I stand by my previous statements regarding the SP20 Festival (TMT News), with one concession: things are shaping up. Really, though, The Vaselines (joined by members of Belle & Sebastian), Les Thugs, and Eric's Trip? It's like 1994 all over again, and if that wasn't the best year of your life, don't even talk to me. I'm already trying to fit into my acid-wash jeans with the massive thigh-holes under the back pockets that pretty much warrant them un-wearable.
And may I just say this about the epic Vs? They blow my mind. Coming together in 1986, they haven't been active for nearly 20 years, and their miracle appearance in July at SP20 will be their first ever U.S. performance. I didn't even think they were still alive. They have one album, one, and they broke up immediately after recording it (though you can hear a fuller catalog thanks to Sub Pop's 1992 compilation, The Way of The Vaselines: A Complete History, which I swore by in 7th grade).
Then there's Eric's Trip: Julie Doiron, Rick White, Mark Gaudet, Chris Thompson, Ed Vaughan, and no one named Eric -- a golden ’90s Canadian quintuplet who signed to Sub Pop in ’92, disbanded in ’96, and reunited for only a handful of shows in 2007.
Finally, we have Les Thugs. They're French and that's great.
So it's a question of math at this point. Do the sum of these bands necessitate your attendance? Let's find out. On Sunday, you have a lineup consisting of Flight of the Conchords, The Vaselines, Iron & Wine, Low, Fleet Foxes, Mudhoney, The Fluid, The Helio Sequence, Eric's Trip, Seaweed, and Pissed Jeans, for a total of 54% awesome. On Saturday, Green River, Wolf Parade, Beachwood Sparks, Les Thugs, Foals, No Age, Red Red Meat, Comets on Fire, Kinski, Grand Archives, and The Ruby Suns accrues only an 18% acceptability rating, for a two-day combined total of 36% good. Now, at a price of $50 for a two-day pass at approximately $2.27 per band, 64% which we've established aren't worth seeing, you're going to pay a total of $31.78 for music that you shouldn't, and will not, enjoy. Is that offset by the remaining $18.22 worth of music that you will enjoy? I don't know, I'm not your mother and, frankly, I have no interest in making that decision for you. That said, yes it does. The Vaselines, man. The Vaselines.
