Day for Night: Sunday Review

Man, it seems just like yesterday that all of us at Coog Radio were placing our bets for who would appear on this year’s lineup. I swore up and down that we’d see Daft Punk, but alas, my predictive powers let me down, but hey we got Justice, which is just as good, at least that’s how I feel since seeing them at the final day of the third annual Day for Night Music and Arts Festival. It looks like we will once again have a long wait for what has easily been the best festival that Coog Radio has had the honor of covering. The final day of the festival featured acts such as the aforementioned Justice, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, St. Vincent, Solange, Jessy Lanza, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and many others, and Coog Radio was there to give you the 411 on what you missed

Coverage by Waylon O’Day, Cedric Mathis, German Ronaldo, Kolin Miller, and Parnia Razi

Shabazz Palaces

Shabazz Palaces by Aarik Charles

After two days of Day For Night, I felt a little somber that eventually it all had to come to an end. Regardless, Sunday’s line up was just too good, and to kick off the day I got to see Shabazz Palaces. So a quick backstory, I was planning to see Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler earlier this year as Digable Planets was scheduled to perform at another festival. Unfortunately, several complications came about, and I didn’t get a chance to see Digable Planets. Now, when the Day For Night lineup was announced, and Shabazz Palaces was on the lineup. I simply knew there was no way I was going to miss Shabazz Palaces missing this set. Still reeling, and recovering from Saturday, the fact that the first act I got to see on Sunday Was Shabazz Palaces had me racing out my room, and straight to the festival. I got to the blue stage about five minutes before Shabazz Palaces got on, and there was a quite hush amongst the crowd. All of a sudden Ishmael Butler and Tendai Maraire emerged on stage to a standing ovation, and before anyone could get comfortable Shabazz Palaces began their set. Immediately, you could tell Shabazz Palaces themes fit in with the defiant and political nature of the fest, with many pro black and African themes rampant on the screen behind them. While the crowd was not the biggest, the crowd that was there was so firmly into them moving and grooving with every left field beat blaring through the speakers, and abstract rhyme bellowed into the mic. Ishmael looked up and thanked the crowd for coming and for attending his Sunday Worship. (how fitting that his set fell on Sunday) Personally, I have to say that even though this was one of the shorter sets of the festival, (clocking in around 30 minutes) this is one of the best sets of the whole entire festival. The sights, sounds, and effort. Ishmael really put in effort as he was sweating profusely through his set as he shifted back and forth from his knobs to the mic, not missing a bar. Personal note, I am not much of a dancer at concerts, but when the bounce heavy Free Press and Curl came on, I had no choice but to bounce and sway along with the addictive beat. Like noted earlier this set was not allotted a ton of time, and just as the crowd was craving more, Shabazz Palaces had to go, setting the bar extremely high for the third and final day of the fest.

-Cedric

Priests

Priests by Yuliana Bourdin

The D.C. post-punk four-piece that consists of vocalist Kate Alice Greer, drummer Daniele Daniele, bassist Taylor Mulitz, and guitarist GL Jaguar started Sunday early at the Green Stage. The major issue I had was not with the band but the location and sound decisions of the festival. Green Stage is where the more rock-oriented acts tend to perform, but I have been spoiled with intimate music venues especially when it comes to punk bands. Punk rock is best when it’s loud and in your face. The set was not that loud and definitely not in your face. Priests definitely played a brilliant show to the best of their abilities, and they played tunes from each album, old and new, but I feel as if this act would have been better indoors or with a tad bit more volume. Cheers to Priests who came to play, but justice was not done for them. Overall, the band was great but let’s try to introduce some of the rock-oriented bands to the indoor stages where they can truly shine.

– German

Jessy Lanza

Jessy Lanza by Junior Fernandez

I’ve noticed something fairly toxic about seeing female artists live, and it’s that people tend to use the words “cutesy,” and “adorable,” to describe their performances. These words diminish the actual substance of a set by making it seem like its child’s play, like just because she is a woman she can’t put on a quality show like the big boys. You wouldn’t call Jessy Lanza’s contemporaries, most of which are males, “cutesy” performers, it is just because of her gender that you say these things, and at the end of the day, these have nothing to do with the actual performance, but her physical appearance, and it’s disgusting.

