all. points. west.

MSTRKRFT

There were certain bands this weekend that really confirmed “yeah, this is so worth it,” despite the mud swamps and the cold rain on Friday and again on Sunday.  Namely the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Crystal Castles, MSTRKRFT, Lykke Li and La Roux.

I’ve always felt partial to male frontmen, but this weekend really showed how f’ing amazing women leads can be.

Karen O. is an absolute rock goddess. Her on-stage antics and thrusts are exactly how I would want to rock out if I could sing.

We were FRONT ROW for Lykke Li. She kept doing this bad ass move of punching her chest, and I kept thinking “YES.”

La Roux was the reason I made myself get up to go on Sunday. Two songs that certainly stood out from her performance were “Bulletproof” and “In For the Kill.” I also felt complete after finally seeing her red-headed poof (that I admire so much), in person.

And lastly, seeing MSTRKRFT and Crystal Castles. MSTRKRFT is just ridiculous.  I only caught three songs, sadly, because we were coming back from Jay-Z, but they absolutely live up to the hype. And as for Crystal Castles, Alice Glass scared the crap out of me, and I loved every minute of it.

xx sl

Lykke Li

Katie White of The Ting Tings

Caroline Polachek of Chairlift

forthebeat’s Five

For this week’s top concert picks, we are dedicating the entire week to All Points West.  K and I each have a 3-day pass, and we’re ready to see a bunch of bands that we haven’t seen yet.  The ones we are most excited about are…

sl’s Top 5:

1. La Roux
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3. Ra Ra Riot (already seen them, but I still can’t wait)
4. Lykke Li
5. Elbow

kc’s Top 5:

1. Jay-Z
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3. Lykke Li
4. Gogol Bordello
5. Arctic Monkeys (already seen them, but excited to hear new material)

…and who I am NOT excited to see — The Honey Brothers.