The Florida rainstorm is one the damndest things about living in the “Sunshine State,” and where veritable downpours put a damper on last year’s excellent Big Guava lineup, mother nature showed the Live Nation product some compassion in its second year by dumping off big rays of sunshine, cool breezes, and the kind of just-hot-enough summer night heat to make you remember why you love living here in the first place.
There were a few crybabies complaining about temperatures barely tapping 90 degrees on Saturday (Toronto’s Death From Above 1979 deemed our neck of the woods unlivable), but 18 hours of festing went off without any major hitches this weekend. Here are a few reasons you should be kicking yourself for staying home (and few things you can be glad you missed).
1) You could’ve taken a half day at work on Friday...
Big Guava’s faux pas a year ago was attempting to stretch the fest into three days. In 2015, promoters scaled back and the result was a streamlined experience that occupied about half the hours and packed just as much, if not more, excitement and fun. Things didn’t kick off until 4 p.m. on Friday meaning, you could’ve clocked out of work at lunch (or just played hooky altogether and pre-gamed at the Hard Rock less than a half a mile away).
...and the early birds definitely got their worms.
FMLYBAND and Dreamers got things kicked off on smaller outside stages, but by the time NoCal electronic producer Robert DeLong appeared onstage at the indoor expo hall, a healthy crowd of festival goers were already enjoying the air conditioning and unexpectedly waiting on a one-man show where the 29-year-old Coachella vet bounced in between electronic and live drums amid manipulating live vocal loops and samples with traditional controllers (turned forward a la The Glitch Mob) and at least one video game joystick. There’s usually something of a veil draped over electronic sets (ask Friday headliner Pretty Lights who had some technical difficulties during his own trippy performance), but watching DeLong craft together moombahton, dubstep, and straightforward house was a treat for music nerds and first time festival goers alike.
2) Milky Chance was the perfect way to blow the lid off an afternoon.
By happy hour, festival grounds had begun to fill out, and several parties had settled into their spots —umbrellas and all— on the field facing The Grove stage. German hyphy-folk outfit Milky Chance rocked just enough bro-influenced reggae flavors to make their stuff instantly accessible, but the way they melted a little world music, laid-back grunge and electronica into their sound made leaving their scheduled 75-minute performance painful, but alas…
3) Andrew McMahon dropped big blasts of piano rock on the amphitheater mainstage
Opening the main stage is always something of a daunting task, especially at the amphitheater, where the seats are maybe a quarter full when the first act comes on. It was no trouble for Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness, though. The 32-year-old cancer survivor flirted with alternative radio as frontman for Jack’s Mannequin, but he’s completely blown the door off it now with his new project. He even pleased longtime fans by dropping “I Woke Up In A Car” which he released 13 years ago as part of high school band Something Corporate. In that song, McMahon sings about traveling across wherever with reckless abandon. In a newer one (“Maps For The Getaway”), he’s crooning about “mornings in bed, coffee, and aspirin.” Times have changed, and we’ve all grown up, but it still feels good to watch McMahon rock the piano.
4) Jenny Lewis is a rock 'n' roll goddess.
With fiery red hair, killer bangs, an amazing Gram Parsons meets Pink Floyd jumper, and an onstage confidence wholly matched by her band, Jenny Lewis’ sundown set at Big Guava on Friday was a clinic in cool where she didn’t shy away from Rilo Kiley hits like “Silver Lining” and “The Moneymaker” and managed to deliver a subtle, early Mother’s Day tribute (“A Better Son/Daughter”). She’s a damn golden child made for dusty days in the Laurel Canyon. She even wrangled Ryan Adams out from backstage to help her work through “She’s Not Me,” a track from Lewis' latest album Voyager, which was actually produced by Adams himself.
5) Ryan Adams is a rock & roll god.