These are the things I heard throughout Lanza’s set from members of the crowd at the Blue stage, and it took me out of my frame of mind that was bound and determined to dance my non-existent butt off. Instead, I intently watched Lanza, who opened with personal favorite “Kathy Lee,” as she ran through her 40-minute set, and I thought about how her movements onstage would be perceived if it were a male in her place. Lanza is true technical performer, onstage with her she had a number of drum machines, which she relied on heavily to create her brand of electropop that is in line with that of Grimes, another performer who has had a ridiculous amount of trouble breaking away from the dreaded “cutesy” label, as well as male artists such as Caribou and XXYYXX. Also accompanying her onstage, was a turntable, which to my delight, she did not even so much as look at throughout her set. She was bound and determined to show that she could play just as good of a show, if not a better one, than her male counterparts.

Jessy Lanza by Junior Fernandez

Performing songs like “It Means I Love You,” and “Never Enough,” Lanza showed that she is able to blend diverse elements of the legacy of electro-pop dance music, borrowing glitter covered synths from the 80’s as well as vocal deliveries straight from k-pop. She is easily one of the better performances at the festival this year, and despite my hang-ups over other people’s seemingly misogynistic views of her, I could not keep myself from dancing like a fool. Even when you aren’t dancing to her music, you’re just mesmerized by her mastery of her craft. I’ve seen a lot of the people she has been compared to live, and she is by far the most compelling.

Just remember, that Jessy Lanza is not here to be “cute” for you, or dance for your enjoyment, she is here to make you dance for your own enjoyment. Someone who is so willing to give up a part of themselves should never be reduced to being a novelty act for their appearance.

-Waylon

Rabit x House of Kenzo

House of Kenzo X Rabit by Junior Fernandez

Well oh well where do I begin with Rabit and House of Kenzo. Let me begin, before this set even came on, you could tell there was a stark contrast between the crowd for the Jessy Lanza set and this one. That being said, many of us knew what was about to unfold before Rabbit and House Of Kenzo started their performance. So much anticipation filled the crowd as a very thin screen covered the blue stage hiding the performers, initially, all we could hear was an electronic beat that thumped loudly over the speakers. After a few minutes which seemed like an eternity, Rabit the DJ calmly walked to the front of the stage and cut open the screen. After the screen came down, what happened next I will try my best to capture with words. Have you ever had such a sugar rush from an energy drink or that feeling that you could run through a wall after taking pre-workout? Well, as soon as the screen was cut down, the San Antonio based vogue group House Of Kenzo burst out onto the stage in full force voguing and dancing their way to the front of the stage. Now, I am no stranger to House Of Kenzo as they are frequenters of the underground electronic scene here in Houston, and furthermore the state of Texas, but there was a big difference between their Day For Night set, and some of their performances I have seen in Houston. Here at Day For Night, they were simply given a time slot during the day to preform, however for the time they were given, there literally was not a second wasted. House Of Kenzo was determined to put on a performance that the crowd, and Day For Night would not forget, and I have to say, in terms of non-stop energy and effort, House Of Kenzo had a performance that rivaled most performances I have ever seen at festivals. Whether it be yelling defiantly to the crowd, voguing all over the stage, twerking on stage, or splitting the crowd into a circle and inciting a vogue off, there were about a hundred things going on at the same time, but the weird thing was, none of it was just random nonsense. This was well thought out high energy performance art. Meanwhile, all of this went on while Rabbit stoically played beats behind the various members of House Of Kenzo. At the end, I was worn out, this set was so high energy I needed to sit down, but don’t take this as a bad thing, it was the exact opposite, House Of Kenzo had the crowd fully entertained and held our full undivided attention for the entire duration of the set. House Of Kenzo set out to make their performance at Day For Night memorable, and they easily accomplished this.

