#two people gave me props for the merzshirt

[stenka-razin]

Thanks to the magic of hyper localized Maryland storm patterns, we were able to see Beck, Phoenix, and Weyes Blood without being hit by a drop. For context, we could see the storm that was apparently unleashing a torrential downpour twenty minutes away during the show. Lightning in the sky! Last year at MPP Halsey got washed out cuz of that shit. Gods were smiling last night.

Weyes Blood were cool. I know people love them, but I hadn't heard a note. It was nice, but I think they suffered from the unenviable spot of second out of four (oh yeah there was another opener, Sir Chloe that we completely missed) and playing when it was very thoroughly daylight still. Her music and set looked like it would be better night music. She had one tune that was really cool though, and the consensus was her bassist looked like if someone from L7 was playing in Twin Peaks.

I had no real expectations for Phoenix considering I've listened to them like twice, both times in my thirties, but they were honestly incredible. They did a bunch of classic Phoenix which was what I more or less knew, then pulled out some New Order shit. Plus the visuals were incredible. During Love Like a Sunset they had a visual where it was like inside of a cell and pulled out to the scale of the viewable Universe. Crazy shit! Then Johnny Phoenix had an awkward tight 5 about how Weyes Blood were at January 6th. Funny stuff! But yeah, never thought Phoenix would give me that strong of a reaction.

Beck was pretty much everything we were hoping for. Four Midnite Vultures tracks (incl. Debra), three Odelays, three Gueros, Loser. All boxes ticked. He did a couple of his poppier new tunes which worked nice. Our friend was unfamiliar with WOW (frequently cited as Beck's worst song ever) so that was a treat. Even the tracks from the album he did with Danger Mouse which I think is kinda boring sounded wild live. He did Golden Age pretty straight for the real mellow number, but then he did Lost Cause with Phoenix and Weyes Blood and it sounded like a Phoenix track. We even got One Foot in the Grave! Likewise, Beck also delivered on the visual front. Goood shit.

Oh and apparently they've revamped Merriweather Post Pavillion considerably since the last time I went. I was dreading getting in and out but it was extremely easy. Plus the layout had a lot of cool getaways and whatnot so it felt oddly smaller and larger. I definitely dig.