Traveling all the way from Syracuse, New York, Ra Ra Riot returned to grace the Firebird’s stage. Performing for an insanely packed house, the band’s energetic set was crafted primarily around their 2010 release, The Orchard. Frontman Wes Miles rocked a vintage STL t-shirt, and the band thanked the adoring audience for their support in the form of a three song encore.

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Day two rolls over San Francisco in a wave of hazy clouds and sputtering rain.  We arrived at Treasure Island right as Ra Ra Riot was closing out their set.  They finished rambunctiously with  a mash up of high energy dancing and choppy staccato strings.  For some reason – once again – I had the sudden urge to get garlic crab fries, but I resisted and made my way over to catch Superchunk.

Superchunk (above)

Their lo-fi sound layed over the grey day fit rather well, but Mac McCaughan’s wavering tenor made the set a little too chill for me.  I contemplate scoring a fresh pressed espresso, but the line is ridiculously long, so I duck into the Silent Disco and dance myself awake to Moldover’s ecletic jams.  Now that I am awake, I drop my headphones off and run over to catch the last half of Papercuts’ set.   The sun begins to peek out from behind the clouds as I wander over, but it is not enough to excite me about Papercuts.  They felt like a farely standard indie pop band.  This suprised me – everyone had been gabbing about how the band’s sound and style related to the sci-fi fun of The Zombies.  Their set was quick, and people began to fade away to score a good spot to catch She & Him.

She & Him (above)

She & Him opened with an upbeat collection of songs.  Zooey’s voice faded in and out throughout the whimsical set, while M. Ward shot line-drive guitar riffs at the crowd with an intensity that made you shiver.  The definite highlight of their set was when M. Ward walked forward and played a serious catchy, quick cover of “Roll Over Beethoven.”  After their set concluded, I jumped over to the craft tent to rest my legs on its wonderful collection of couches.  Monotonix went on not to far from us. My back was to them for the first fifteen minutes of their set, so I thought they had technical difficulties – all I was hearing was nothing but an occasional muted drum and random snatch of lyrics.  When we got up to go score a cup of coffee (the line had vanished, something about garlic crab fries…), I realized there were no tech problems.  Monotonix’s singer had been tossing trash around the crowd and rearranging the band after every song so they were playing in the audience.  Their set was terrible, and it received little response.  Thankfully Broken Social Scene was on next.

Broken Social Scene (above)

Broken Social Scene sheer number of band members took up much of the main stage.   Their full sound seemed to spread perfectly over the crowd, which danced and bopped their heads to BSS’ clear instrumentals and unique song structures.  I got to hear Lisa Lobsinger sing my favorite song “Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl” for the first time live – that was sweet.  The band closed with a bang and some crowd surfing from lead singer Kevin Drew.  Surfer Blood was next – they must have been excited to begin, because they started even before the applause for Broken Social Scene ended.  Surfer Blood was a lot of fun, as their power pop choruses created pockets of dancing throughout the crowd.  I stole out half way through the set to score a good spot for The National.  Singer Matt Berninger was in good form that night.  He balanced joking and singing painfully beautiful songs so well that it felt good to hurt.  The National had the best set of the festival, in my opinion.

Belle & Sebastian (above)

I broke away to grab a drink and a bite to eat before heading back to catch Belle & Sebastian.  San Francisco was ready for Stuart Murdoch’s return, and as he bounced onto stage full of energy, the audience erupted in applause.  The band opened with “I Didn’t See it Coming,” the first song from their new album, and its bubbly energy moved like pop carbonation through the crowd.  The rest of the set was a ‘best of’ Belle and Sebastian set, drawing hit songs from their discography.  They closed with “Sleep Around the Clock” and everyone went back to the mainland for drinks, bringing an awesome end to a wonderful two days on Treasure Island.

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There’s no ignoring the critic-ascribed melancholy of Ra Ra Riot’s The Rhumb Line, with the haunted nature of its lyrics and chamber music-infused sound – all of which admittedly make a crowd hesitant to dance.  But if Ra Ra Riot proved anything at their recent show at The Firebird, it was that handclaps and cellos actually can mix.