-Cedric

Rezz

Rezz by Yuliana Bourdin

Rezz brought her glitchy, rock-inspired electronic vibe to the main stage at Day for Night on Sunday. After bearing through rain the day before, the sun peaked out from behind the clouds right as Rezz began her set, and the crowd was energetic and ready to dance. Coming onstage in her signature light-up glasses and all black clothes, she confidently took the booth and began playing songs from her latest album Mass Manipulation. It was evident right away that she has a raw and natural talent when it comes to DJing, as she flowed well and played intense drops effortlessly. Rezz clearly has a mind for coming up with spooky and eerie sounding beats, as she she attracted many festival-goers with the crowd grew significantly while she was playing. Playing mostly her own music, but also throwing in other EDM hits from artists like Bassnectar, her set was balanced and she was extremely graceful and energetic in her stage presence. Of course, one of the most exciting things that Rezz is known for is her visuals, and Day for Night sure was the perfect place for her to play as her spooky and psychedelic patterns lit up screens on the main stage. Rezz an extremely talented, young, and up-and-coming artist who is definitely worth checking out live.

-Parnia

Phantogram

Phantogram by Yuliana Bourdin

When I first saw that phantogram was performing at Day for Night, I was ecstatic. My initial encounter with their music was when I had my first iPod which had access to Pandora. I was learning just how expansive one’s music taste could be when the entire internet was within range. One day whilst falling through an indie music mix, Phantogram’s “When I’m Small” came on. I was haunted – no other song I had heard up until that point had sounded anything like this. “When I’m Small” was one of those songs to get stuck in my head for months, rearing up every few days and not leaving until I had listened to it countless times on loop. So, imagine my excitement when I see that Phantogram was FINALLY coming to a show I could attend. 

Phantogram by Yuliana Bourdin

Anyways, I got to the red stage in anticipation of Phantogram as the crowd for the previous artist was thinning. Easily enough, my girlfriend and I made it to the front; I was no more that 1 meter from the gate, off to the left side of the stage. I was so close! As set time drew nearer, the crowd grew larger, eventually becoming much bigger than I could see the end of. My excitement was unbridled; I was full to the brim I could feel myself smiling deep down. Then, after a quick soundcheck, a drummer and keyboardist walks out. There’s a drum set with a drum pad below one of the rides, theres a couple of guitar stands and a mic in front of said drum set, off to the left of the drums are two keyboards connected to a laptop with a bass guitar behind, a synthesizer/keyboard/mixboard looking contraption and a mic stood directly in front of this setup, with a mic standing center stage. The drummer and instrumentalist filled the two back stations, and finally, the guitarist Josh Carter walked on stage. Smoke filled the air, the screens turned on, an electric hue filled the stage, and then she walked on stage. Sarah mother-expletiveing-Barthel; what a badass. 

Sarah comes out in all white with a denim jacket crop top, complete with strips of leather drapes arranged like wings on her delicate yet powerful frame. A brief salutation led straight into the heavy “You’re Mine” track I so dearly love. The show had begun, no, the experience had begun. 

Aside from some technical difficulties, the show was superb. Captivating visuals covered the three gigantic screens supporting the band with lights and smoke coming together to create a visual masterpiece from which the band excreted their auditory masterpieces. Each song sounded just as good, if not, better than their recorded material; I found myself not singing along sometimes just out of awe at what I was witnessing. 

Phantogram by Yuliana Bourdin

The majority of the technical problems came after the song “Mouthfull of Diamonds” which was remedied with Sarah and Josh working the crowd. Josh starts by asking about “them ’Stros” followed by Sarah saying “Josh please don’t tell jokes by the way”. It is obvious they are comfortable on stage, as the 5 minute break from the music still felt quick and like a part of the entire performance. Sarah even cracked a slight joke about Cardi B not showing up on time. Saying she was a huge fan of Cardi B, Sarah opened up a line of jokes which did not stop for the rest of the show (I definitely enjoyed them even more after that, if you read the Cardi B review you know why). I was struggling to keep up with Sarah’s jokes by typing in between laughs the jokes themselves verbatim. I think I did a good enough job transcribing them, and they follow in chronological order: “We wrote this next song about the moon….you can’t see it right now because its behind Cardi B…..who is our guest performer and will be here shortly…actually she is the moon and that is why you won’t be able to see here right now….because she’s not here right now….Shouts out Cardi B. Anyways, this song is about the moon.”

