When it was announced seven months ago that Superfly Presents (Bonnaroo, Outside Lands) would be launching a festival in Phoenix, Arizona featuring nationally renowned headlining acts- many an eyebrow was raised. Was Phoenix really a big league festival city? Well after witnessing the inaugural Lost Lake Festival October 20-22, 2017: the answer is an emphatic – yes!
“We were inspired by the energy and creative shift that is happening in the Phoenix metro area to create a festival experience that truly represents the Valley’s culture, food, arts and music as well as the vibrant and outgoing lifestyle of the community,” Superfly co-founder Rick Farman said in a statement back in March. “We’ve been working closely with our local partners and city leaders to develop this landmark event, and are excited to be a part of such an impassioned and artistic scene.”
So with a thriving art and foodie scene along with a music scene that has become top hat in recent years thanks to Charlie Levy and Stateside Presents (three going on four venues and a brilliant one day festival), Phoenix was ready to take its turn in the national festival spotlight.
With more than 45,000 attendees at the festival this weekend who all came together to see the more than 50 performances that included headliners Chance the Rapper, The Killers and Odesza along with heavy hitters The Roots, Major Lazer, Big Gigantic The Pixies, Run the Jewels, Huey Lewis and the News and Crystal Castles. Highlighting the best of Phoenix, there were more than 30 top local chefs, restaurants, and breweries to represent the city’s vibrant food and drink scene, and more than 20 regional crafters, artisans and vendors at FOUND: The Lost Lake Marketplace.
However, it was the setting that stole the show as the usual sleepy Indian Steele Park was transformed into an almost unrecognizable colorful utopia of sight, sound and fire lilies. Thes festival honed in on the park’s central lake for themes of reflection and the unique flair of choreographed shooting flames. Three large stages dazzlingly fit themselves into respective slots of the park, that never overlapped on sound and provided ample room and closeness that allowed for hardly missing a beat between sets.
One thing is for sure, musically aside from a few acts geared towards the old folks (Pixies, Huey Lewis and the News, Calexico), the majority of the lineup attracted Generation Z: Daisy Dukes,, Forever 21 hats, tank tops, mouth bandanas. and all the latest festival fashion trends courtesy of Coachella four hours down west on Interstate 10. But unlike Coachella, Lost Lake was a non camping day festival with the majority of attendees being local residents.
As for the music itself – Glide picked aside a diversity of musical highlights from the weekend
Calexico
Joey Burns and John Convertino have persevered and remained mightily poignant in their world of “desert noir.” Perhaps there was no other band that was more suited to offer the park environs a sampling or rock that mixed traditional Latin sounds along with Spanish guitar, pedal steel and Mariachi horns. Yet its Calexico’s vast catalog of songs covering nine, soon to be ten albums that make any Calexico show a feast of eclectic musicianship.
The Pixies
Considered one of the “heritage” acts of the festival, The Pixies made many of the plus 30ers at Lost Lake feel old. The band still rocks with a firestorm of gusto et the hour long set only seems to be a tease of what the indie patriarchs were truly capable of laying. Black Francis held center stage as teh band ripped through both new and old favorites including “Caribou,” “Where Is My Mind” and “Debaser.” As always drummer David Lovering brought his versatile Neil Peart influenced chops to the mix that proved the Pixies still remain one of the heaviest “college rock” band of all time and currently.
Chance the Rapper
Chance delivered an almost “heartwarming” set that provided uniquely soulful with a mixed bag of gospel, jazz and retro soul that give the Friday night crowd a set of enrapturing hip hop. Chance was backed by the Social Experiment who gave the rapper a big band feel that voyaged through the songs off 2016’s Coloring Book with ease. As he repeated throughout “Are you ready for your blessings? Are you ready for your miracle?”- he had the Phoenix crowd almost on bended knee, making for the festival’s most feel-good moment.
Huey Lewis and the News
If any band got the money set, it was Huey Lewis and the News playing late afternoon on Saturday, just when the festival was at its shiniest capacity. It’s good to be back in Phoenix, where we saw many of our memorable indiscretions,” proclaimed Lewis. With his old school yet 80’s hip logo behind the stage, Lewis sounded a tone gravelly with age yet his songbook played like an MTV jukebox: “Heart of Rock and Roll,” “I Want A New Drug,” “Power of Love,” “Heart and Soul” “Jacob’s Ladder” and “If This Is It” all created a festive mood as the big stage got ready for the Roots.