As for the openers, Chicago-based Map & Atlases provided a welcome reprieve from Princeton’s green (and I don’t mean eco-friendly) set.  Where Princeton teased with “Shout it Out,” a song that sounded more like a lullaby or funeral dirge than high-energy dance tune, Maps & Atlases delivered, providing danceable rhythms paired with delightfully nasal vocals.

Though they opened with (and stumbled through) a new tune at the September twentieth gig, Ra Ra Riot ultimately delivered an inspired set.  The first half of their show exhibited a solemnity, due largely to Wesley Miles’ vocals, as the venue’s acoustics sometimes swallowed the band’s hallmark violin (Rebecca Zeller) and cello (Alexandra Lawn).  “St. Peter’s Day Festival” could have passed for a hymn with the prayerfully repeated incantation “…Let us in!”  That same somberness created an atmosphere that vacillated between art performance and rock concert, which the audience ate up – at times simply swaying to the music while at others hooting with, yelling at, and frequently thanking the band.  These elements all came together in an anthemic delivery of “Oh La” that, with its earnest declaration of “we’ve got a lot to learn from each other, we have got to stick together,” would have brought Bob Geldof to his knees.

The set picked up in the second half with an exhilarating rendition of “Can You Tell” that solidified a faster pace for the show and got feet moving.  Crowd pleaser “Ghost Under Rocks” epitomized the spirit of the night—cathartic melancholy meets frenetic energy – that the e.e. cummings inspired “Dying is Fine” reiterated as the set’s finale.

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Unassuming and undeniably talented, Ra Ra Riot formed out of simple class networking at Syracuse University in 2006. Only three years later, their upbeat melancholy tunes are taking large festivals like Lollapalooza in Chicago, IL, and Forward Music Festival in Madison, WI, by elegant, classically-trained storm. Alexandra Lawn, cellist of Ra Ra Riot, talks with Eleven days before the band’s St. Louis show at the Firebird on Sunday, Sept. 20th.

Dying is Fine - Ra Ra Riot
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

I know I myself am very inspired by your music and have many personal associations with your album, The Rhumb Line. What are your personal and collective musical inspirations, and how have they bled into your sound?

We all come from really different backgrounds, and we all have very different inspirations. I would say our collective inspirations range from The Beatles to U2, to Kate Bush. Oh, and the Police for sure.  For me, I’m definitely most inspired by classical music because it does something to me that no other music could do. I’m really into Dvorak, Beethoven, and Tchaivocsky. As far as rock, Fleetwood Mac is probably my favorite, at least right now. I really love the Talking Heads as well.

It obvious that your music is very classically based. Can you tell me about your own musical background and those of the rest of Ra Ra Riot? How did you start playing together?

I’ve been playing cello since I was three years old, and I was Suzuki trained,  and so was Becca, and she also started playing violin at a really young age. As far as the rest, Wes and Milo both had some classical training between piano and violin lessons. Wes was also in band throughout high school, and he played saxophone. We all didn’t really know each other before the band formed; we formed through various networking. Mainly, Milo and Becca had a class together, and he was looking to start a band in his last semester, and he asked her to be a violinist, asked if she knew any cello players. She knew me through orchestra.

What’s it like playing large-scale festivals like Lollapalooza, as you did this year?

Large festivals  are definitely fun. Lolla was a really great festival to be a part of. We saw a lot of bands and artists we really look up to, and it was a really great experience. We feel extremely lucky and try to make best of it.

Are there any cities or shows you’ve played that have been unexpectedly awesome/horrible?

Honestly, it’s getting to the point where it’s all kind of mushing together….We’re just playing a lot of shows, and it’s building up; you have good ones, you have surprisingly bad ones, but I can’t single one out. I do look forward to playing San Francisco a lot, though. It’s really always just so much fun to play there. During touring, we try to go camping and hiking during free time. Nothing crazy has every really happened on the road.

What are your upcoming plans in terms of recording and releasing your next album?

We were writing new stuff this summer. When we’re done with this tour, we’ll go back to writing and start recording immediately after that. We’re aiming for late spring to release the next album, but don’t quote me on that.

Taylor Swift or Kanye West?

Taylor Swift is a very talented, nice young lady. I’d say Kanye must’ve been very drunk. What he did at the VMA’s was very childish and unprofessional.

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