Phantogram by Yuliana Bourdin

As soon as the word “moon” left Sarah’s mouth, the heavy synth from “Fall in Love” struck with such ferocity, the crowd visibly jumped out of excitement and out of surprise. “Fall in Love” is a personal favorite, so of course, I put down my notes and focused on vibing and enjoying myself. The visuals for this particular song were of mannequins and body parts of mannequins, ever changing and morphing into strange patterns and shapes. Feeling hypnotized, I continued to stare into the screen, and absorb the rest of the spectacle on stage with my peripheral vision. Some other notable songs played by Phantogram at their set are: “Run Run Blood, Turning into Stone, Bad Dreams, When I’m Small, and You Don’t Get Me High Anymore.” The set finished with “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore,” and I could not have been happier. Phantogram had come onto the stage, played a perfect mix between popular and interesting songs from their catalog, killed it with raw energy, captivated me with mind-blowing visuals, and overcame some intense technical difficulties, and STILL left the stage with professionalism, grace, and with me completely satisfied by their performance. 

Sarah and Josh really know how to put on a Phantastic Phantogram experience for any and all people in their audience, fan or not. I am happy they made it out to Day For Night, as I believe they are the perfect musical guest for a festival like this. Thank you Phantogram!

-Kolin

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Godspeed You! Black Emperor by Matthew Francis

The band that sounds like they are perpetually tuning their instruments, with their sometimes half-hour long songs that put crowds into stupors graced the Green stage as the sun began to descend after another day of work.

Godspeed was one of those bands that I was always aware of as I began to be socialized to music I couldn’t find on the radio. I remember one of the first times I went to a record store I noticed the name, and thought it was ridiculously amusing name for a band, that I assumed to be snotty-nose punk with a heavy dose of angst. However, as I began to actually listen to the group, I realized that each member possess a mastery over their instrument that is unmatched by a large majority of musicians.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor by Matthew Francis

However, despite this mastery of music, their live shows are unbearably dull. Which, I guess, I should’ve just assumed would be the case. But no, I am stubborn, and a hopeless-romantic when it comes to my favorite groups and their live shows. I wanted so badly for them to be all that I expected them to be, and they were. What I didn’t account for was the fact that I usually listen to their music whilst studying, and their set made me all too aware of the lethargy that was sure to be overly-pronounced in the days following the festival. I hate sitting at concerts when I’m trying to pay attention, I like the energy of being surrounded by hundreds of strangers, but this time around, all I wanted was a pillow and a blanket, and maybe a textbook so I can get ahead of my classwork.

Any criticisms I give this group should be taken as a grain of salt, these guys are spectacular, just not in a festival setting, however I understand their appearance at Day for Night, despite the mental gymnastics that I have to do to make this performance worthwhile, this was probably the only act I saw all weekend that didn’t heavily rely on technology to produce their sound. That alone made this a good set, but nothing more, and from now on I will reserve my GY!BE listening to studying and sleeping alone.

-Waylon

Solange

Solange by Junior Fernandez

As Houston’s own Solange was getting ready to perform, a crowd had already began waiting for her over an hour before she came on. Not having played a local show in a while, her set was highly anticipated, and her audience was huge ready to see her. With her unique backdrop, visuals, and a live band, Solange did more than just sing music,  she performed and embodied art. Coming on stage looking flawless and graceful as always, fans immediately began cheering. As she began performing, I was immediately stunned at how perfectly in-sync her background vocalists and band were with her. It made the entire performance look and sound absolutely perfect, graceful, and magical. There was truly nothing that could have been improved to make the set better – the visuals were phenomenal, the band was perfect, and Solange hit every note effortlessly. It’s hard to find singers who actually sound better when they sing live, but Solange is definitely one of those singers. With her range and the beautiful tone of her voice, seeing her live was mesmerizing and beautiful. Not only did she perform well, but also did a great job of connecting with the crowd, and with her hometown. She talked about the places she visited while she was here and how happy she was to see a festival like this in Houston. I felt honored to have witnessed such a heartfelt set by Solange here in Houston, and she was beyond how elegant and perfect I thought she would be.

