Loufest picked back up again this year with a larger layout, four stages, and bigger names.

Washed Out: The first major name of Saturday, Washed Out pulled a pretty substantial crowd for a midday set. Fleshing out his live performance with a full band, Ernest Greene played a wide range of songs, even playing his 2010 Adult Swim backed single “You & I.” As Future Islands commented later, the overcast sky poetically cleared by the end of Washed Out’s set and there were plenty of good vibes throughout the set. The award for most awkward stage movement 100% goes to Ernest Greene.

With an hour break before the one two punch of Future Islands and Yo La Tengo, I wandered between the three 4 o’clock bands.

RAC: I wasn’t sure how the stage show for RAC would work, especially as I only really know them as the soundtrack of H&M. That being said, their “Too Darn Hot” remix is still fantastic. Their live show? Not so much. The live instrumentation was more a visual stimulant than an auditory one as the backing tracks sometimes had all the components of the song accounted for. Viewed purely as a DJ set, it was pretty solid mix and it kept the crowd hyped up. You’ve gotta applaud the band for trying to transcend the basic DJ set. With more time and tweaking it’ll probably be pretty good.

Those Darlins: Nashville’s Those Darlins had a captivating dual lead singer approach with both Jessi Zazu and Nikki Kvarnes trading off vocal duties. They ran through a great cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me.” At this point, the song is almost inseparable from the opening scene of The Big Lebowski and I’ve seen it more times than I can count so the cover hit pretty close to home. They also cover The Crystals “Then He Kissed Me” before I left to go stake out a spot at Future Islands. The audience was feeling it and the shade stage stayed pretty popular for most of the festival. Those Darlins were a great festival find.

Alanna Royale: Although I only caught one song on my way to Future Islands, a cover oddly enough, Alanna Royale made an impression as she and her band ripped through a cover of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box.” With horns backing her, Royale’s powerful voice carried well making the modest BMI stage seem bigger than it was.

Future Islands: Yah, you’ve probably seen the hip shaking, chest beating, death growling wonder that is Sam Herring thanks to their astounding Letterman performance later this year. Future Islands, however, is a unit in the same way Yo La Tengo is. The musical muscle that Future Islands have is just as important as Herring’s powerful voice. Keyboardist Gerrit Welmers and bassist William Cashion create a TON of sound and new touring drummer Michael Lowry adds a danceable groove to every song. Emphasizing their new album Singles, Future Islands were captivating. At one point my cousin turned me and said, in reference to Herring, “he should be a Shakespearian actor.” It’s really true. He poured everything he had into the setlist, whether it was Loufest’s sexiest dancing (sorry Matt and Kim) or the audible smack of his clenched fist pounding his chest. Despite the passion of his performance, the banter in between songs was light with Herring proclaiming “we’re gonna give you our all because I ain’t got shit to do tomorrow” in reference to Loufest being the last date of their tour. Next time they head out, SEE THEM.  I can’t stress it enough, Future Islands are great.

Yo La Tengo: In our lead-up piece, I guessed that Yo La Tengo would play one of two sets: hits or noise. Despite the short festival slot, they fit both in. Opening with “Mr Tough” they wound their way through their 30 year long discography. It speaks highly to the quality of their output that newer songs like “Ohm” are just as good as older songs like “Autumn Sweater.” One of my huge qualms with the festival is the apathy of the crowd towards acts they might not know as well. The loud-quiet-loud dynamic of their setlist suffered from crowd chatter and the crowd dwindled as everyone left to get a spot for The 1975. One of the better moments of the festival was Ira Kaplan’s mid-song guitar switch to continue the shred fest, a barrage of electric guitar that sits at the crossroads of unlistenable and genius.

The 1975: Sheesh,what can I say about these guys? They have the “look” down. They sneer and swagger in the same way Oasis does without the credentials to back up their attitude, but you wouldn’t have guessed it from the response of the festival crowd. This might have been one of the biggest crowd draws besides Portugal the Man. The banter was awful. At one point lead singer Matt Healy shouted “This song is about having sex with each other” in a moment of supreme Spinal Tap-ism as they launched into, I assume, the song “Sex.” That’s basically the draw of the band. There is no subtlety, what you see is what you get, and they deliver with sugary hooks and blaring guitars and synths.

The Arctic Monkeys: I had some worries about how Arctic Monkeys would fill their headlining slot. If you need an indication of how jam packed the set was with hits, they OPENED with “Do I Wanna Know.” These guys are the real deal. They’ve certainly come a long way since their Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys days and the Josh Homme mentorship definitely shows. The lights show was spectacular and moody as backlighting and haze surrounded the band, cloaking them in deep shades of blue and purple. Sadly, “When the Sun Goes Down” got left of the setlist, but they pretty much covered every album. The big surprise is how strong the songs from their sophomore LP Favourite Worst Nightmare were. “Brianstorm” and “Fluorescent Adolescent” drew huge cheers and were some of the most energetic performances of the night. It was a great cap to Loufest’s strongest day. Check in tomorrow for Sunday coverage.

“Do I Wanna Know?”

“Snap Out of It”

“Arabella”

Brianstorm”

“Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair”

“Dancing Shoes”

“Crying Lightning”

“Knee Socks”

“My Propeller”

“I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”

“Library Pictures”

“All My Own Stunts”

“Old Yellow Bricks”

“No. 1 Party Anthem”

“Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?”

“Fluorescent Adolescent”

“505”

Encore

“One for the Road”

“I Wanna Be Yours”

“R U Mine?”