The FYF Festival (F–k Yeah Fest) hosted its eighth annual festival at Los Angeles State Historic Park, located in downtown Los Angeles.
As soon as Cold War Kids, a successful Long Beach indie rock band, stepped on stage, all problems were forgotten and the crowd went wild for the show that was about to begin.
The group opened up with their 2010 single “Louder Than Ever” from their newest album “Mine Is Yours,” released in January 2011.
“Louder Than Ever” then transitioned to “Something Is Not Right With Me,” which was even louder than the first song. The fans were redistributed with a new amount of energy as Nathan Willett (vocals) switched from vocals to piano and to the powerful rhythms Matt Aveiro [drums] created.
After a brief conversation with the crowd, the band performed “Skip the Charades,” which was one of their softer tunes compared to other songs they performed so far. The mood of the crowd seemed to become more serene, but that changed when Cold War Kids transitioned to their fourth song on their set list “Mexican Dogs,” a song from their sophomore album “Loyalty to Loyalty.”
The band performed “Bulldozer,” which created an evolving power from the crowd due to how the song is played. It started off very subtle and slowly became louder and faster. The guitar strings created an eerie yet relaxing mood to the atmosphere of the crowd. As the song progressed into strident noise, it became suddenly quiet. Then it continued and slowly emerged again as Willett sang, “I can feel your arms around me. Pull me closer. Hold me tightly. Precious metals now colliding. Look to you my carbon copy,” and all the instruments in the song collided together to create a truly jaw-dropping performance.
During the performance of “We Used to Vacation,” maracas were added into the pot luck of instruments. This created fun and quirky beats as an addition to the rhythms created from the jazzy piano notes and electrifying sounds from the guitar. This song sounded like reggae beats mixed with a rocky tune to create a soothing vibe.
The last performances were very memorable. “Hang Me Up to Dry” inspired the crowd to scream with awe and ignited a spark of energy filled with enthusiasm. Then the song transitioned to “Royal Blue,” which had fans singing along with the lyrics. After one more brief conversation with the crowd, this time about how the sun was coming down, the band performed their final song “Saint John,” which had Willett singing his heart out while using strong gestures and movements.
In total, the band performed twelve songs in a course of 50 minutes. And in that course was one of the best performances at FYF’s 2011 Festival.
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