Even with temperatures dropping and winds whipping up off of the river, thousands turned up in their most outlandish and most revealing music festival wear for the first day of Buku Music & Arts Project 2013.
The festival kicked off late Friday afternoon and carried on into the early hours of the morning with light shows and pounding bass around every corner of Mardi Gras World.
JMSN played an early evening set in the Ballroom, bringing in a decently sized crowd for their hour of wailing. Some of the crowd seemed to be feeling JMSN’s sound, but ultimately the long-haired, underfed band felt and sounded like the product of suburban middle school angst. The guitars were piercing, the vocals were baffling and the set seemed to drag on with little direction. Lovers of noise and garbled screaming definitely got a kick out of this set.
On the main stage, Lettuce took over with a well-executed set of funk instrumentals. The band may not have provided much for the audience to sing along to, but Lettuce still held a large crowd with an engaging performance. The set felt like a solid fit for its spot on the schedule — strong enough to keep people excited and energized, while still leaving room for the next acts to build momentum.
Rising rapper and Odd Future affiliate Earl Sweatshirt packed the Ballroom for his 6:15 set, although Flying Lotus had to work the crowd until Earl came on a few minutes late. He made up for it by spitting a set that had everyone’s hands in the air, proving once again that Earl Sweatshirt is a name to watch out for in the next year. Earl raps with enthusiasm and confidence, and the crowd loved him.
When you notice about two hundred people wearing glow-sticks and no shirts sprinting in the same direction, you know Flux Pavilion is performing. The English DJ put on exactly the kind of performance so many Buku attendees came to see: very loud, very bright and very dance-friendly.
Though the popularity of Flux Pavilion meant a more sparse crowd in the Ballroom at first, Canadian rock two-piece Japandroids put on a killer show. The self-described “small but mighty” band churned out an impressive amount of sound from only guitar, drums and vocals, and its energy was infectious. By the end of an electrifying set, Japandroids had doubled the size of its crowd and given everyone a reminder that sometimes less really is more.
Primus certainly pumped up expectations when festival workers started passing out the 3D glasses to accompany their turn to take over the Power Plant stage, but the experimental band didn’t quite deliver as much as I hoped. When the quality of the music doesn’t match with the extravagance of the production put into the performance, it can come off as gimmicky and obfuscating of the band’s actual talent.
California surf pop sweethearts Best Coast took the Ballroom stage for a relatively chill set, playing some favorites from its catalogue with minimal fuss. With more electric guitars and less echoey vocals, Best Coast takes on a rougher, less dreamy edge in a live show that brings its sound from retro cruising music to jam band. The set may not have been as dynamic as Japandroids before it, but it (along with frontwoman Bethany Cosentino’s playful conversation and built-in mic stand cupholder) certainly charmed the crowd.
Perhaps the most anxiously anticipated performance of the night, Kid Cudi’s set took off with a barrage of noise and lights. Opening song “REVOFEV” started the show with a chorus of “oh”s that got everyone shouting along, and the high bar set by the first song continued to be met throughout the performance. Kid Cudi seemed thrilled to be performing, flying all over the stage and feeding off the massive crowd’s love for him. The set definitely did not disappoint as the peak moment of the night.
With one day down and one day to go, the vibe at Buku by the end of Friday’s performances was one of anticipation. Even more, bigger acts will explode onto the scene on Saturday, and the crowds can’t wait for another round.