The Roots
To say the Roots know how to throw-down is dead on obvious: yet what matters is – just how much did they exceed expectations. While the set might not top their McDowell Mountain Music Festival Phoenix showing in 2013, The Roots relied more on the beatboxing of Jeremy Ellis who was guesting with the band and they let each band member grab a solo “Roots Crew” style. The late-night Fallon musical house band also offered choice covers of Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie,” Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love?” Bandleader Questlove was top and center and laid down some of the festival’s more intricate rhythms.
Superjam: The Dap Kings Play The Beatles
It had been almost a year since the Dap Kings lost their beloved Sharon Jones, but they returned to Phoenix with a new version of soul intact as the band including Saundra Williams and Starr Duncan-Lowe on vocals gave Lost Lake a novel twist on Beatles classics. Huey Lewis, Sameer Gadhia of Young The Giant, Joey and John from Calexico, Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot, Frenship The Shelters and Luna Aura also played lead singer roles in delivering some moving soul of the Fab Four to the early evening crowd. Miles’ take on “Oh Darling” was spot on as was The Shelters’ take on “She Said, She Said” and “Taxman.” Alhough expected, the big group singalong of “Hey Jude” to conclude the set was right on the money.
Futuristic
Tempe rapper Futuristic with DJ Kode Break by far had the most intimate performance of the day and had a fantastic stage presence. After storming in with a Phoenix Suns jersey and amicably speaking with the (mostly college-age) crowd, he opened his set with “King Speech,” a 2015 rap that showcases his strengths in his flow and wordplay. His interaction with his fans was one of the more memorable moments from Lost Lake. He pulled a fan into the front of the crowd and encouraged him to rap part of Dizzy Wright’s verse in “I Guess I’ll Smoke,” and afterward ran straight into the crowd along with his DJ. He performed a good balance of newer songs like “Anti-Social” and older songs for his more die-hard fans. Futuristic closed the show with a killer freestyle that was the perfect lead-in for the future acts to come.
Danny Brown
Brown delivered a high-energy performance for an audience that seemed a bit tired. He made a tribute to his old-school fans by opening with “Die Like A Rockstar,” a song off his 2011 album XXX. Most of the setlist consisted of songs throughout his past three albums or so, with “25 Bucks” as one of the more exciting performances of this set. He did not rely on any visuals, but his aggressive rapping compensated for the lack of any visual stimulation onstage. The rapper left the audience satisfied throughout the show, although he did disappoint a few fans when he did not reappear for an encore.
Run The Jewels
It’s hard to find a duo with a stronger sense of camaraderie than Run The Jewels. Although the speakers also cut out during a large part of one of their songs, their bombastic voices could still be heard across the entire park field. This set was one of the funniest—they opened with a rendition of “We Are The Champions” and constantly cracked jokes between their songs. The two gifted their audience with an honorary invisible 36-inch gold chain—something concertgoers will never lose. Their set included songs from their past three albums and most notably rapped their aggressive-yet-catchy verses from DJ Shadow’s “Nobody Speak.” At this point in the festival, the sun had set and RTJ’s vibrant visual displays worked to their advantage. After an explosive set, the duo performed “Thursday in the Danger Room” and “Angel Duster” to close out the show.
Odesza
The most chaotic but hands-down memorable performance of the night was Odesza’s set—however, it would be more appropriate to call it an experience. The duo created a sense of atmosphere throughout the park field at the very start. The show opened with a video of a satellite landing on a Mars-like planet while pink peach balls were scattered among the immense sea of excited, exhausted people. As soon as the video ended, Odesza came on stage and blasted “Bloom,” one of their most popular songs.
It’s difficult to find EDM artists, who mostly work behind laptops and keyboards, that are so capable of keeping their music engaging for all the senses. The Odesza drumline, which stood in the foreground of the stage, performed with precision and only added to the planned chaos of this festival closer. During their rendition of “Higher Ground,” Naomi Wild unexpectedly came on stage to sing her feature; her vocal range was impressive and added to the memorability of the whole set. After playing songs like “Say My Name” and “Across the Room,” they performed an explosive encore that left fans almost shaken—and not just because of the heavy bass reverb.
Chance the Rapper, The Roots and Huey Lewis photographs courtesy of Lost Lake Festival
Danny Brown and Run the Jewels photographs courtesy of Athena Burton
