Doomtree at Kanrocksas
Doomtree
Photo by Kiernan Maletsky
Stagesarus Rex
Hello from Kanrocksas, where it took half of one set for me to sweat through my shirt! We got here a few hours after this thing started, and there are hundreds of people sprinkled throughout the infield of the Kansas Speedway. The empty stands stare down; if you can't smell motor oil I'm not the only one who's imagining you can.
There is much talk of how an act translates at a festival. Don't bother with Doomtree, whose MCs didn't much take to the ten foot stage, preferring the lower boxes, the closer platforms and, by the end, the field with the fans. P.O.S, Sims, Dessa, Mictlan and Cecil Otter are each electric rappers, but the best part is watching whoever isn't rapping -- they believe as much as the most devout fans, rapping along, dancing and mugging in such an engaging way that, by the time they closed their set, their crowd easily quadrupled, I honestly felt like I was in a club instead of fifteen feet from a NASCAR track. DJs Paper Tiger and Lazerbeak kept the collective's thick tracks running seamlessly for forty minutes that felt more like fifteen.
Dessa. Photo by Kiernan Maletsky
I can hear the next band over the industrious hum and clack of this well-used media building -- these will be quick and as frequent as I can muster throughout the weekend.
Who knows if it's because it's Friday afternoon or this thing's first year or the heat (the heat!) but there's plenty of space to roam right now. It's kind of nice -- no one's getting anywhere quickly in Chicago right now...
Photo by Kiernan Maletsky
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