Download Festival short on high-tech gloss

A four-year-old effort to replicate the success of the U.K.'s music and technology showcase, the Download Festival promises to let you "tap into your inner tech nerd and get plugged into innovative music, the latest gadgets," according to its Web site.

But the daylong event Saturday at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden boasted little in the way of high-tech gloss, to say nothing of a coherent organizing principle.

Apart from a single gaming tent, the festival's attractions featured old-school products from cars to chewing tobacco, with giveaways like beach towels and keychains. About the only thing the Download Festival had in common with surfing the Internet is that it was impossible to move in any direction without an ad popping up in your face.

With indie sensations like Black Kids and MGMT booked for Chicago's Lollapalooza over the weekend, Download's lineup was distinctly low-wattage. Even during the Killers' headlining set, there were swaths of empty seats. The randomness of the festival's lineup probably didn't energize a fan base. Would fans of Sia's fluttery jazz-rock cotton to the bombastic overkill of Ghostland Observatory, or Mutemath's slick Coldplay-isms?

The festival's second stage offered a modicum of counter-programming, as well as a spotlight for up-and-coming bands, many outshining acts under the big tent. The Airborne Toxic Event, a Los Angeles quartet whose debut album comes out this week, played a terse set of Arcade Fire-inspired art rock to a small but appreciative crowd. "It's good to be away from home and have people in front of us," said singer Mikel Jollett.

Although the first band took the stage at 1:30 p.m., the crowds didn't start to show up in earnest until evening, which left a lot of vacant space under the SBC's roof. The lack of an audience didn't slow the Philadelphia five-piece Man Man, whose spasmodic, self-conscious eccentric songs draw heavily on the free-form freak-outs of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, though without either's virtuosity. Caught up in their own frenzy, they played for themselves, and anyone else who might be watching.

Mutemath, a quartet from New Orleans, acted as if they were playing to a full house only they could see.

"How you doing tonight?" shouted singer Paul Meany, despite the fact that it was still light out and most of the few hundred people watching him were clustered at his feet. When he introduced "Noticed" by saying, "Some of you know this," it wasn't clear he was right. But by the time Meany was done turning somersaults and playing percussion on his piano stool, he'd managed to get most of the still-sparse crowd to their feet. Next time around, they'll know the words for sure.

Few of Download's acts saw fit to mention the festival from the stage, but the Stooges' Iggy Pop took an implicit shot at his hosts. As the band behind him raged through the inevitable descending riff of "I Wanna Be Your Dog," a shirtless, sweat-drenched Pop launched into an incantatory monologue, climaxing with the declaration, "I need more than commercial America. I need soul!" In "Search and Destroy," Pop warned, "Look out, mama, 'cause I'm using technology," but the Stooges' appeal couldn't be more low-tech: a handful of chords, a bad attitude, and Pop's unquenchable lust for life. Try downloading that.

The Killers, not surprisingly, got the most enthusiastic crowd reaction of the night. But the band left the stage after an hour and did not return for an encore. If you'd been watching music all day, it was more than enough, but for those who saw the festival as a Killers show with 15 opening acts, it was a short end to a long day.