Flash Back with our 35 Denton Wrap-up [REVIEW]

Review/Photos by: Taylor Prater

In order to not allow all our great SXSW coverage take away from our great 35 Denton review we bring you our final [cloudy, rainy, hail-ee and straight up cold!] "wrap-up" by Taylor Prater.

Yeahdef
You can’t have the best ever fest ever without some solid DJs, and Yeahdef was one of the first to serve with his own retro vibe (classic NES Zelda sound effects, anyone?)

The crowd started out small but quickly gathered outside listeners as they got to experience Yeahdef from a distance, and looking at the dance moves coming from the people just behind the barriers, others wanted to get in on the jams themselves.

It was starting to rain, but no one cared.


A.Dd+
Easily another of the most anticipated outdoor acts of the weekend, A.Dd+ has been circulating throughout the different hip hop stratospheres from quite some time. The folks at 35 Denton did right to grab them, arguably one of the most popular acts in the metroplex.

The guys came out with their lighting-quick wit, and just like Astronautalis, got the crowd riled up from the start.

Anything they did, you’d see mimicked in the crowd. Who would have thought the 35 Denton crowd could bring so much swag?


The Cannabinoids
At that point it was definitely about to rain, and everyone was given orders to take shelter in a venue for possible hail. The Cannabinoids got moved from the main stage to The Hive, and that seemed to be where everyone decided to take shelter.

Who can blame them? But check out this line. It looped around three times, and many worried they wouldn’t get in. Filling up the club to capacity shouldn’t be difficult.

And it wasn’t. No one could really even move, but that was probably mostly due to the upcoming performance. The Cannabinoids made a splash at the Dallas Observer Music Awards last fall, and with a special appearance by Sarah Jaffe, reaching capacity was no surprise.

Unfortunately we were stuck in a corner, but fortunately we got to catch the whole set, even the surprise appearance from A.Dd+. It’s easy to see the brotherhood coming from all the different artists on Saturday, each catching the others’ sets despite the awful weather (Astronautalis was even spotted at Killer Mike’s set).

The hail was downpouring and the roof of The Hive was rustling, but it was all overpowered by The Cannabinoids’ meticulous keyboard beat and enthusiastically-unique beats.

But if you wanted out of The Hive, you’d have to go through the downpour. Everyone was scrambling to figure out what was going on, hitting up all social media to keep up with who moved where.

Solange on the main stage? No, Solange at The Hive. 8:00? No, 9:30. 10:00? Get your spot now, the building’s filling up! But only if you’re 21. 18? No, it doesn’t matter. Madness.

Did you catch Solange’s set? Shout out to us and let us know what you thought!

[Sunday] I should’ve bought a spiked blue jean jacket for this day – I felt very out of the fashion loop. I guess day three of flannels ain’t cutting it. Denton, you are fashionable.

...
Beach Fossils
It. Was. Freezing. So I’m glad Beach Fossils was there to start out the evening, to hopefully get the crowd all warmed up and feeling good.

As I said before, I felt like I was in a John Hughes movie during their set, and I loved every minute of it. Everyone needed a bit of a spirit jump start after braving the wet cold the night before, and Beach Fossils’ punky-chill vibe served just well.

...

Holy Wave
Psych rockers Holy Wave was ready to get things weird and bring their own creative energy to the day, complete with Frisbees to instill some summer attitudes.

I daresay I even saw some glimpses of sunlight at the peak of a few heavy guitar riffs, as if God loved to jam and decided to bestow some warmth upon us cold hipsters, if even for a moment.

Give us this day our daily fest.

Reigning Sound
I was ready for some classic rock roots, and I had heard Reigning Sound would give me just that with their own garage-punk flavor. All right, I can dig it. Let’s see what we’re in for.

The group brought about a bit of fresh air as a standout among the others in terms of their influences. After 12 years of playing together, Reigning Sound has been through some sound changes and made each their own.

Shout out to the one lucky fan who got to join the group onstage for some feisty tambourine. You had everyone jealous, girl.


School of Rock
Back at the main stage, the kids at the School of Rock were already playing and gathering the crowd from Reigning Sound. The oldest player in each set of musicians had to have been at the most 16, making those of us watching them question our strides in life if we can be outjammed by 12-year-olds just as tall as the drumset.

Well, me at least. I wanna rock. Can I enroll?
Most notably the last performance was a cover of Camera Obscura’s “Teenager,” in honor of the group who couldn’t make it out to the festival. I saw some in the crowd with the look of deepest sentiment in their eyes, maybe on the verge of tears by this little girl’s vocal skill.

They only played for 15 minutes, but all clichés aside, they captured everyone’s attention.

Mikal Cronin's set started with a quiet ease but a unanimous passionate energy. Those same shouts from earlier continued, and individual mosh pits, you could say, formed from the start.

People of all kinds gathered for this set to have their ears bursting with the power of rock, and Mikal + band worked as hard as ever to give that.

Chelsea Light Moving
An hour break [before] Chelsea Light Moving did nothing if not fester the anticipation of seeing the last day’s main act appear at last.

Soon we would all be in the presence of Thurston Moore, in our very own Denton, Texas. Anyone would need an hour to mentally prepare for that.

The band came out for a soundcheck that sounded more like a few freestyle jam seshes than some simple chords to check levels. Each of them wore a heavy winter coat and sunglasses to hype up the intrigue and bring out the supreme levels of awesome reverberating throughout the main stage area.

Sound check? You get three minutes of powerful, in your face rock. Deal with it.

Off came the jackets and out came the group everyone’s been talking about since their creation last summer. Out came the fans and the giddy energy no one was ashamed to feel.

Because, Thurston Moore, y’all.

“Hey everyone, we’re Chelsea Light Moving from Texas,” he said with as casual an energy as ever.

“No you’re not!”

“Well, we are now.”

Hell. Yes.

And what really is there to say? Song after song everyone was encapsulated for a solid 90 minutes. There’s nothing else to expect.

Shout out at us with your favorite memories of the weekend! We hope you had as good of a time as we did. Jam on.