Music: Festival Highlights

So I figured I'd do a quick recap of the best sets of music I saw at the Eurofests this summer. These people make good music. Go see them play it.

The first good stuff came at the twin German festivals Hurricane & Southside. Both days I saw Wolfmother and the Shout Out Louds.

Wolfmother is from Australia and play music that pays very literal homage to big 70s rock. It's not very original but they were amazing. They played in one of the tents which makes for a much cooler vibe for a show than a field in the sun (or at least for this kind of band). It was so hot & sweaty and the crowd was insane for them. They were tight and sounded huge. Good stuff.

The Shout Out Louds are a Swedish band that I've been on tour with twice, once when they supported Futureheads and again with the Strokes. I never paid much attention to them then but I finally got around to listening to their record and I love it. Their sets in Germany were goosepimply good. The crowd ate it up. It felt good just to be in the tent. Get their record Howl Howl Gaff Gaff.

Eagles of Death Metal opened our headline shows in Germany. They were on tour with us for a while in the states and we became great friends. They are not only one of the best rock bands on the planet (you have to see it live), but they are some of the greatest people ever. Get with the mustache...

I watched a bunch of Daft Punk's set in Belfort. Not exactly my thing but I thought it was brilliant. Crazy visuals and where I was standing on the side of the stage it sounded perfect. There's something about the low end...

At Oxegen I thought the Arctic Monkeys were great. Not quite as good at T In The Park though.

And of course my boys the Futureheads & Pixies made nice noise at Benicassim.

I hope to be writing soon about the amazing Mogwai set in Japan. They're probably playing at the same time as us...