Photos & review by FiestabanPhoto!The irony could not be more palpable this Saturday—thousands of dark-clad, mascara-dripping, parasol-toting Cure fans milling about the grounds of the Pasadena Rose Bowl, scurrying between two stages (Willows and Oaks) and seeking shelter from a white-hot Southern California summer sun. Despite the heat, the crowd, a hodgepodge of young punks, goth ingénues, smiling heshers, working-class Gen X-ers, first-time festival goers, small children, dour teens and story-swapping Cure/Pixies veterans, brought to bear a daydream that was one part endurance test of stamina and hydration, and another part catharsis and pure wonderment. The Pasadena Daydream Festival is a story of something never quite done before: a genre-bending legacy band from England, now well into their fourth decade of music, tasked with hand-curating a one-day American music festival, featuring bands near and dear to their hearts. This isn’t Desert Days or Bonnaroo or Stagecoach with eclectic but pop-heavy lineups. And this certainly isn’t the sprawling harried mass of Coachella. This is something Robert Smith cooked up long before The Cure’s recent induction into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame to give back to generations of fans. The lineup included seasoned bands like Pixies, The Throwing Muses, Mogwai and Deftones, however, some newer artists like Chelsea Wolfe, The Twilight Sad, The Joy Formidable, Emma Ruth Rundle and Kælan Mikla brought fresh energy to the stage. More than just a showcase of alternative music, this event was the antidote to a world gone mean—it was a chance to reflect upon the power of music and community to heal, to look inward, to lament and then hope once again. To know that there are other misfits who sometimes feel just as lost as you do…lost, but with stars in our eyes.
The very first act on a festival lineup can feel thankless. However, as the first trickle of concert-goers start filling in the tents, Icelandic band Kælan Mikla was unforgettable, even in a day of unforgettable bands. Comprised of three lovely fairy wisp-women, these avant-garde Reykjavikers cleansed the stage with incense, healing geodes, Tibetan singing bowls and Far East prayer bells, then promptly had everyone dancing to their synth-punk melodies, harking somewhere in between early The Knife cuts and later Siouxsie and The Banshees. Wild, Icelandic, and melodic, (foregoing the obvious Sugarcubes references), these women have a non-Bjork style of their own, blending dark and light, diaphanous and layered, ambient and pop, lion and lamb on songs like “Draumadis,” “Nornalagiđ” “Kalt” and “Næturblóm.” Anyone nearby the Willows tent stage at 2pm on Saturday is now downloading everything by them. If you haven’t checked out this Aurora Borealis of a band, their latest album Nótt Etfir Nótt (“Night After Night”) is everything you never knew you wanted.
The second band of the festival, The Twilight Sad christened the main Oaks stage with a masterful taste of what was to come later in the day. Suffering from a brief snafu at the sound board, this band handled it like old pros, raging on with a sound that was an intriguing mix of post-punk and wall-of-sound shoegazer (think early U2 meets My Bloody Valentine) that the band self-describes as “folk with layers of noise.” This brooding Scottish band was a shoe-in for a Cure-centric festival, as Robert Smith covered “There’s A Girl In The Corner” in 2015 and in 2018 described the band as being, “…the best band playing the best songs.” Their setlist, including, “[10 Good Reasons For Modern Drugs]” “VTr” “And She Would Darken The Memory” and “I/m Not Here” are achingly from the heart—bellowing rich meditations on life’s losses and disappointments. A Joy Division-esque song from their latest album It Won/t Be Like This All The Time, “Videograms” has a melancholy pulse you can dance to. Seeing an audience roiling in the heat, lead vocalist James Graham concluded the set by offering a prayer to the audience, “Look after each other….” which could arguably be the motto of the festival. The Twilight Sad will be touring in Asia through September.
A little Kate Bush, a little PJ Harvey, a little Beth Orton, a little folk, a little blues, Louisville-born visual artist and musician Emma Ruth Rundle isn’t here to let her dreamy sweetness fool you. She can go as deep as you let her, and her billing at Daydream was well played. Rundle’s music is a lush, languid tapestry that borders on country, psychedelia and alt-rock (think maybe Cocteau Twins meets Neil Young). Her widely-praised 2018 album On Dark Horses is probably what caught the ear of Robert Smith, as it deals with similar Cure-esque themes of mourning, drama and loss, however with a much more uplifting, weightless sound than some of the other acts on the festival bill. Her set, including “Medusa,” “Control,” “Darkhorse,” “Marked For Death” and “Light Song” was one of the most anticipated of the festival. She did not disappoint with her steady rain of throbbing guitars and crashing drums. She will be on a European tour throughout the end of the year.