-Parnia

Mount Kimbie

Mount Kimbie by Matthew Francis

Within the warm murkiness of the Blue Stage, Mount Kimbie came out to a packed crowd. The band remarked on how they had not played in weeks, but their performance demonstrated otherwise. Going in, I was unsure if the set was going to be mainly soundboards, synthesizers, and drum machines, but they arrived with various instruments as well as the aforementioned devices. This mixture of traditional instruments and music technology is not anything new, but Mount Kimbie elevates this combination to a fresh, innovative level, and they showed Houston just that on Sunday. A personal highlight of the set was when they played “Blue Train Lines” which was the song that introduced me to the band, and it was a clear crowd favorite. The set, for the most part, was intense as the crowd was bombarded with sound while the band was shrouded in a thick smoke. Mount Kimbie put on a memorable performance on a not so pleasing stage and that should speak volumes about their talent.

-German

Shlohmo

Shlohmo by Aarik Charles

If you don’t know Shlohmo, you need to get out more. No, but really, he isn’t the most popular of the L.A. beatheads, but he is easily one of the more talented. The founder of the electronic music collective, WeDidIt, which also includes fellow producer Groundislava, was one of the acts that I had lost my s%*^ over when Day for Night dropped their line-up.

For the most part I was not disappointed, however, Shlohmo, who at several points said “This is the best day of my life,” didn’t always make it seem that way. First, and most noticeably, he didn’t have any visuals for his set, which left the audience staring at the Day for Night logo for 45 minutes. Maybe he did this so people would focus more on what he was actually doing, or he just didn’t care to make any. Regardless, visuals would’ve been a huge plus, as well as a little more EQ work. The Blue stage had been full of reverb throughout the weekend, but this time around, it was almost nauseating how the low-end of his tracks just dominated the sonic environment, there were point in time where all I could hear was the constant hum of bass, with little to no treble in earshot.

Shlohmo by Aarik Charles

The set heavily relied on tracks from his 2015 album, Dark Red, however the Bad Vibes, project was heavily utilized, but missing the best song, “Places.” Towards the end of the set Shlohmo would pull out a guitar of all instruments and start playing along with his productions, saying these were new songs. Apparently these songs are what we should expect from him in the future, as he reminded the crowd how much fun he was having at the festival.

This was probably one of the most disappointing sets for me, but then again, there was a period in time where Shlohmo, Flying Lotus, Lapalux, and XXYYXX were literally all I would listen to, so perhaps my inherent bias is keeping from truly enjoying his set, which seemed to resonate well enough with the crowd. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I would never see him live again, but I would most likely have to be lightly persuaded, or promised that “Places” would be heard. I’m still salty about that.

-Waylon

Justice

Justice by Aarik Charles

Hands down the best performance at Day for Night 2017. The French came to put on the show of their lives. The duo was relentless in execution and production. Armed with a giant moving light rig and around 20 or so large lit Marshall speakers, Justice’s dedication to quality and entertainment was astounding and overwhelming. From start to finish, the crowd was at the mercy of the duo, and with the exception of a two-minute staredown from Xavier de Rosnay, Justice blasted dance hits one after another with an amazing light show to boot. Explosive in sound and personality, Justice craved applause and excitement from the crowd. It was as if they wanted to test the audience’s ability to keep up with each and every beat they threw out. It was a test for endurance and passion. At the end of it all, Justice ended their set 13 minutes early. The crowd delivered a 10-minute standing ovation for the Frenchmen as the duo crowd surfed and shook hands with as many people as they could. A well-deserved bath of love and applause for the legends.

