Hardly Strictly 2012

Hardly Strictly was about a week ago, and it was great.  Well the music was great.  Trying to get in touch with people and meet up while we were there was easily the most frustrating thing ever.  Eventually I just gave up.  I honestly wish I had spent more time there and worried less about getting in touch with people.  I totally skipped Sunday and the Civil Wars (not that I really know their music) because I was just exhausted from being frustrated.

On Friday, I took off work and headed over to the park around 2.  I was pretty concerned with meeting people at this time, so I spent a lot of time on my phone and ate  a lot of celery.  Abigail joined later in the day and we saw Jenny Lewis.  Who has a pretty awesome voice.  There was a pretty girl next to us with a bunch of hot hipster friends and a tattoo sleeve.  I need more tattoos.  I want hot hipster friends.  A bunch of my camp friends were gonna join, but they all bailed in various ways: something came up, I can't find you in the crowd, I have the SAT's tomorrow.

Jenny, her big bangs, and her backup singers. 

Afterwards, Abigail and I headed over to the DeYoung for some free ballet and music her coworker told her about.  I really need to start hitting up funcheapSF more often.

I'm gonna raise little male ballet dancers and they'll thank me for it b/c they'll be the hottest things on two legs.

 On Saturday, I arrived late yet again (like 12:30) and had to fight for a spot.  Abigail had a hard time seeing on Friday because everyone stood up for Jenny Lewis.  I figured this would happen again with The Lumineers so I tried to push us up to the front.  I found a microscopic plot of grass and felt tremendous anxiety about defending it.  Especially since some of our kickball friends had said they may join us.  Around 2 o'clock a woman came to where I was sitting and asked what happened to her blanket.

"I'm not sure."
"I got my ass up at 7 o'clock to get this spot."
"Maybe, next time you can leave someone at your blanket so it doesn't get moved?  This is a really popular festival."

She wanted none of it.  I later heard her tell someone that she was from D.C. and wasn't used to this shit.  I wanted to tell her that I was also from D.C. and I had enough sense to not leave an inanimate object unattended in a crowded park for 3+ hours.

The Lumineers were great.  They were clearly having a great fucking time.  And they need to feature that girl's voice more often.  She did a duet with the lead dude about Falling in Love that I LOVED.  The cool thing about them was that even I didn't know all the songs I still enjoyed all of them.

"Falling"  by The Lumineers 

Ohmygod I found it.  This is from another concert.  But still so good.  Hear the response to her voice?  Bangin'.

After the Lumineers, I booked it upstream to another stage to find The Head and The Heart.  I made a feeble attempt to contact some people and meet up with them, but when they said "we're in the back" I said "screw it" and went up to the front.  I left Abigail behind to see Patty Griffin (and, consequently, a Robert Plant cameo), but it was totally okay because I had a great time seeing The Head and the Heart solo mio.

Welcome back dude.

Crowd at the Rooster stage for the Lumineers.  Place was packed all weekend.

Crowd for the Head and the Heart.

I had a strange, uncontrollable attraction to the short, broad-shouldered front man in skinny jeans.  As I think I always will.  Just like there are hopefully some men out there who will have a strange attraction to slim, button-nosed redheads for the rest of their lives.  This was quickly overshadowed however, by that fucking drummer.  You will notice that he's clearly singing along, and is not miked. Bro was having a great time.  And that's sexy.  Also let's talk about that hair.  

Here's the whole band.  Looking Awesome.

Now the thing with The Head and the Heart is that I've been playing their album in my car for the past month or so.  Which means I was singing along a LOT.  And dancing a LOT.  I always try to pretend that I'm come off as this really hot girl who's like got a "Fuck y'all if you don't like it" attitude and it's totally cool cuz she's different and independent; very manic pixie dream girl.  But I know that it's probably like "Who's the awkward chick dancing and signing all alone?  And can't she shut up and stop making a fool of herself?"

Let's be real, I must look like this.

Anyway, doesn't matter what I looked like. I had a great time.  I keep wishing I could go back.  I love live music.