Review: Capitol Hill Block Party Has Its Explosive 20th Anniversary
Lulu Dawson
When you hear “block party,” you probably think of families standing around barbecues and yard games that end at 8:00P.M. because the kids have to go to bed. That’s not how Capitol Hill Block Party is. While there are a few kids and some food, Capitol Hill Block Party is much more of a music festival party than a neighborhood BBQ.
I started my festival off by watching the Seattle band Car Seat Headrest. Attracting a relatively small crowd, the boys had a good set; nothing super exciting, and not something that you would probably list as a highlight of the weekend, but they were a good time and fun to listen to.
Next up on the main stage was a DJ called Tourist. This was actually the first time I had really seen a live DJ set before, as I’ve only seen bands and solo artists perform. For a first-timer like myself, Tourist set the bar pretty low, unfortunately. The set wasn’t bad by any means, but it definitely wasn’t exciting either. His set was very synthetic-sounding and didn’t have a lot of substance. The entire hour long set sounded pretty much the same —keeping a pretty standard pattern of a song intro building up, the bass dropping, some nice beats to sway around to, and then repeat. Tourist’s set wasn’t anything super impressive, and it lacked the depth and variety of some of the better DJ sets to come.
Last up before the big headliner was another DJ by the name of Big Wild. By this time of day, the sun was just beginning to set, and the crowd was starting to fill in a lot more with the anticipation of ODESZA closing the night. Before them, though, Big Wild had a great set that I’d love to see again. The entire thing had a very California beach-side kind of vibe to it, supplemented by the moving bird and beach illustrations on the screen behind him. The crowd didn’t stop dancing for the entire set, and it perfectly matched the warm weather and carefree style of the Block Party, making Big Wild’s set one of my favorites out of everything I saw that weekend.
Finally, to shut down day two of Capitol Hill Block Party, Seattle natives ODESZA. Everyone was expecting a big party from this set, and that’s exactly what we got. You could feel the entire set vibrate through your bones as you jump around and have fun with the rest of the crowd. The boys were endlessly thankful to be headlining the festival, and even brought out a few special guests for parts of their set, including a member of Beat Connection and even the Seahawks drumline. ODESZA knows how to have a good time, and their set was a great end to a fantastic day at the Block Party.
Day two of Capitol Hill Block Party was unlike anything I’d ever been to before, and I was very pleasantly surprised with an insane night.
Next, I kicked off day three with Clams Casino, then The Joy Formidable in the afternoon. Like the Tourist set the previous day, neither of these day three sets were bad, but neither had anything particularly memorable about them. Clams Casino’s set was pretty calm; in other words, there was a small crowd moving around a bit to the good music, and not much more. The Joy Formidable, meanwhile, changed the pace of the day drastically. Their set was loud, energetic, and full of head-banging. They’re pretty much your standard loud rock band — fun to watch and maybe move around to a little, but you’re going to leave the set half deaf. The band members are very energetic performers, running around the stage and hitting the drums between guitar riffs, which makes it a fun set to see live. However, while it was a good time, it wasn’t something that would stand out from the weekend.
The day really made a comeback at 8 with STRFKR. The set began with a group of people dressed head-to-toe in space suits coming on and standing on the sides of the stage. Eventually, the rest of the band ran on stage, also in space suits but simply without the helmets. STRFKR sure knows how to keep a crowd interested. Their sound features a lot of electronic vibes; they’re kind of like a more indie, less robot version of Daft Punk. Aside from that, their live set has lots of surprises in store. The events ranged from basic stuff like multiple confetti cannons, to more original and quirky ones. Most notably, after two of the hype-men/astronaut friends rolled out the giant blow up pool flamingos from the back, they proceeded to throw them on top of the crowd, climb on top, and crowd surf all the way to the back of the crowd, which was probably about a full block long at that point. After the astronauts had surfed back up with their flamingos, loads of blow up dinosaurs were thrown on the crowd to pass around. A very well-done cover of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and a few originals later, they closed their set for the day. STRFKR probably had the most ‘party’ set of the weekend, filled with lots of dancing and laughs; it was a fantastic time and a great set to pick up the crowd on the last day.
Finally, the last act of Capitol Hill Block Party 2016, Scottish indie-electro band CHVRCHES. Though their set didn’t include any crazy stunts or confetti cannons, they had such a quality set that it was perfect to end the weekend. The band opened with “Never Ending Circles,” instantly getting the crowd screaming and dancing around. The set was filled with little breaks for Lauren Mayberry, the lead singer, to make quirky little comments about how the whole band was seriously jet-lagged, so everything about the festival seemed really surreal and trippy. Their set was great to dance and sing along to, with a generally happy pop vibe, and each song was performed well with tons of energy and passion. They closed with their most popular song, “The Mother We Share.” Instead of just jumping straight into the song, Lauren actually sang the chorus of the song a cappella first, backed by just a low atmospheric sounding sound, which was absolutely lovely. Eventually, they performed the song as recorded, and the whole crowd was singing along and cheering as they thanked the crowd and closed their set.
Capitol Hill Block Party was a very different experience for me, and it was such a fantastic weekend. The sets had a lot of variety between genres and performance styles, which always makes you wonder what the next set has in store for you, because the sets just get better throughout the night. I don’t know if the Block Party is always as fun as this year’s was, but this year had some of the craziest performances I’ve been to, and I would highly recommend the festival to anyone asking.
