BrightestYoungThings: PHOTOS: Siren Festival Recap (Pt. 1?)

all words and photos: Alyssa Lesser (with MORE TO COME by Milica Wren later on)

On my stroll to Lafayette St. to catch the subway Saturday afternoon, I noticed all the downtown hipsters were mysteriously absent from Soho. Where was everyone?

Why, they were at the Village Voice Siren Festival at Coney Island!

(Or. you know, elsewhere.)

Despite the Village Voice's poor assemblage of a decent line-up this year and despite Coney Island's repulsive lavatorial facilities, I headed to the festival anyway for another day of sun and fun. Hundreds - probably thousands of others did the same.

After reviewing my "interactive" post on Friday that asked you guys to weigh in on this year's line-up and noticing that the majority of you either suggested arriving at 2-ish to see one good band or not going to the festival at all, I figured it would be a safe bet to arrive around 5 to catch the last few and biggest bands playing. I checked in at the press tent and decided to head straight to the mainstage to catch the Raveonettes. My game plan at that point was to stay for a few minutes of their set, shoot some photos, and then shuffle back and fourth for the final five bands of the evening. Unfortunately/Fortunately, the Raveonettes were too magical for things to go as planned. The band sounds nearly the same live as they do on recording, but if you love them as much on recording as I do then this won't be a problem for you. I bounced around to the wispy, fuzzy sounds for the remainder of their set and decided to screw all the other bands I was going to see.

I grabbed a beer while the band was taking down and waited a few minutes until Built to Spill took the stage; they, too, were magical. The beginning of Built to Spill's set was honestly kind of annoying, as they kept playing all these new songs that most of the audience frankly did not want to hear. As the set progressed, however, the band dove deeper into their catalogue and capped off a high-energy set with everyone's favorite, "Carry the Zero."

All in all, I caught two great bands and had a good time. The audience generally seemed to be having a good time, too. I kind of resent not having spent more time at the festival this year, even though I wished I had spent less time at last year's festival (the bands were awesome but it was hot and just kind of a hassle). While I'm confident the bands that played earlier on in the day were great, I'd frankly rather see such up-and-comers in a small, intimate club. If Coney Island isn't shut down next year and another Siren Festival emerges, lets hope for a little more motivational of a lineup.