Saturday, May 20, 2006
Posted at
11:26
by
Carly Carioli
All photos (c) Carina Mastrocola.
If you've got to have bands play in the sun -- and that's how it goes at the Best Music Poll -- then OK Go are a great fit. Upbeat tempos. Creative, thought-provoking lyrics. You know: good times. They were infectuous, and the audience (a mix of young and old) seemed to be catching their fever. I noticed that frontman Damian Kulash was still sporting the pinky ring on his right hand. Last time I sat down with him, about two years ago, he told me that it had belonged to a friend of his who'd passed away on her 22nd birthday after falling out of a window. He wrote the song "Return" for her. I have yet to see him not wearing it.
After their set ended, Damian announced that they were going to perform a public service announcement and show everyone what MTV used to be about..MUSIC VIDEOS! They proceeded to perform a delightfully cute and funny choreography set which had the crowd cheering and smiling! One of these people being Elefant front man, Diego Garcia, who happened to be standing right next to me.
Which was super awesome, since Elefant was the band I was looking forward to seeing the most, and since I can't talk about this band without talking about Diego. He's got a certain Jim Morrison appeal. On stage he exhudes charisma, style, and grace. He also has a talent for writing songs that are at once sweeping and introspective, lovelorn and danceable. The packed crowd at the Axis was on board. Throughout their set, Diego constantly bowed to the audience and extended his arms out to them. They stole the show for me.
