Shortly after Death Grips brought their thrashing set to a ferociously abrupt end, my pit partner and I slithered to the front of The Trees stage as the crowd disbanded so that we would be at the very top of the madness that was to come.

Thee Oh Sees. The Bay area garage-punk rulers were about to rock this festival and we knew it. We impatiently counted down the minutes as we prepared ourselves for the crowd-surfing, mosh-pitting lunacy that was going to be occurring right behind us. Sooner rather than later, we were caught in a cyclone of barricade-grabbing, dust-puffing, utter chaos.

Everything from the droning guitars, double drumming, and multihued stage lighting, were mere ingredients for the over all good times the crowd and band exchanged under the LA moonlight, dimmed by a veil of punk rocker induced dust fog.

One fifty-minute sandstorm later, ears ringing and arms aching, my accomplice and I victoriously limped towards the medic tent to get some ice for a throbbing and rapidly swelling knee disguised under freshly-earned adrenaline. Adding another stop before catching the next set, we decided to pass by the restroom to wash off some of the layers of dirt we were lucky to attain at the front of John Dwyer and his distortion-filled absurdity that we so happily banged our heads along to. Destructive and sweaty, it was a beautiful embodiment of rock music and there was no dull moment for Thee Oh Sees on August 23rd. 

While I couldn’t get any usable footage for you guys, here is some proof of the havoc thanks to someone’s surprisingly steady hands and YouTube.