Let’s all just agree that Ryan Adams is one of America’s greatest gifts to rock n' roll. Yeah, he’s got no patience for disrespectful crowds (at last Thursday’s show in Miami he called someone an “asshole” for blinding him with a flash photo), but he was pretty much all smiles (especially during “Shakedown on 9th Street”) on Friday as he stalked a stage complete with vintage arcade games and soda machines. Lewis — who wrapped up a four-date mini-tour with Adams just the night before — grabbed a mic to work through a stirring take on “Oh My Sweet Carolina.”
“Dirty Rain,”“When The Stars Go Blue,” and nonchalant harmonica solo at the end of “New York, New York” were especially enjoyable. The man is simply obsessed with music, and as he careened through an extended version of “Peaceful Valley” it was very clear why the world just lets Ryan Adams release as many records as he wants, apologizing for the bad ones — and embracing the great ones — every step of the way. This writer even got to sing along to one of his favorite Ryan Adams tunes alongside a songwriter that dominated his tween years.
(Gripe Interlude) The sound in the Expo Hall ruined Passion Pit’s set…
...at least for the people in the back. There’s no doubt that the indoor Nectar Stage should exist (it’s a Florida music festival in May, people), but something has to be done about the way sound crashes against the back wall and creates an almost intolerable echo chamber for anyone who isn’t watching from the first third of the crowd. The room served its purpose as a home for a fledgling Tampa Bay Lightning, and it’s great for livestock shows and graduations, but what’s the overhead on hanging something from the rafters to make it sound a little better?
While we’re bitching, what the heck was up with a $16 large craft beer?
When $8 Bud Lights are your best bargain, your wallet is going to cry. We get it. Promoter owns the venue, needs to cover costs and makeup for losses as the music industry finds its feet again, but hotdamn. Almost makes you want to just do drugs instead of drink…
...speaking of drugs, big ups to all the kids who stayed out of trouble...
We did not personally witness one instance of EMTs having to be called to help someone who had a little too much fun at the party. Props to (most) everyone for being responsible and having a good time.
..because the weed smoke was thick.
The current state of narcotics technology and music festivals means you smell a whole lot less burned marijuana and more of the vaporized variety. Only one cigar-smoking d-bag was blowing noxious plumes of tobacco in our faces this weekend, and we only witnessed one drunk (albeit jovial) loudmouth begging Ryan Adams to play “Wonderwall.” These are all good things.
6) The one-two punch of Action Bronson followed by Run The Jewels was epic.
Action Bronson says he’s a chef that raps. We’ll believe it when we eat it. The hulk of a man — big red beard and all — took to the Nectar stage with just his DJ, and where he did get big assists from Meyhem Lauren and Big Body Bes, the set that leaned heavily on Bronson’s major label debut Mr. Wonderful was propelled by the 31-year-old emcee’s incredible lust for life coupled with his ability to weave oddly inspirational messages into hard and hysterical raps about scat play (“Strictly 4 My Jeeps”) and the darker parts of NYC life (“Falconry”). Shit, he even worked in a daydreamers anthem (“Easy Rider”) and tribute to moms (“Actin Crazy”). Spotted walking festival grounds after his set, Bronson is easily the people’s champ...
...and Run The Jewels are for the people. Unafraid to tackle taboo issues (read: politics), El-P and Killer Mike’s set was more abrasive, hyperactive and filled with synth claps. Their Florida debut was met with energy, a Queen intro (“We Are The Champions”), and talk of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Killer Mike likes Jameis Winston and is “praying” for beleaguered Bucs hall of famer Warren Sapp).
To see these two hip-hop acts back to back at the peak of their respective, and still young, careers was a definite treat.
7) But Big Guava still rocked.
Toronto metal-meets-synth-meets-punk duo Death From Above 1979 was loud. And fun. They were the only Big Guava band that could probably make it on Warped tour, and while they couldn’t stand the Tampa heat, the crowd ate up songs like “Cheap Talk” and showed they appreciated promoters’ commitment to rock.
They were followed by TV On The Radio, and we couldn’t help but be transfixed by the sound of a new LP —Seeds— and the fact that almost the exact same group (R.I.P. Gerard Smith) was cutting their teeth on the New World Brewery patio just over 10 years ago (cover was $6-$8 for a November 2003 set alongside beloved locals Dumbwaiters).
