Cloudy, rainy weather in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier last week cleared out just in time for the 5th Annual Treasure Island Music Festival. Under radiant, blue skies, and basking in the warm, golden sunshine, thousands of T.I. festival goers were treated to electrifying performances from artists like Grimes, Toro Y Moi, Matthew Dear, Pubic Enemy, The Coup, Dirty Ghosts, and many others. By the time the sun set in a blaze of firey orange, red and yellow, the festival ground lights came on, the Ferris Wheel was lighted up and people put on sweaters, hoodies and jackets.
“Oblivion” – Grimes from Visions
“Shout It In” – Dirty Ghosts from Metal Moon
“Headcage” – Matthew Dear from Beams
The following is a collection of photographs from Day One by Ryan Holmes, a freelance photographer based in San Francisco. He also shot Twin Shadow for IRC back in August. His personal website is Sixteenth & Broadway. The following photos feature Toro Y Moi, Matthew Dear, Public Enemy, Tycho, SBTRKT, Girl Talk and audience shots.
Day Two of Treasure Island Festival also featured a top-notch line-up hosted a string of bands like Ty Segall, The xx, Los Campesinos, Best Coast, Gossip, Divine Fits and M83, among others. Interestingly, many of these bands have been featured in recent posts. In fact, Ty Segall just released one of the best albums of this year last week. The xx‘s new single was the No. 2 single of the month of September on IRC, beat out, only by The Raveonettes’ No. 1 single, as determined by IRC listeners. Listen to that track and others via the Top Ten Songs for September 2012 article and playlist. Divine Fits, an IRC breakout band of 2012, released their debut album in August, and took the No. 1 slot for the last week of August in the Top Ten Songs Playlists for August 2012 post, with their new power-pop single, “Would That Not Be Nice”.
“Would That Not Be Nice” – Divine Fits from A Thing Called Divine Fits
“Angels” – The xx from Coexist
“The Hill” – Ty Segall from Twins
“By Your Hand” – Los Campesinos! from Hello Sadness
Kudos to Press Here Publicity and Another Planet for organizing and managing the two-day event so well, and to all of the workers as well. Over the past five years, TIMF has progressed from a start-up fest to now being one of the premiere West Coast music festivals, along with Outside Lands, both of which had their debut in 2008.
Brief History of Treasure Island
Treasure Island is a relatively small, man-made island in the northeastern area of the San Francisco Bay and accessible via the Bay Bridge and ferries. For many years, the island was a strategic military base that really began to develop after hosting the 1935 World’s Fair, but mainly because of World War II and Cold War era military installment. However, in the past 15 years, the military has all but left Treasure Island, and the island has transformed into a mix of businesses, residential neighborhoods, recreation and tourism.