hecklers on the woxy.com stage, inside the visitors center. After that Ra Ra Riot put on a high-energy show with an almost violently dancing lead singer, electric violin and cello, guitar, bass, drums. They said this was their first show in the Mountain Time zone (they're from Syracuse). Ra Ra Riot is out touring with ....

The Editors (below)

A terrific set on the stage at the top of the amphitheatre.

Caught snippets of Mobius Band, Born in the Flood, Vienna Teng and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (666). The Decemberists played a long set, including "16 Military Wives." Which by the way, there was a lot of anti-Bush rhetoric this whole weekend.

Then Cake closed out Day One, revvin' up the college kids and bong hitters

On Day Two...

The sun was out, it was above 80 degrees, and The Little Ones were dancing and having a good time (below)


Like Ra Ra Riot, Margot & the Nuclear So and So's showed that cello and violin do belong in rock bands.

Ian Ball of Gomez ("See the World") was solo with a guitar (below).

He charmed the crowd, playing a 15-second song he wrote as a theme for some show, and also a song about premature ejaculation called Don't Let a Little Failure Get You Down, before going into a quiet soulful version of "How We Operate."

Members of De Novo Dahl checked out Brian Jonestown Massacre (DND are the ones with the goofy pastel decorated band uniforms; they're in the row closest to the camera)



Brian Jonestown Massacre had to work hard to keep people from fleeing at the end of their set on the main stage as the booming bass of Lords of the Underground took over from the stage at the top of the amphitheatre. Lords of the Underground actually got the crowd to chant out the phrase "Denver, psycho psycho!" Yeah, good job guys.

Earlier on that stage, Meese played. I like Meese's recorded stuff, but they didn't sound as polished live, and on one song, the lead singer pranced around like he was Iggy Pop or Mick Jagger. Um, you're not there yet, bud.

White Rabbits packed the woxy.com stage in the evening, as did Hot IQs.

Art Brut strutted their stuff, chanting out verses over music. I don't know. They're big in England. Spoon got down to business and did a long-ish set, with not much banter.

On the acoustic stage, William Elliott Whitmore -- bluesy, rootsy. And Rocky Votolato had a lot of female fans ask to take photos with him.

Cloud Cult -- again with the cello and violin! -- played at the top of the amphitheatre, with two artists painting live to the music behind them. The paintings were up for bid at the end of their set. Cloud Cult straight up lied to get people to stay to the end of their late-night set, saying The Flaming Lips weren't set to play for another 20 minutes, when in fact, the Lips were taking the big green balls that were sitting on the main stage all day up to the top of the amphitheatre ....


to release them down on the crowd for the Lips set!


Wayne said the band was trying to get these lights from the former USSR to the show, but they were detained in Oklahoma City because these were lights that had mercury and may have been tainted by Chernobyl...anyway, the lights didn't make it to the show.

Still, Flaming Lips got the crowd on their feet, closing with "Do You Realize" before two encores.

And good night.