The sun just set on the Re:SET Concert Series.
The new traveling concert festival concluded its Los Angeles run on Sunday evening. Day three featured a comprehensive range of genres, from bounce music to dance rock. Beginning at 4 p.m., LCD Soundsystem and their openers – Big Freedia, IDLES and Jamie xx – took to the Brookside at the Rose Bowl stage for one last hurrah.
Read on for the Daily Bruin’s coverage of day three.
Big Freedia
Big Freedia brought New Orleans bounce to LA.
The rapper, who uses all pronouns interchangeably and is credited for popularizing the bounce hip-hop genre, arrived following an introduction by DJ Juane Jordan. Dressed in a blue mesh top with contrasting orange pants and big hoop earrings, Big Freedia was joined by his dancers – the aptly named “Bounce Ambassadors.” She began with “Bigfoot,” a new horn-heavy single, as her ambassadors performed a step routine in time to the song. “I got a big foot but I’m getting bigger checks / They don’t see what’s coming next,” they rapped enthusiastically as the crowd danced.
While the screens flashed technicolor variations of the Queen Diva’s name, Jordan remixed Big Freedia’s “Y’all Get Back Now” with Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money,” a choice that was rewarded as the audience joined Big Freedia and his dancers in twerking. Big Freedia continued to engage the crowd in “N.O Bounce,” another brass track where she began a call and response refrain of her own name.
Big Freedia maintained high energy throughout, twerking alongside their dancers while rapping in their distinctive flow. The crowd’s energy reached a peak during the last songs of the set, which featured Big Freedia’s collaborations with other artists. These included Drake’s “Nice For What,” Beyoncé’s “Formation” and “Explode,” Big Freedia’s own song that was sampled on Beyoncé’s “BREAK MY SOUL.” During the latter, Big Freedia jumped up and down as he proclaimed “release the stress, release the love, forget the rest.”
Yet when she left the stage, Big Freedia proved to be unforgettable.
[Related: Re:SET 2023: Steve Lacy and openers serenade the sunset on day 1 at Rose Bowl]
IDLES
IDLES is not afraid to make colossal statements.
The British punk rock band began with “Colossus,” a track that gradually built up to a rollicking climax. The constant drums and electric guitar combined with fog made for an intense opening statement as lead singer Joe Talbot leaned closely into the mic. In their second track, “Car Crash,” bass guitarist Adam Devonshire went crowd-surfing, all while still playing his instrument.
IDLES took socio-political stances, notably in “Mother” and “The Wheel.” Talbot’s furious delivery denounced rape culture and the British Conservative Party – colloquially known as the Tories – in the former, and explored anger that arose from the cycle of addiction in the latter. While the songs were impassioned, Talbot was affable between tracks, expressing his gratitude and making profanity-laden quips about LA culture. “I’d like to thank the sun for shining, and you all for shining too,” he said to a cheering crowd.
The band continued with “Never Fight a Man With a Perm,” which Talbot said was inspired by a fistfight he was once in. As he ran around the stage, Talbot told the audience to “get low” until the beat dropped. When the drums and electric guitars exploded with sound, Talbot and the audience moshed as one under the LA sun. They concluded with “Rottweiler,” which Talbot described as an “anti-fascist” song. The strobing red lights, crowd surfers in the audience and flashing visuals brought IDLES’ set to a rollicking, thunderous finish.
When it came to punk, the band was anything but idle.
Jamie xx
Jamie xx remixed the Re:SET stage.
Under a sparkling disco ball and strobe lights, the British DJ arrived to spin an hour-long set. Unlike other acts, Jamie xx’s performance lay entirely behind the turntables as the sizable audience danced to his beats. His first choice was “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times),” one of his popular songs that meshes EDM with Caribbean percussion. He continued with “KILL DEM,” another fast-paced steel drum song.
The visuals focused on the audience, as opposed to the DJ, with a combination of close camera angles on individual concert goers and wide shots of the crowd as a whole. Jamie xx then played a mashup of Ludacris’ “What’s Your Fantasy” and his own song, “Idontknow.” The audience rapped along to Ludacris and continued to dance frantically, while Jamie xx nodded onstage.
He mashed up different beats, including “Conjunction” by Fideles, which featured a slower synth line that flowed in contrast to the upbeat backing track. His final entry of the evening was his own song, “Gosh.” A triumphant choice that made use of deep, distorted vocals and a piercing, extraterrestrial melody, his set ended on a more subdued note with a resounding bass thrumming like a heartbeat.
And in the end, Jamie xx left his audience spinning out for more.
[Related: Re:Set 2023: boygenius enthralls crowd under the moonlight to close out day 2]
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem took the Rose Bowl on an innocuous retro ride.
The American band began their headlining set promptly at 8:15 p.m. Multi-colored lights shone onto the disco ball above, casting rainbow hues on the audience as the fog machines created an aura of mystery. When lead vocalist James Murphy walked out onto the stage, the crowd screamed in anticipation as their first song, “Get Innocuous!” started. Murphy sang closely into his condenser microphone and kept his eyes closed in a manner reminiscent of David Bowie.
Throughout their performance, the camera highlighted not just Murphy, but all the members of the band, while the lights flared in time to each song. During “new body rhumba,” a song recently written for the 2022 film “White Noise,” Murphy and the rest of the band sang in harmony as keyboardist Nancy Whang chanted the “panasonic” refrain, creating an underlying vocal percussion line.
In “Losing My Edge,” Murphy delivered the spoken prose over the track, similar in style to the Talking Heads. He continued with “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down.” Murphy was engulfed in blue lighting as he belted the ballad, which began dreamily but intensified to a roaring climax with his arms outstretched, surrounded in white strobes. They concluded their set with “All My Friends,” which made use of an upbeat piano motif as festival goers jumped up and down together, united as one. “Where are your friends tonight?” Murphy intoned.
But if the cheers were any indication, all of his friends were in the Sunday night crowd.
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