Made it out to both days of the Monolith Festival. Crushing acts were Phoenix, Passion Pit, and Chromeo. Sets were packed and dance heavy. Phoenix’s electrifying Sunday performance on the main stage set them up to be huge in Colorado and beyond. Chance had it that MSTRKRFT cancelled, leaving the 2nd to last main stage slot open. Certainly feels fated that Phoenix played for the most sizeable audience of the weekend. Their lightning speed rise has been incredible to follow. Passion Pit’s surging set confirmed that the eletro pop craze is on. And Chromeo’s sex-saturated synth funk throw down triggered a dance freak-out from the crowd and had everyone smiling hard.

New favorites included OK Go (finally saw them live after all that YouTube hype), Health, The Walkmen, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Woodhands, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and The Royal Bangs. Great to see Stars of Track and Field again after they took most of 2008 off. Other sweet catches included Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, Gregory Alan Isakov, The Grates, Tigercity, and Danielle Ate The Sandwich. The eletronica was also pumping with choice acts The Glitch Mob, Savoy, and Beats Antique.

The setting of Red Rocks couldn’t have been more beautiful and the bands knew and recognized it.

mp3:We Were Promised Jetpacks – Keeping Warm – These Four Walls (2009)
mp3:Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Home – Up From Below (2009)
mp3:The Walkmen – In the New Year – You & Me (2008)

Listen to more of the music from the acts mentioned above through MySpace:

PHOENIX – Paris, France
PASSION PIT – Boston, MA
CHROMEO – Montreal/New York
OK GO – Los Angeles, CA
HEALTH – Los Angeles, CA
THE WALKMEN – New York, NY
WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS – Scotland, UK
WOODHANDS – Toronto, CAN
EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS – Los Angeles, CA
THE ROYAL BANGS – Knoxville, TN
STARS OF TRACK AND FIELD – Portland, OR
THAO WITH THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN – San Francisco, CA
GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV – Boulder, CO
THE GRATES – Brisbane, AU
TIGERCITY – Brooklyn, NY
DANIELLE AT THE SANDWICH – Ft Collins, CO
THE GLITCH MOB – California
SAVOY – Boulder, CO
BEATS ANTIQUE – Oakland, CA

Monolith Festival
September 12-13, 2009

Tags: Chromeo, Danielle Ate The Sandwich, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Gregory Alan Isakov, Health, Monolith Festival, OK GO, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Red Rocks, Stars of Track And Field, Thao With The Get Down Stay Down, The Glitch Mob, The Grates, The Royal Bangs, The Walkmen, Tigercity, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Woodhands