RADWIMPS
Nothing but serious music
Radwimps were blessed with great time slot for the festival, just when the clouds had parted a bit of sun snuck through. The band made the most of their good fortune, bounding on stage to a joyous ovation.
Formed in 2005, Radwimps are a portmanteau which is a term meaning the combination of two words to make a new word with an independent meanting. In their case though, I am not sure if it entirely works or simply cancels the two halves of “rad” and “wimp” out, leading to no meaning whatsoever.
But that’s a digression, the band absolutely rock on stage, opening with anthem type rock reminiscent of the new Americana such as Gaslight Anthem and Google Dolls. Each song was carefully crafted around rock chord progressions though would spin into experimentation about ¾ of the way through, belying the bands love of noise which would also appear later in the set.
The band definitely takes a page from the alt-rock scene of the late-90’s such as Soul Asylum and Matchbox 20. But just after categorizing them they take a detour and do some freestyle rapping followed by a turn at the piano. And like seasoned experts, the band saved the last 10 minutes of their set for a full on jam, showing true musicianship and mastery of the audience.
