Music Extravaganza

Last week was filled with live music.  The fall is always great in the city as a lot of bands tour the west coast and stop by San Francisco.

First off was Grizzly Bear.  They are one of my favorite bands and just came out, after almost four years, with a new album that did not disappoint.  I was cautious not to get my hopes up too high for their live performance, but at the end of the show, I could have had them as high as I could imagine and they would have still blown that up.  It was one of the best show.

Here's a shot of those musical geniuses.

Next on the list was Treasure Island Music Festival.  In the past, Casey has worked the festival and all my music friends didn't live in the area.  Now, Casey was free to enjoy the music and my music friends plus a bunch of new music friends were all in attendance.  That, plus the most beautiful weather in months, gives us an amazing experience.

This brave soul had his entire head painted with the TIMF logo.  Pretty rad.

The superpowered indie group Devine Fits.

Flavor Flav from Public Enemy and star of one of the worst TV shows, Flavor of Love.  It was pretty awesome getting to see these legends.

Beth Ditto of The Gossip.  We pushed right up front for this show and danced hard.  It was a great show and a perfect festival performance.

M83.  These Frenchies know how to build it up.  Almost every song had an irresistibly suspenseful build-up that didn't disappoint at the climax.  We all had a ton of fun watching these guys.  Plus, I randomly got to meet them during the next show.  I turned to look behind me and there they were, just watching the show like any other normal person.  I shook both of their hands and awkwardly turned back to the music.

M83 again.  I just love this picture because it looks like a painting.

Part of why Treasure Island Music Festival is so awesome is because of where it's located.  Just to the west of the festival is San Francisco and you can see the whole city, with the buildings of downtown melting into the trees of the Presidio.

 Here's the iconic city outline.

This is a shot from the bus going to the festival.  I feel like everyone who lives here gets a bolt of nostalgia and civic pride when they get a glimpse of this view.

ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SUNSETS EVER!  The sunset just kept getting better, and slowly, everyone made their way up to the fence to watch.  It was spectacular.  If you look closely, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.   

Another aspect of festivals is the inclusion of art, which provides a nice break from the high energy music.

This one was here last year and it's nice to see her again.  The sheer size and mass of the installation still amazes me.

Rotisserie Heart on Fire.  You can't tell from the picture, but this metallic sculpture was spinning while on fire.  This stumped a few engineering brains that I was hanging out with.   

Flag art.  Such a cool design on a pretty large scale.  It seems so delicate yet is obviously pretty durable with the amount of tention that it needs to stay up like that.

Well, that was the festival last weekend.  This past week, we finished out the seven day whirl wind of music with Bob Dylan.  I unfortunately didn't get a good shot of him, but we were pretty far back in the balcony and there wasn't much to see anyhow.

What I did get was a decent shot of the opening band, Mark Knopfler.  To be honest, his show was better than Dylans, mainly just because of the age difference.  It was awesome to see Dylan, but he's getting pretty old.