Once upon a time, in the long-lost days of the twentieth century, festivals would tour North America, instead of just rooting themselves in one spot for a weekend a year. Lollapalooza is probably the best-remembered, but there was everything from Lilith Fair to H.O.R.D.E. (not to mention Hullabalooza…). Conditions changed in this millennium, with even the return of Lolla settling down in Chicago’s Grant Park like an aged alt-rock fan with kids. But everything old is new again, and the touring festival has been revived with the Re:SET Concert Series, a traveling three-day weekend that came to Queens’ Forest Hills Stadium, June 16th-18th.
Technically not a touring festival but a ‘concert series’, Re:SET is set up where a single line-up plays one city one day, another city another day, and then a third city/day, alternating with two other line-ups, so it could cover the likes of New York, Boston, and Maryland in one long weekend. It limited each day’s line-up to just four acts, but that meant that it could cover maximum ground. It also made it easier if you were mainly just interested in one day, as it seemed most were at Re:SET, the audiences varying from the young to the once-young.
The New York edition was at Forest Hills Stadium (QRO venue review), the former home to the U.S. Open, in the picturesque residential neighborhood, deep in Queens (while close to the E & F trains stop, not helping on Saturday & Sunday was the F train not running uptown to it…). The very mainstream big space was a bit of an odd match for the alt-series, from the rather thorough security (bags were checked twice, in full, and you had to leave your umbrella at the entrance) to staff leading VIP concertgoers to their seats by holding up an actual tennis racket. But both outside the stadium and inside were well laid out, including a wide selection of food and drinks (okay, over-priced, but that’s post-COVID concert-going for you…), a well-visited merch booth, and even Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ promotional punk limo promoting last year’s Cool It Down (QRO review). Not all fans could get onto the stage floor (there were lines inside right from doors to get the extra ground floor access wristbands), but the impressive bowl and its impressive sound & light system well served all.
Friday at Forest Hills started off a little risky, with weather pushing back the doors an hour, but didn’t stop opener L’Rain from performing as doors opened (though perhaps this is what happens when you book an act named “L’Rain”…). But it was IDLES that threatened to steal the show, like they have at many a festival. The British punk rockers are notorious for their wild performances, perhaps a bit relatively toned down this time at a festival during the day, but certainly not tame, with guitarist Lee Kiernan going into the mosh pit right on the second song. They’re already big new names in the native country, and Re:SET is a great way to showcase them to American audiences – including the frontman of the headliner, James Murphy, who watched their whole set from the super-VIP artist spot on the side of the front of the crowd (note: not the celeb first sighting there…). Singer Joe Talbot dedicated “Mother” to yesterday’s birthday boy, drummer Jon Beavis – as well as yesterday’s birthday girl, his own mother, who was not only in attendance, but “shit-faced in the back…”
After IDLES’ wild punk fury, it was admittedly something of a jarring shift to the modern DJ Jamie xx. One-third of The xx, Jamie has made his own side solo DJ career, big enough to be the main opener for this night. He certainly knows his way around his decks, and fit with the headliner, but after the energy of IDLES, was a bit of a come-down, just him behind the decks. It was still daylight, limiting what his lights and the biggest & lowest mirror ball ever could do, not to mention too much smoke machine covering up what was there. And he came before/after between-song DJ The Juan MacLean.
Topping off the first night was NYC disco-punk legends LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy & co. basically invented the term ‘disco-punk’, introducing aughts era rock hipsters to Daft Punk and much more. Yet their electronics have never lost that punk energy, whether on keyboards or hitting the skins. Set up right at the front of the stage, it was particularly great to see others in the band such as drummer Pat Mahoney (like when Murphy would join him, hitting the drums & making faces on the other side of the kit), guitarist/keyboardist Al Doyle (at one point stretching to play two different keyboards), and keyboardist Nancy Whang, whipping her apt wig. Unfortunately, Murphy announced that bassist Tyler Pope was out sick (after the crowd awwed, Murphy added, “It’s okay…”), but noted how everyone else, not just those on instruments in the back but the crucial roadies (who looked cooler than you will ever be…) & more helped out. Indeed, IDLES bassist Adam Devonshire joined for their cover of Joy Division’s “No Love Lost”.
LCD Soundsystem are old enough to have broken up and gotten back together (admittedly, only a five year hiatus), and had more than enough bangers to rock the night. The likes of “Get Innocuous”, “I Can Change”, and “Tribulations” opened up the night, with Murphy in his white suit noting, “This is good energy”. The frontman can sometimes be a bit of a diva, but he was fully into his festival-headlining role this night. Not only were there thrilling classics, but thrilling seamless segues between said classics like “Someone Great to “Losing My Edge”. And there is nothing quite like hearing LCD do “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down”, with the crowd putting up their phone lights (because this is the twenty-first century – everyone’s got a cellphone, but you’re not even allowed to bring lighters in anymore…).