-German

St. Vincent

St. Vincent by Junior Fernandez

As the final night began to wrap up, St. Vincent took on the Green Stage with an amazing set that brought the heat to a chilly night. With her electric guitar and sleek black hair, St. Vincent looked badass as she began shredding and hitting every note. She played some of her more popular songs, like “Digital Witness” and “Birth in Reverse,” but also played a few hits from her newest album MASSEDUCTION. It was a quality performance, but had its flaws as the music was playing over her voice at times, and the crowd seemed a bit bored at parts of the set. Regardless, her visual were bright and interesting, her voice was fantastic, she looked great. Being a Texas native, she also connected with the crowd by talking about her home state and how excited she was to be back home. The only true thing I felt was lacking was emotion and passion put into performing, and perhaps that’s why she didn’t get the crowd’s energy up as much. She lacked the presence and energy many others performers brought, but nonetheless she is an excellent artist and played a good set. I especially respect and enjoy Day for Night for making an effort towards bringing unique and diverse female talent to the festival, because it’s something we often see lacking at festivals and in the music industry in general. I’m glad they added St. Vincent to their diverse lineup this year, and I enjoyed seeing her live.

-Parnia

Corbin

Corbin by Scott Dudelson

Okay so before we get into the Corbin performance, I really urge you to either look into Corbin by independent research or my previous spotlight on Corbin in order to truly appreciate and understand what I am about to attempt to relay to you. 

Corbin is a mysterious artist. Declining most (if not all if my memory serves me) invitations for an interview, he has cultivated and maintained a realm of mystery and secrecy in which he resides as an enigma. Seeing Corbin perform live, I thought, would at least give me some sort of insight or idea of who he is as a person or artist more so than any type of research could, as he would be right there in front of me. Sounds about right, right? Sadly, and funnily enough, wrong. After his performance I was left with many more questions and hypotheses about Corbin than I had going into the festival. Let me try and explain.

Corbin gets on stage with a single instrumentalist who, behind massive amounts of smoke absolutely drowned in heavy light, was hard to make out. As soon as the instrumentalist sits down, Corbin gets the mic and begins pacing around, singing directly into the mic, with his vocals barely making it into the overall mix. Some in the crowd are aware this is how one of his songs start, some are not aware, and begin to talk and shout “we can’t hear you” before the beat drops off and Corbin’s vocals shine through, just like the song. What then happens to the crowd is amazing. Everyone seems to suddenly understand one thing about Corbin: he is different. His voice is so full of pain and an almost primal or guttural edge to it, that people in the crowd instantly begin to sway and hang their heads. After a few songs Corbin lets us know he just got here from Minnesota. He then just starts the next song. 

Outsiders begin to come to the Blue stage out of what could only be curiosity about the strange moan-singing Corbin is known for. These outsiders stay and the crowd keeps growing. Everyone is completely silent, with even the diehard fans barely mouthing the words. It was hard to make out what Corbin was saying, and what song he was playing, because of how familiar we are with the edited Corbin voice, and not the live voice. However, something about it was more beautiful and haunting than his recorded music. I went from a general fan to a devoted fan in the span of fifteen minutes just due entirely to his obvious passion and genuine pain behind every single syllable leaving his mouth. Everyone in the crowd, as I looked around, was confirming, in their head nodding or swaying, just how much Corbin’s almost incoherent droning was speaking to them. I even overhear an older gentleman tell his group of friends “I just got here and it’s really weird, but I can’t stop listening. Something about it makes me want to stay.” I really can’t explain the entire experience past that, as I feel like coupled with my absolute cathartic absorption into the performance, the wonder and puzzlement and overall statement relayed by the aforementioned gentleman is as accurate as can be. 

Corbin at one point seemed a little upset at the festival, as he mentioned 1 minute before his set was supposed to end that “I still have some songs I want to do and I will play another” followed by said song. After this song ends, a stage worker hastily runs on stage and visibly urges Corbin to finish. Corbin again addresses the crowd saying this time “okay I’m gonna do one more, its another f—ing new one, sorry guys, I wish I had more time” followed by a pause and the obvious start of said song, and then something strange happened which I will still think about days later. Corbin, after obviously missing a cue to start his last song, says, with his hand on his head as if it causes him pain to do so, “Guys I’m not really in a good place right now…..” and then he yelps. It was a weird yelp, as if a wounded animal had been touched in its wound while off guard. I can still hear it. 

Aside from the strangeness of the entire performance I have to say Corbin was an artist that I admittedly grew to love even more after seeing live. His overall artistry was given even more validity in my mind as a mysterious enigma that comes and goes in and out of the limelight as it pleases him. Anyone who missed out on Corbin’s set seriously missed something special and interesting. 