8) Big Guava indie-rocked, too.
Cold War Kids opening the big stage on Saturday was perfect. It looked like crowds may have thinned due to higher temps, but they were all apparently cooling off under the gigantic awning waiting for Nathan Willett to blast his unmistakable croon into the bowels of an amphitheater that was content to bathe in the band’s soulful hybrid of punk, blues, and psych-rock all marked with a folk singer’s commitment to storytelling.
It’s a shame that “indie” has to be such a restrictive word in categorizing music in today’s age. Save for L.A. electronic duo Classixx, Big Guava’s Orchard Stage was dominated by acts that would fit the description, and if it weren’t for the most-amazingly hot asphalt, we might’ve caught more (and presumably more dynamic portions) of sets from bands like X-Ambassadors, Night Riots, Ex-Cops, and Paper Route. Alas, there was just so much to see.
9) And life is good when you’re catching a bit of Hozier and then bypassing Classixx to go see James Blake before walking out to watch The Pixies.
At 7 p.m. on Saturday, Big Guava’s lineup became unmanageable. There was something important to see on every stage, and decisions had to be made. So when you’re leaving a TV On The Radio set to go find out that Andrew Hozier-Byrne’s voice is every bit as good as advertised and then some, life is good. It’s also good when you can only catch Hozier and his band (complete with cello) work through three songs that might represent what Top 40 radio is going to sound like because you’ve got to run to another show. You become especially jaded when, on the way that show, you pass by a performance from polished, and near-perfect, L.A. production duo Classixx because you’re about to see…
10) Pastor James Blake presided over a session of bass church.
Calling James Blake a minimalist is accurate, and it’s also a gross under representation of what he’s capable of pulling off on record — and apparently live, too. His legend was born in London where he’d explore the tenets of drum n' bass (and eventually dubstep in its earliest days), but Blake, 26, made his Tampa debut under swaths of red light bathing a stage where he was joined by a drummer and guitarist. Nothing about any of the players’ setups was traditional, and Blake’s hour long set would follow suit.
Sonic intricacies were everywhere, and for a man with such an amazingly smooth and room-filling voice, he could’ve uttered not one melody and still managed to pull off a performance that leaves a room in silent awe. The set wasn’t without fast-paced moments, providing dance-worthy breaks amid sub sonic bass melodies, skillful vocal loops and texture for miles.
There’s no telling when/if Blake will be back in Tampa to play one of our clubs or theaters, but be sure if this short, sweet set is any indication, then you’ll want to be in the house no matter which one it is.
11) Big names still reigned over Big Guava, and that’s a good thing.
Even with all of the rising names in today’s modern, changing rock and electronic landscape, Big Guava organizers made sure to leave the best for last each day. Pretty Lights’ Friday night closing set did have one minor technical issue that stopped the music for a nervous minute, but no one in the crowed seemed to care, opting instead to be hypnotized by Derek Smith’s hip hop-influenced EDM, which pays tributes to acts like Sound Tribe Sector Nine while allowing listeners to revel 0n the lawn as if they were at a Widespread Panic concert. The light show was indeed, pretty, and a look from the back of the lawn — with spinning, illuminated carnival rides in the background twinkling behind lasers blinking amid arena-shaking dubstep — made it feel less like Tampa and more like Vegas.
The party would continue on Saturday as the weekend’s most anticipated act — The Strokes — blazed through a career retrospective setlist that spanned almost two dozen songs and ignited a ticking time bomb of nostalgia within Big Guava’s target demographic. Frontman Julian Casablancas clumsily stalked the stage, spending much of the set hunched into the mike delivering his one-of-a-kind vocals into a screaming crowd of fans, and his band dutifully recreated the details of “Last Nite,”“Is This It,” and a great encore-ending take on “New York City Cops.”
At the end of a near-perfect weekend festival, there’s always a feeling that it can’t possibly get better, but it'll be interesting watching Big Guava try again in 2016.