Next up was post-rock band, Mogwai. Formed in 1995 in Glasglow, Scotland, this band relies heavily on white-noise distortion and a psychedelic shoegazer vibe to form their sound, both familiar and unearthly. A droning hiss filled the air with a mélange of drum bursts, wailing keyboards, glistening chimes, dreamy guitars and haunting vocals, but just when you think you’re listening to a Sonic Youth-inspired soundscape, suddenly the vibe is prog, goth, punk or arena rock, pumping and thumping and full of spitting gristle that the crowd can feast upon. Songs like “Party In The Dark,” “Old Poisons,” “Remurdered” and “Mogwai Fear Satan” aren’t your typical lets-trash-this-party fare, but Mogwai makes it work. This band will always keep you guessing and that’s the beauty of quality musicianship: you take their ride, not vice versa.
There has been a buzz surrounding Northern California rocker Chelsea Wolfe since her 2017 breakout album Hiss Spun put her on the radar of rock, folk and metal fans alike. What can probably only be described as gothic romance-metal (think maybe Lana Del Rey and Patti Smith meets Black Sabbath), Chelsea Wolfe will probably be remembered as Pasadena Daydream’s darling of darkness. Wolfe doesn’t shy away from using her personal traumatic experiences as a way to frame what she sees as an overwhelming ecological and political melee, and a sense of worldwide alienation from authentic selfhood. Having toured with A Perfect Circle and Ministry, she brings with her impeccable musicianship and a spooky flair that no one will forget. She has admitted that her music is philosophical and meant to elicit the warrior and the goddess, the angelic and the demonic forces that all human beings possess. Her music is meant to foster “an internal awakening of the feminine energy, a connection to the maternal spirit of the Earth, and a defiant stance against the destructive and controlling forces of a greedy and hostile patriarchy.” Her wailing lyrics, coupled with a thick grimy reverb on songs like “Vex,” “Feral Love” and “Survive,” call for personal embodiment and love as a means of escaping our current tumultuous atmosphere of fear and hate. “It’s overwhelming and I have to write about it,” she says, citing Henry Miller as an inspiration to “embrace the mess of self.” A forthcoming album, entitled The Birth Of Violence is due for release on September 13th and will undoubtedly be on everyone’s top ten list. She will be on tour in the U.S. beginning September 17th.
Even though the main act was The Cure, at least 20% of the t-shirts at Pasadena Daydream Festival had the words “Deftones” emblazoned boldly on the front. Formed in Sacramento in 1998, this alternative-metal-meets-punk band (sometimes called “the Radiohead of metal”) is a force to be reckoned with. A mainstay of the Chicano alternative music scene, Deftones are right at home in Los Angeles, banging out their dizzying songs “Tempest,” “My Own Summer,” “Hole In The Earth” and their first live performance of “Gauze.” They are a grinding powerhouse of organized chaos and, despite playing during the heat of the day, provided the crowd a soundtrack for the mosh pit that they were chomping at the bit for. Stay tuned for an upcoming album and for their upcoming performance at Dias De Los Deftones in San Diego on November 2nd.
The Joy Formidable couldn’t be a more aptly named band. This Welsh trio are a kaleidoscope of every rock band you loved in the early aughts: The Killers, Metric, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Kills, The Raveonettes, etc. Singers and couple Ritzy Bryan and Rhydian Dafydd are absolutely high voltage on stage, belting and melting and having everyone immediately bouncing to their highly infectious melodies. Their sing-along style of songs are tailor-made for festivals like this, and just watching the outpouring of love they have for each other, for the audience, for the world in general is highly infectious. Even though songs like “I Don’t Want To See You Like This,” “Caught On A Breeze” and “The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade” are about heartbreak and loss, this band has successfully sublimated their woes into danceable bangers. Even a punk-influenced song like “Passerby,” which Bryan described to the audience as a song about, “feeling great about having a fucking difference of opinion,” captures all the angst and energy of these Highland rockers. The Joy Formidable closed with a Welsh version of their song “Ostrich,” a much quieter, more somber song about the consequences of not facing your past, ending with the line “…your childhood loneliness goodbye/And decide it’s ahead or behind.” That is the Robert Smith seal of approval. The Joy Formidable kicks off a tour of the states for these must-see rockers. Check out their latest album from 2018, Aaarth.
Closing out the Willows Stage lineup was the reunion of The Throwing Muses, a Rhode Island alternative rock band, which formed in 1981 and toured until 1997. Originally two stepsisters, Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, Saturday’s performance featured a solo Hersh backed by a two-piece touring band. Having been inactive for over five years, this was the rare treat that only festivals can bring forth. Hersh’s growl and penetrating stare were hypnotic and transporting as she bellowed out songs like “Devil’s Roof” and “Bright Yellow Gun” to an adoring audience.
