So, you want a review of the BFD festival? Fine, I’ll give it to you. Let me first disclose my prejudices. I’m a Metal-head, and have always been one. Hate Top-40 with a passion. Despise it. The last thing I want to listen to is some overused melody singing songs that the “artist” didn’t even write about their boyfriend/girlfriend. Jeez, speaking of putting one’s brain on cruise control.
Anyways, the Badman’s date called in and couldn’t get the day off work, so he called me last week and asked if I wanted to go to an all-day alternative music festival. Being the stud he is, I assume she’s probably hot, so bummer for him having to take me instead.
When we got there, a young lady with a bone in her nose tried to get me to buy a magazine about having a revolution. I’m sorry, but as bad as the current regime is, it’s probably better than something led by a lady with a bone in her nose.
The festival had the usual malcontents for an alternative musical festival - Emos, Punks, LUGs, Goths, Grunge and Post-Grunge folks, etc. Badman brought smokes, which was cool. I enjoyed two that day, the first time I had one since Vegas, but didn’t drink even a single beer. Just out of general principle, I’m not spending $7 for a beer, especially something like Rocky Mountain Piss-water. Real beer was $12.
Live 105 is the big Modern Rock radio station in the San Francisco area, and they sponsored the event. They bill it as Live 105’s BFD - Northern California’s Biggest Alternative Music Festival. Profits go to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, a great cause, especially considering we know a wonderful young woman who’s currently going through Chemo with Lymphoma.
With my prejudices previously disclosed, I’ll rate the bands I saw. With 25 bands and three stages, keep in mind we only saw the following…
Sum 41 - I hate Scooby Doo punk. Kind of like Blink 182, I should have brought some tomatoes. They spent too much time trying to work the crowd and not enough time actually playing decent music. Yuck. 
Cold War Kids - We only caught one song of them because we were busy stuffing our faces at the restaurant while they played. From what I remember, it wasn’t too bad, but nothing I’d go out and buy. 
The Bravery - Very “New Wavish,” with guitars, a synthesizer, and pop melodies. Reminded me of The Killers. They played their heart out, and it reflected in the music. 
Silversun Pickups - Badman really looked forward to seeing them, comparing them to Sonic Youth, his 2nd fave band. They have the same heavily distorted music and a chick bass player, but other than that, the comparisons die out. Silversun Pickups use more layering with the delay effects. Their drummer really gets into it too, and the bass player smiled a lot and waved to the crowd constantly. They put on a really good show, and looked like they were enjoying themselves up there in the hot sun. I was pleasantly surprised, and they stole the show of all the bands on the 2nd stage. 
Scissors for Lefty - They came up on the stage preceded by cardboard cutout black 1940s cars. When the approached the stage, they were donning 1940s prison garbs, then later dressed into red outfits. They relied heavily on their highly gay (gay as in happy cheese, not Boy George) stage show, and their New Wavish music and pop melodies also worked. If I wasn’t busy this weekend, I’d go to their CD release party in San Francisco, I liked them that much.
Kaiser Chiefs - Bad Brit pop. The crowd loved them. The Zombieslayer couldn’t wait for them to get off the stage. 
Interpol - I didn’t expect to like this band, but they weren’t bad. The singer had almost a boring, monotone voice, but it worked. He never moved (like Robert Smith of The Cure), and rarely looked up. Musically - early 80s Goth. I wouldn’t rush out and buy their CDs, but live, they were moderately enjoyable.
Queens of the Stone Age - This is the only band I wanted to see in the whole set. I wondered what they were doing here in an “alternative” music festival. Queens is more a metal band. I expected them to put on a decent show, and they definitely spent the most money on their stage props, with weird, futuristic lighting. But they sucked, big time. Their bass was way too loud, with the whump whumping glaring over everything else. They simply had horrible sound, and their sound engineer should have been taken out and shot. Both Badman and Yours Truly couldn’t wait for them to get off the stage.
Social Distortion - Straight up Blue Collar music. No frills, no fluff. Mike and the band stole the show for the main stage. Mike Ness may not have a beautiful voice, but he’s got charisma, something a lot of today’s musicians lack. No, their music wasn’t great, it simply did what you expected it to do - it moved you. Hats off to Social D, for although I’ll never buy one of their albums (not my cup of tea), I’d definitely see them again. Classified as punk, I saw it more as white folk playing black music. Unlike some other white bands I won’t mention, Mike Ness admits it.
