Tens of thousands of festival goers packed into the Shoreline Ampitheatre Sunday to mark the annual Bay Area BFD Live 105 Music Festival in Mt. View, California.
Crowds were treated to headliners that included The Strokes, Snoop Dog, Linkin Park, Cage The Elephant, Bad Religion, Neon Trees, Manchester Orchestra, Foster The People and many others. By the time the famous New York City rockers, The Strokes, took the main stage, the ampitheatre, from the box sets all the way to the top of the lawn, was packed with people.
Once The Strokes broke into “Under Cover of Darkness,” from their latest album, the crowd was cheering, applauding, yelling, standing and dancing. The energy was thick and it got even thicker as the band broke into hit after hit. Julian Casablancas and the band also banged out “Take It Or Leave It,” among other classic Strokes’ hits, and a few other singles from their recent, highly acclaimed album, Angles.
However, the biggest disappointment came when The Strokes ended their set almost 10 minutes before the scheduled end time. For folks who paid upwards of $80 to see the band, that wasn’t very cool, especially without explanation.
“Taken For A Fool” – The Strokes from Angles (2011)
“Machu Picchu” – The Strokes from Angles (2011)
“Take It Or Leave It” – The Strokes from Is This It? (2001)
But the entire place really went wild when the hiphop icon himself, Snoop Dog, took the stage, complete with his MCs and some old guy who danced around the stage the entire set. In addition, the stage was set up with two drummers, dancing girls, a live DJ, a keyboardist, and the wafting waves of smoke.
This made for a big extravaganza in true Snoop fashion, complete with the hand bling, shades and apparently smoking of marijuana on the stage during the set. Snoop Dog fired up some of his old skool classics, including “Gin and Juice,” “Sensual Seduction” and “Nuthin But A G Thang” during the hour-long set.
Snoop Dog and crew also busted out covers of legendary hiphop songs like the classic, “Jump Around,” which got tens of thousands of people up and jumping and dancing. There were also two tributes during the show. The most notable was Snoop’s tribute to Tupac, our personal favorite hiphop artist of all time. In tribute to Tupac, Snoop Dog broke into “Gangsta Party.” The other tribute went to Nate Dogg, who passed away in March at the age of 41 from complications stemming from a stroke.
“Gin and Juice” – Snoop Dog from Doggy Style (2009)
“Jump Around” – House of Pain from House of Pain (2005)
Snoop and his crew wrapped up their set with “Who Am I (What’s My Name)” before the stage was set up for the festival’s closing act, Linkin Park, who rocked through a set of older classics and newer songs from their latest album. Throughout the band’s hour-long set, the still going festival goers – some of who had been there for nine-plus hours, were still rocking and having fun.
Thankfully, even with uncommonly damp conditions – including a day-long rainstorm on Saturday – the rain held out on Sunday at the Shoreline, situated only a few hundred feet from Google headquarters.
Throughout the day, there were also terrific performances from Cage The Elephant, Bad Religion, Manchester Orchestra, Foster The People, Airborne Toxic Event, and many others. Wish we had more time to write about them all, but need to update the Top Ten Songs page. Get more information and photos from San Francisco’s Live 105 website.
Thanks to Jess Cluster and Live Nation for their assistance in making this event possible.