we like a show: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

Treasure Island Music Festival was a perfectly sized music festival. The two stages took turns with the featured bands, making it easy to meander between the two and not miss a set. Other than the music, the festival hosted a wide variety of entertainment: Mister Gnogiurzauchshoff's Traveling Midway of Curiosities and Delights (an old fashioned carnival setup with a twist), a ferris wheel, odd characters roaming about (pirates on stilts, monsters, etc) and even a hair salon – just to name a few.

Initially, we were planning to attend both days of TIMF, but a scheduling conflict prevented us from making Day 1 (we heard MSTRKRFT stole the show). Here are highlights from Day 2:

Thao Nguyen & the Get Down Stay Down impressed us. They are great musicians...and Thao can really get down!

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes once again blew us away (see earlier post from their 9.22.09 show at the El Rey). This is what live music is about.

Grizzly Bear sounded ah-mazing.

Beirut sounded different. Great, but different. You can tell that Zach Condon is collaborating more with band members and changing things up (Beirut started as a solo project).

Explore more: www.treasureislandfestival.com

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes were everything we expected and wanted their show to be. The nearly dozen strong band had such zeal for each song and the crowd could not have encouraged them more. The El Rey was packed and the energy high.

Lead singer Alex Ebert, in his classic white jeans, jumped and danced around the stage, his voice unfaltered. Jade Castrinos was absolutely adorable and had a childlike excitement for every song. The band as a whole moved around the stage with ease and excitement while being orchestrated by Ebert.

After the encore and the band clearly wanted to call it a night, Ebert did not want to leave the stage. Nico (the guitarist) came back out on stage for “Brother.”

The posse were closing their first tour and happy to be back home in Los Angeles. There was even an onstage proposal (not within the band)! It was a superb homecoming!