The Band in Heaven and No Age at Fountain Art Fair, December 3

The Band in Heaven

​Fountain Art Fair's Opening Night Reception
With the Band in Heaven and No Age
at Fountain Art Fair, Miami
Friday, December 3, 2010

Better than: Getting crushed by a bunch of 20-year-olds trying to mosh.

The Review:
Fountain Art Fair's opening party on Friday featured local favorites the Band in Heaven open for No Age. But the night also included a naked chick walking around, a dude wrapping himself with ten rolls of clear masking tape from head to toe, and a fake art auction where winnings were set on fire. Ah, when music and art combine.

Galleries enable multitasking during Art Basel. Not only were various performance artists and DJs on the docket between band performances but so was an open bar and assorted art. Lots and lots of art.

When the Band in Heaven took to the stage, most of the crowd was inside the gallery looking around, and the soft-spoken, grungy garage rock didn't really register as a band (as opposed to the DJs that came before). No matter, that meant plenty of room on the dance floor for Bohemian chicks to sway and swoon over the band from up above.

"Don't let anyone tell you any differently. We are the band in heaven. When you get up there, that's us," Ates Isildak quipped. Unfortunately, showgoers didn't give them the attention they really deserved, opting to wait in line for drinks or walk around rather than really enjoying the show until they heard something familiar in their cover of the Cranberries' "Dreams." We caught it all on film in our mini video diary.

No Age waited pretty patiently for the fake auction performance art to end and proceeded to make fun of them before they began their set. As cameras clicked and flashes popped up everywhere, the band joked, "I feel like I'm at a fashion show," which seemed to be the cue for all of the teen angst to jump up and bite us in the ass. The crowd started moshing so heavily that at one point, I was thrown into an amp on stage, and this humble reviewer had to change viewpoints for fear of losing lunch and aforementioned free drinks.

It's a very different feeling from the midst of the pit to the side of the stage, and we were able to witness a mini-fistfight breaking out, as other local favorites like members from Heartstrings and Jacuzzi Boys jumped in on the pit fun. We've never seen so much artsy folk really get down, and we kind of liked it.

Critic's Notebook:
Personal bias: I love art. But performance art that interrupts the set of band? Not so much.

The crowd: Twenty- and 30-somethings, artsy people, hipsters, hardly any of the stereotypical "art collectors" you see at so many events during Art Basel.

Overheard in the crowd: About the performance art auction before No Age: "Why are these people so ridiculous? Make it stop."

Random Detail #1: There was performance art between each band and DJ set. A "fake auction," wherein people dressed like assorted animals, burlesque girls, etc., and the items went down in prices before they were set ablaze.

Random Detail #2: Said performance art commenced right before No Age took to the stage, and when No Age told them they had to go on, the auctioneer told them to "fuck off."