Knowing only that Louis XIV opened for The Killers on their previous tour, I decided to head to their show early Saturday morning. Not only can I understand why The Killers would select them to open their sets (Louis’ music complements a Killers show excellently), but separately, Louis XIV stand on firm ground as a band. Both entertaining to the eye and the ear on stage, Louis XIV mixes a sound in between JET and Cold War Kids. Loaded with Les Pauls and Rickenbackers, guitar solos were plentiful and well crafted between the vocals. Unfortunately their time slot was one of the days earliest, which does not work well with such a high-energy performance. I have a very good feeling that if they had played later in the day, the mostly motionless crowd would have been much more into their music.

Futureman & his Black Mozart Ensemble can only be classified into one genre of music: entertaining. A fairly relaxed crowd enjoyed the orchestral beats that easily marked the strangest concert of the entire festival. Honestly, I didn’t really enjoy it too long and stayed for only a short part of the show.

Having been offered the opportunity to interview The Avett Brothers after their show, I figured it would probably be best to head to their set and check out their music before I made a fool of myself. Thank god I did. The Avett Brothers are often described as Post Civil War Modern Rock. What the hell is that?

The Avett Brothers are a new breed of folk-rock. The core of the band is two brothers Scott and Seth Avett, who play banjo and guitar respectively. Backed by Bob Crawford on upright bass and occasionally Joe Kwon on cello – this small quartet puts on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. Full of energy and passion, the Brother’s lyrics are both catchy and creative, while doing the impossible task of connecting with their audience at the same time. Surprised that there’s no percussion? Scott and Seth have masterly worked a drum and high-hat into their onstage energy – regularly jumping up and down while stomping on the pedals for both. The Avett Brothers provided the show of the weekend and I’m quite sure will continue to put on fantastic live performances. This was easily my highlight of the weekend.

Awkwardly ending their set a full fifteen minutes before their time slot ended, it seemed as if Clap Your Hands Say Yeah gave up on a widely non-energetic crowd. Sounding just as fantastic and rambunctious as previous times I’d seen them, I was a left wondering why this crowd stood still on their feet. Were they in awe? I don’t think so… I suppose this will remain a mystery.

Starting off a few minutes late (probably due to the onslaught of media interview requests once it was announced their departure immediately after their set), Didi entered onto stage wearing a ski mask knitted to look like a rabbit. The mask greatly cut back on the ability to hear her vocals, leaving the sound engineers in a frenzy to try to find anything to boost the sound higher. Thankfully she took it off after the first song, and continued through the remainder of her set. Very similarly to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the crowd seemed relatively comatose during the songs, then erupting into loud claps and cheers after the end of each. I personally loved the performance and only left with the slightly sour taste due to the lifelessness of the crowd.

Possibly the most talented group of musicians I saw all weekend, Thievery Corporation rotated through eight vocalists found on their tracks to create a dynamic show that ranged from reggae, rock, and bossa. Each of the vocalists brought different genres of music to the table and some provided better performances than others, but none were bad. The full band that backed the duo included some of the most talented musicians that adapted to each of the song’s individual styles flawlessly. Not knowing what you were going to hear next, Thievery Corporation easily became one of the best shows at The Echo Project and one of my favorite shows of all time. And if the crowd’s excitement and movement was not enough proof of their satisfaction, I regularly heard my same opinion echoed throughout the remainder of the weekend by numerous individuals.

Almost exclusively playing covers in anticipation for her next release titled Jukebox, Cat Power turned on cruise control and steamrolled through the hits. Although sounding tremendous, all she did was meander aimlessly around the stage during the show – as if she was trying to find some sort of motivation to do something more entertaining. Yet, her stage presence remained unimpressive throughout – which furthermore shocked me that there was nothing special about playing in Atlanta, her hometown. Thankfully however, the majority crowd was certainly enjoying her performance and got a lot more out of it than myself.

Arriving to the festival late, Common entered the stage thirty minutes after his timeslot began; only allowing him to play half of his set. Although it ended up being the shortest concert of the entire festival, it was easily one of the best. Interacting well with the crowd, Common provided the perfect hip-hop performance as a precursor to The Killers rock sound. I would definitely have to give him the award for provoking the best energy from the crowd.

Before I describe The Killers live show, I feel their backstage activity should be duly noted. Headliners of The Echo Project, The Killers evidently thought it would be fun to put an embargo on any media activity. They refused to do any interviews at all – a shame since I had such fantastic questions for them. They did not allow any photographers into the photo pit during their performance (other than their resident photographer than travels with them). They required all other artists backstage at the time of their performance to be held by security in their trailers while The Killers entered and exited the stage. And yes… they even locked off a Porta-Potty, posting a sign that read “Killers only” adjacent to their trailer. I must ask… are their ass cheeks so divine that no other human beings can share the same plastic throne for their excretion? My hypothesis is that Mark Stoermer leaves rather epic traces and the band doesn’t want media to find out about this. But here I let the truth out.

Yet, I digress. Armed with holiday-confused stage props including carved pumpkins and Christmas lights, The Killers gracefully danced through the choreography of their hour and fifteen minute set. Honestly, I cannot deny that it was a tremendous show that the crowd predominantly loved; however, at some points it began to feel as if we were transported back into the 90’s when pop boy-bands and their dance moves flooded the radio waves. Still, The Killers sounded fantastic and were guiltily entertaining.

Jamband rockers Moe. did what they do best; jammed. Led by bassist Rob Derhak, they steadily pushed through their full two hour set. While not the most exciting band to watch, the fairly mellow atmosphere provided by their music was appropriately accurate for their relaxed presence onstage. A large part of the tired crowd moved directly from The Killers to the Eclipse Stage where Moe. was playing to relax for the remainder of the night. However, I’m a night owl and knew my day would not be complete without my electro dance beats.

The DJ duo of MSTRKRFT put on just that – one helluva dance show. Constantly spinning turntables and sampling both expected and unexpected tracks, the entire tent was found dancing like fools. Unfortunately only a relatively small quantity of glow sticks was in attendance for the event.
After dancing up a good sweat, I realized how tired my body was and that if I stayed too much longer I wouldn’t be able to make it back to my car or bed for the night. So, much to my chagrin I left satisfied but not entirely fulfilled.

Reporting by Charlie
Photography by Corey Jenkins

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