The Godfathers of Grunge, The Satans of The Surf Guitar, The Elder Statesmen of College Rock, Pixies rocked Pasadena so hard that the sun had to bow out and let Black Francis take over. David Bowie once remarked that Pixies should have been known as, “The Psychotic Beatles,” for their catchy basslines, surf-punk licks, earworm harmonies, and wall-of-sound melodies, but after their 1993 breakup, Pixies missed most of the alt-rock and post-rock they had heavily influenced (not to mention that their biggest fan, Kurt Cobain said that he directly ripped them off when he wrote “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and felt like he should have been in a Pixies cover band). Fans were left wondering if 2016’s Head Carrier was the band’s final chapter, however in January 2019, singer Black Francis announced that a forthcoming album would be released this coming September, entitled Beneath The Eyrie. Having replaced Kim Deal and Kim Shattuck permanently with Paz Lenchantin (of A Perfect Circle, Zwan and Queens Of The Stone Age fame), the reformed band belted out hit after hit, including “Gouge Away,” “Wave Of Mutilation,” “Hey!” “This Monkey’s Gone To Heaven,” “Caribou,” “Bone Machine,” “Debaser,” “Where Is My Mind?” and a rock-solid cover of The Jesus & Mary Chain’s “Head On,” closing the night with thousands of people “aahh-ooouuuing” to their monstrous hit, “Gigantic.” A lot of critics knock the band for their Deal-less lineup, something akin to a Bon Scott/David Lee Roth type of shakeup, but Lenchantin is a tremendous musician with an impressive sense of timing, structure and poise who absolutely complements the band. No one can mess with these rock pioneers. For now, if you want to see them again, you’ll have to catch them on their European tour, but hopefully we will get a stateside tour soon as well.
When Robert Smith announced earlier in March that The Cure was working on a new album slated for release this fall, the internet went berserk. He promised that the new album would include mostly “doom-and-gloom” tracks upwards of 10 minutes each. “It’s not really festival music…” he remarked, which left everyone wondering, what would make the list of songs for one of the world’s most diverse and accomplished indie-rock bands? Well, the answer is…everything. Performing a two and a half hour set, there was something for every die-hard fan, for every newbie, for every disgruntled Disintegration-or-bust caterwauler. Check out the full setlist here. Kicking off the night with “Plainsong” and “Pictures Of You” meant that the tearful waterworks started early. Careening through gorgeous hits like “Lovesong,” “Just Like Heaven,” “A Night Like This” and “Fascination Street” there were also some interspersed ‘90s tracks like “High,” “Burn” (from The Crow soundtrack) and “Never Enough” (apparently a huge inspiration for Lady Gaga, whom was in attendance and tweeted that the performance made her “come alive”). A seasoned veteran playing songs he wrote in his twenties, Smith launched into his post-punk trilogy, “Play For Today,” “A Forest” and “Primary,” sparking an outbreak of frenetic dancing across the Brookside Park field. Some of Smith’s more personal favorites like “Shake Dog Shake,” “Just One Kiss” and “39,” delighted an unexpecting audience. Closing the first set with “Disintegration,” the audience was not prepared for the show-stopping hit parade that they were about to embark on for an encore, diving straight into the nightmarishly danceable “Lullaby,” a sinewy and acoustic “The Caterpillar,” and synth-ballad, “The Walk.” Paying tribute to the festival’s other headliner, Smith even covered a small section of “Where Is My Mind?” before launching into “Friday I’m In Love,” rounding out the evening with “Close To Me,” “Why Can’t I Be You?” and finally finishing with their first single, “Boys Don’t Cry.” Very rarely do pop songs bring an entire crowd to tears, but I found myself and many others openly weeping to the lines, “…But I just keep on laughing/Hiding the tears in my eyes/’Cause boys don’t cry…” thinking about how much the world needs to hear this right now, how important it is not to bottle up your struggles and sorrows. As Robert Smith once offered, “sometimes when you’re feeling miserable and you listen to miserable music, it comforts you, because you feel there’s someone who understands. You’re not alone.”
Thank you to the Pasadena Daydream Festival for giving us the chance not to be alone.
Hopefully we will see you all next year.
G A L L E R I E S
Kælan Mikla
The Twilight Sad
Emma Ruth Rundle
Mogwai
Chelsea Wolfe
Deftones
The Joy Formidable
PIXIES
Throwing Muses
The Cure
AUDIENCE PICS:
GALLERIES + REVIEW
AUGUST 31ST, 2019
PASADENA, CA
PHOTOS BY FIESTABANPHOTO!
*CREDIT THE PHOTOGRAPHER IF IMAGES USED, PLEASE! NO EDITING AND/OR REMOVAL OF WATERMARK(S)*
