FFFF Live Review: Japandroids

Photo by Shelley Hiam

FUN FUN FUN FEST

• FFFF Sunday Live Reviews

  Auditorium Shores, November 4, 2012

• Pallbearer

  BY ADAM SCHRAGIN

• Cult of Youth

  BY GREG BEETS

• Baauer

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• A Place To Bury Strangers

  BY MARC SAVLOV

• Giant Giant Sand

  BY ADAM SCHRAGIN

• Japandroids

  BY MICHAEL TOLAND

• Deerhoof

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• Titus Andronicus

  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

• De La Soul

  BY THOMAS FAWCETT

• Fucked Up

  BY KEVIN CURTIN

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  Auditorium Shores, November 3, 2012

• The Golden Boys

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  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

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  BY KEVIN CURTIN

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• Napalm Death

  BY ADAM SCHRAGIN

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  BY LUKE WINKIE

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  BY KEVIN CURTIN

• Santigold

  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

• X

  BY GREG BEETS

• Bun B

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• Run-DMC

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• This Is PiL

  Sex Pistol and PiL frontman John Lydon, by God.

  BY RICHARD WHITTAKER

• Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview

  Saving the best for last

• Twin Sister

  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

• X

  BY JIM CALIGIURI

• Superchunk

  BY GREG BEETS

• Sharon Van Etten

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

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• Nomeansno

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• Explosions in the Sky

  BY AUSTIN POWELL

• Beatbox

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• Headbanging & Horns: The Black Stage

  BY MICHAEL TOLAND

• Austin in the House

  BY KEVIN CURTIN

• Comedy: The Yellow Stage

  BY ADAM SCHRAGIN

• Black Stage Punks

  BY KEVIN CURTIN

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  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

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• Santigold

  BY THOMAS FAWCETT

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  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

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  BY GREG BEETS

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  BY MICHAEL TOLAND

• Municipal Waste

  BY GREG BEETS

• Diamond Rings

  BY LUKE WINKIE

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  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• Fun Fun Fun Fest Saturday Reviews

• Paul Banks

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• OFF!

  BY KEVIN CURTIN

• Kreayshawn

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• Daughn Gibson

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• Diamond Rugs

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• The Head and the Heart

  BY ABBY JOHNSTON

• Why?

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• The Helio Sequence

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• Fun Fun Fun Fest Sunday Reviews

• Titus Andronicus

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• Japandroids

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• Giant Giant Sand

  BY MICHAEL TOLAND

• Cult of Youth

  BY GREG BEETS

• Pallbearer

  BY LUKE WINKIE

• Black Moth Super Rainbow

  BY KEVIN CURTIN

• De La Soul's Plug 1 & Plug 2 Present: First Serve

  BY CHASE HOFFBERGER

• Deerhoof

  BY KEVIN CURTIN

• Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

  BY DOUG FREEMAN

• Nite Jewel

  BY ADAM SCHRAGIN

• Cheap Girls

  BY GREG BEETS

Japandroids

"Your beautiful Texas sun is killing our Canadian bodies," quipped Japandroids guitarist Brian King. Maybe so, but the sunshine didn't have much effect on the Vancouver duo's music. More Minneapolis than Detroit or Akron, the 'droids crank working-class pop/rock chord progressions past 11 and let the rock anthems fly. King and drummer David Prowse exploded in joyous catharsis, befitting the title of latest LP Celebration Rock. Indeed, most of the set came from that album, to the delight of the surprisingly sizeable crowd. From openers "Adrenaline Nightshift" and "Fire's Highway" (which appropriates the lick from Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill") to the drum-solo enhanced "Evil's Sway" and hit single, "The House That Heaven Built," the widescreen melodies and "whoa-oh" choruses never let up. Older tune "Wet Hair" added welcome dissonance, but even that evolved into a fist-pumper, and by set's end, the band and audience were so amped that a closing cover of the Gun Club's "For the Love of Ivy" sounded like the click of a million lighters. The spirit of rock & roll is burning Japandroids up from the inside out, and we're privileged to bask in the flames.