Monotonix Music Festival

So, out of the four friends that I asked to come to Siren with me, only one ended up going. One genuinely couldn't go because of work, so let's take him out of the equation, but one gave flimsy excuses and another just didn't show up.

Now I'd like to rub into their faces how incredible a time it was.

Me and the one friend that could go endured the endless trains and subways to arrive just a few minutes late for the Japandroids set. Luckily, all we missed was a song from their EPs. The crowd was sparse and ineffectual, to my chagrin, but the band jumped around and kicked ass like they didn't care that no one else cared. They played Crazy/Forever to close, then seamlessly segued into Sovereignty. The set was filled with so much power and emotion that I didn't care that the punishing sun kept filling my eyelids with sweat. I love this band so much and I can't wait to see them again in Boston.

Frightened Rabbit was next, and they were a little less impressive. I do love the band, but their decision to open with their best song (Modern Leper) was questionable, given that the sound wasn't even fully checked yet. With the guitars almost completely drowning out the vocals, I could barely even hear the chorus. The balance of sound was fixed from there, though, but it was otherwise not noteworthy until my personal favorite Good Arms vs. Bad Arms and the closer Keep Yourself Warm.

After Frightened Rabbit, we met up with my friend's new friends from Brown, who were amiable but rather quiet, for the most part. All of us then headed off to the other stage, where we arrived just in time for A Place To Bury Strangers. They were loud, melodic, and made me want to stare at my shoes. In fact, it got so shoegazey at the end, that I started gazing at other people's shoes. Most were uninteresting, but there were a couple of donks and one interesting pair of checkered, hi-heeled sandals. All-in-all, APTBS fulfilled their goals, and left us satisfied with their performance.

We looked at the pamphlet after we couldn't remember what came next. The Ravonettes were about to start at the main stage, or we could stay here and see... Monotonix. We didn't know who they were, but the book said they put on one hell of a live show and that they come from Israel.

That was enough information for us, so we stayed to see Monotonix.
One and a half hours later, we were confident that we didn't just see Monotonix.
We fucking experienced Monotonix.
My friend, on the subway ride back to Penn said, and I quote: "Monotonix... FUCK." and "Did I just have rough sex for two hours or did I see Monotonix" and "They completely redefined the words 'hairy,' 'balls,' 'concert,' and 'fuck,' for me." and "FUCK."

I completely agree with all of her sentiments. I love Japandroids, but Monotonix blew the fucking heads off every other band that played at Siren. They came out clad in nothing but phosphorescent vests and short-shorts and started setting up their equipment right in front of the crowd. The guitarist played a solo as he sound checked. The drummer set up his instrument in the crowd, on top of a flashy green carpet. The singer came out last, the guitarist busted out an improvised riff, and then it all started.

Basically, you had to be there, but there was furious masturbation, crowd-surfing, flying beer, concussions, exposed genitals, Mexicans on acid, synchronized standing, moshing, Israeli folktales, and one very angry Chinese man.

After it was all over, I couldn't give two shits about Built to Spill. We stood there and heard them play, but we were far too tired after being tossed into the Monotonix blender. All we wanted to do was go home and go to sleep, so a half hour later, we did.

In the end, it was completely awesome. We came for Japandroids, we stayed for the Monotonix, and we left thinking "Monotonix was the fucking greatest thing we ever saw and probably ever will see." We then promised that we would take our poor friend who couldn't go because of work to the next Monotonix Experience that rolls by.

And to the two friends who didn't go based on petty excuses: see you in a few!

EDIT: if any of my reader would like some music by any of these artists (except for Monotonix since they dont have any recorded music except an obscure EP) then I'll gladly upload. Especially Japandroids. Their album is, in my opinion, the best of '09 so far.