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The whole weekend was incredible (despite a bit of rain on Saturday which followed up with some crazy naked kids playing in the mud). Lots of great bands and great people. I got the opportunity to meet a couple Italians (Matilla and Ilich...not sure of the spelling) who stayed with us. They run a booking agency out of Italy, and one of them is a VERY professional photographer (Mat). Mat's girlfriend Lela, from London, also stayed with us. She helped Mat out with the filming...very sweet girl. Anyways, Mat got a lot of really great photos of Elliott in action as well as the video of the entire weekend. I'll be sure to get my hands on some of his stuff and hopefully get some of his photos posted in here. I got some pics too, but I'll have to wait to see how they turn out since I didn't have a digital camera (I brought my LeClic disposable, HA!). Anyways, got a few of the studio and some of the others who stayed with us as well.
I got the opportunity on Sunday to hear the mastered version of the new Weezer cover to be out in a Tribute comp in the near future. It was a very mellow version of "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here", and it was very beautiful. Some people had thought it was all acoustic, but actually there's more to it than that. I'm sure we'll all let you know when the comp comes out and what it will be called when we find out so you can be sure to go out and get your copy. I can't wait!
Sunday came and went way too quickly. I had been looking forward to this for many months. I waited through a lot of sets until Elliott finally came on. Don't get me wrong, I loved mostly all I saw before them as well. But I was very very anxious and excited to see Elliott. Chris Stratton, his girlfriend Meredith, our European friends, Tom and I were all ready with our cameras and camcorders when Elliott came on. Wow....What an amazing show. Very different in comparison to their albums, but in no means was that bad. They shredded through a 45-minute set with a few from False Cathedrals and US Songs and played a bit of their new stuff as well. Calm Americans got the best response from the crowd, and, it being one of my favorites, I was very ecstatic to see it played as well. However, I'd say Shallow Like Your Breath was the most intense of them all. The band really got into it, and Chris slammed his guitar down at the end in a final outburst of energy. They ended their set with a new one that they wrote with Benny. It was an instrumental. Very impressive. Lots of delay on the guitar (as there was in some other songs too). A very atmospherical feel to it. Their set definitely stood far out from the rest. A very uniquely sophisticated sound.
Even though there were a few technical difficulties throughout the set (i.e...Chris's guitar strap continuously detaching from the guitar and the death of a guitar cord), their performance was superb and it got a nice response from the crowd. I was pretty sure I was going to piss my pants with excitement, but I'll have you know I stayed dry. Good thing...it was a close one there.
The whole weekend pretty much made my year, including the detour in Atlanta before Krazy Fest to make it to the Warped tour (to see and meet another favorite band and side project, Jimmy Eat World). I made sure and got in on some of the TastyKake action that Chris Stratton promised. Meredith brought a few boxes down from Philly. I guess I had milk duty, but I forgot. Oops. I'm glad she didn't mind as much as Chris did. HA! Anyways, I hope those of you who made it to Krazy Fest got to see Elliott in all their greatness, and I hope that those of you who didn't make it will possibly make it to a future Krazy Fest. Great fun. If not, then be sure to check out Elliott the next time they come around on tour. You can't miss such a heavenly experience...not for the world!!!
P.S...Elliott is in Birmingham, Alabama playing Furnace Fest and I really wish I could have seen that. Lots of good bands playing. It was for August 2-4. If any of you got to see it, you're lucky bastards. I'd like to hear how it went. In any case, Mat took that picture on the front of the website, if you all want to check it out. It's amazing. He also took this picture of Stretch Armstrong that got made into this sticker:
What mad talent that boy has! You all should have seen the impressive portfolio of photography he has! Wow!!!
Dashboard Confessional
Alkaline Trio
Saves the Day