-Kolin

Tim Hecker

This was it, the last set, before the incredibly anticipated set of Thom Yorke. What a way to go into Thom Yorke, then Tim Hecker. The crowd on blue stage was larger than most of the other sets before, but regardless, we all were waiting on Tim Hecker to take the stage. One thing I noticed beforehand, was that blue stage was darker than usual. Now, to give this context blue stage was so dark previously if you went outside you were blinded for a few seconds. While standing for James Blake I was alerted by one of our photographers that Tim Hecker’s set was to be a “blackout” set. As Tim Hecker took the stage to an ovation it became very apparent that the whole entire stager was going to be dark. In fact, even the screens that all the previous musicians used as part of their set went dark as well. But all this became moot as soon as Tim Hecker started to perform…. My Goodness was he loud, I kind of expected this from Tim Hecker, but not to this degree. Was this a bad thing? Not to me, but I agree with some of the sentiment of the crowd, that putting him before Thom Yorke may have been a disservice. Regardless, those who came for Tim Hecker (or had ear phones) enjoyed the blaring ambient sounds that filled the room. In the middle of the set I saw why it was a blackout set, there was to be no distractions, no diversions, just music, and in that respect Tim Hecker excelled greatly, creating beautiful loud soundscapes that the Tim Hecker fans could vibe to. One of the funny scenes of this set was watching the Thom Yorke fans, and those who had camped out for him since gates opened leave in disgust as they simply could not take the sound. Personally, yes it was loud by I enjoyed the performance, and seeing people leave in disgust as they did not expect this set to be so loud was somewhat satisfying. This was BY FAR the loudest set (if I did not make this apparent already) of the weekend at the fact we could not see Tim Hecker just had to the mystique.

-Cedric

Thom Yorke

Thom Yorke by Roger Ho

Going into Thom Yorke’s performance, I knew I wouldn’t know as much of his catalog as the general crowd attendee, as I am more familiar with his catalog with Radiohead than as a solo artist. That being so, I still was excited to see a legend. 

Them was set to take the blue stage, which was located at the heart of Day For Night (and honestly due to how it was used could be accurately described as the ‘Heart’ of the festival). The blue stage was in the center of a large industrial room with lots of light from surrounding venues and areas flooding in. Ambient and beautiful, Thom would be performing amongst an almost throne-like venue to devoted fans. I was definitely into this idea. 

Thom Yorke by Chad Wadsworth

Taking the stage a little after midnight, Thom settled in and introduced himself briefly before going into a song I actually knew: “Interference.” Happily, I sang the words and danced along with the humongous crowd of 20 somethings to 40 somethings that had gathered by this point. Speaking of the crowd, I started at what was the back of the crowd near the pillars about 10 meters from the front of the stage; by the time Thom had started his set, the crowd stretched all the way back to the furthest wall (about another 30-40 meters back from where I started). Seeking a little more breathing room where I could focus a little better, as well as relax (this was the last performance of the tiring three day event so I was exhausted) a bit and take notes, I made my way to the wall and sat after absorbing some of the visuals. 

The rest of the set was phenomenal, with Them playing some personal favorite and well known pieces like “I Am A Very Rude Person,” “Twist,” and “Saturdays.” Finishing pretty close to 2am, Thom and the crowd were visibly tired, yet, an encore was called and Thom happily obliged, playing “Black Swan,” “Atoms for Peace,” and “Default.” What a way to end the show, and subsequently, the festival. This set served as the perfect end to the entire experience that was “Day for Night.” Thom Yorke’s set felt like the final, lengthy, and liberating exhale which is drawn out when finally settling down after a strenuous situation. What a perfect “come down” from the entire weekend. 

-Kolin

Thanks for reading our coverage of the final day of the third annual Day for Night Music and Arts Festival. Let us know what you think in the comments! What sets did you catch at Day for Night? What did you think of the sets that we covered? Were there any sets you thought were just spectacular? Any you wish could’ve not seen? Stay tuned for our best and worst from this year’s festival.