Grouplove
Again, in full honesty, I'm not too much of a Grouplove fan. I first heard of them from "Tongue Tied", as did many in the tightly packed crowd. But it was the eclectic album cuts like "Lovely Cup" and "Shark Attack" that really impressed me.
The five-some did away with their one-hit-wonder title pretty quickly, winning the crowd over with warm guitars and steady drumbeats. "Tongue Tied" was crammed in the middle of the set, almost unnoticeable amongst the stacked amount of album cuts. My two friends Kenzie and Sara, huge Grouplove fans, were having the time of their lives, and I couldn't have been happier to see it.
As someone not very familiar with the group, perhaps my favorite part of the set was an inspired cover of Beyoncé's "Drunk in Love". Beyoncé is one of my biggest weaknesses, and they were clearly aware. Although a rapped Jay-Z verse just wasn't in the cards, the cover was a compelling argument for Grouplove fanhood.
After Grouplove finished their set, we pushed our way into the tightest-packed crowd of the weekend for close spots at... wow, I still can't believe this...
OutKast
As Matt & Kim's power-pop faintly floated through the impatient crowd waiting for the rap act of the century, we stood like sardines with no room for movement whatsoever. But knowing that Big and Dre would soon be out in front of us, we stuck it out.
I, like many suburban children of my age, first heard of OutKast in the blur of childhood thanks to smash hits "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move". It wasn't until I picked up a used copy of "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" as a teenager that I began to dive deeper into their legendary albums. Among their extensive back-log, "Aquemini" stuck out to me as a favorite thanks to their pioneering blend of rap lyricism with jazz and rock influenced instrumentals.
So it was with baited breath that we waited, and the wait went fast. They started with "B.O.B", rushing our heartbeats to match the 154 bpm pace. They closed by reminding us that they do it for "The Whole World", rolling out an exclusive from the Big & Dre Greatest Hits pack. And everything in between was magical.
"Don't everybody like the smell of gasoline?"
"Old school players to new school fools, cats keep it jumping like kangaroos"
"I'm sorry Ms. Jackson, oooh, I am for real..."
The hits kept rolling, and the quotables were quoted. My favorite track of theirs, "SpottieOttieDopalicious" came relatively quickly with a beautiful full-band rendition highlighting the song's furtive horn line. Big Boi's solo set included the extremely-hyped "Kryptonite" and the lightning pace of "GhettoMusick" before jumping into "The Way You Move" with Sleepy Brown to add a silky smooth breakdown.
For André's solo section, he serenaded the crowd with "Prototype" and "She Lives In My Lap" before blasting into "Hey Ya!", shooting most of us back to 2003 in instants. The duo reunited for "Roses" and "So Fresh, So Clean", the latter featuring a backdrop of cows tip-toe-wing-in-their-jawwdinz through a field.
It's clear that I loved the set. What really stuck out to me, though was something almost entirely unrelated to the music. At the start of the set, as the curtain dropped, each bandmember had their hands up. André's famously shifting jumpsuit message read "Can One Rest In Peace And Violence?", a chilling statement to make just miles away from the recent terrors in Ferguson. It was a tasteful tribute and solemn reminder that even as we danced, the world kept turning. To take such an important case to the festival frontlines was a very respectable move on André's part, and the moment was one that would stand out to me above the whole weekend.
The weekend was over almost as soon as it started. We headed back to Columbia on coffee and the familiar post-concert high. LouFest killed it this year, and I can easily say that I'll be heading back to Forest Park in '15!
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