Festival Review: Cityfest 2008
Yesterday was Day 1 of Cityfest and thanks to the non-stop rain this area has been getting, things got rained out last night. I got downtown to catch most of Mick Bassett and The Marthas. More bands need trombones. When they finished up, the skies darkened and the police starting cleaning the streets and all the vendors began closing up shop. I spent the next hour or so in The Clubhouse Tavern in the basement of the Fisher Building. It was a weird mix of people all packed in together. It sort of felt like we were in a bomb shelter waiting the signal that everything was safe.
Word spread that some bands who were supposed to play evening shows at Cityfest were going to play the Garden Bowl, so that is were I headed. At this point the skies had opened up and it was raining pretty hard. The Garden Bowl was filling up with a bunch of wet hipsters, all who seemed to be excited about this impromptu show.
The 1st band up were The Hentchmen, who probably haven’t done something like this since 1998, and I’m guessing half the crowd was at that show. The bar was packed at this point, and the crowd was right up against the band. The Hentchmen ripped through about 10-12 songs including everyones favorite, “La Sabre Radar” and even threw in a Misfits cover towards the end of the set.
The next band up was Magic Shop which is the new project from Steve Nawara (Rocket 455, Detroit Cobras, Electric 6, Ko & The Knockouts). I had never seen these guys before, I think they’ve only played a few shows. I was instantly into this band. They reminded me of elements of a bunch of different bands such as The Who, My Morning Jacket, Kings of Leon, but they also had a bit of a garage feel to a few of the songs. Definitely check these out soon.
The Dead Bodies played 3rd and it only took a few minutes to get people up front dancing. I learned last night that girls love the The Dead Bodies.
Sadly, I didn’t stay for The Silent Years, because I am old and was tired. It would have been great to see them play in such a small space. I’m sure someone will have a review of them.
Anyways, what could have been a boring night turned into something fun and out of the norm. The night sort of felt like a house party back in high school. Thanks to the staff at the Garden Bowl for putting everything together last minute.
Post-Rockist weighs in on the night and even has a picture of “bike helmet guy”. Jasper also has some thoughts on last night, as does Five-Three Dialtone. It seems that all of the bloggers have done their jobs for the day. Check back to our blogs all weekend for more stories on the same things.