Leor Galil: Rosh Hashanah technically didn’t start till sundown—about the time I saw Jimmy Cliff wrap up “The Harder They Come” with a spry air kick—but that didn’t stop me from finding a little quiet time in the afternoon to call my grandma and wish her a happy new year. I don’t think “listen to scummy hardcore songs” is what my grandma had in mind when she wished me a sweet new year, but once I hung up with her I watched Dwarves tear through all of Blood, Guts & Pussy (with assistance from former Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri). The Highland Park group’s nasty, scumbag “classic” album made me feel pretty gross and in need of a shower, but on the bright side it was all over roughly 15 minutes later. Their set continued but I moved on.
Lead singer Chris Demakes mentioned that he’d just had his foot reconstructed but that he was gonna jump up and down anyway, which seems legitimately imprudent but what do I know—I have both of my original feet.
Sasha Geffen: Cayetana’s lead singer Augusta Koch has a voice that sounds like she was born with a pack-a-day habit, and it sounds even better live than on the Philadelphia band’s debut LP Nervous Like Me. The trio rattled off their 1 PM set at the Revolt Stage, drawing a healthy crowd of early-riser punks eager for raw-hemmed songs about breakups and disappointment and anxiety. For a young band new to their instruments and even newer to festival stages, Cayetana managed a fierce, grounded presence. It was easy to think they’ve been doing this for years.
