A Look at Detour Festival 2007
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — 
If you were Downtown over the weekend you probably know by now that Saturday brought the second LA Weekly Detour Festival to the Civic Center, where four stages were set up in the blocks around City Hall. A packed lineup had music running from noon to midnight.
A particular pleasure for me was hanging out at the City Hall East stage and getting to see the bands with the Triforium in the background. After long seeing it dark it was great to see the piece spilling its light onto a crowd.
So what did you all think? Who went, and who'd you like?
Ed and my photos can be found in this Detour 2007 photo essay. After the jump, a couple favorite shots.
Update (2pm): Ed's shots are now added into the photo essay.
The Triforium in all its glory, behind Perry Farrell during the Satellite Party set.
I have no idea how this shot of Justice came out so well. They were basically unlit for large chunks of the set. I'm not really sure where the front light came from on this particular shot.
I entertained myself by doing all my shooting with my 50mm f1.7, since I'm not fond of my camera over ISO 800. Sometimes I make fun of this lens for making my camera look snub-nosed, but it did its job quite well on Saturday.
Benjamin Pezzillo on October 08, 2007, at 11:24AM – #1
Great photos Eric. How much do you want for a print of the Perry Farrell one? I may want to give it as a holiday gift to some friends from college.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on October 08, 2007, at 11:49AM – #2
Thanks, Ben. My shots are CC non-commercial licensed, so making a print (or even ordering one via Flickr) to give as a gift is fair game. Depending on what size print you want to do I could even hook you up with a little more resolution.
skidrowdude on October 08, 2007, at 02:36PM – #3
Great photo essay, Eric and Ed! I'm just curious on your opinions on what was good and bad about the festival, and what acts you liked. I had a blast (although it started slow in daytime, as night came, the energy went up).
Ginny-Marie Case on October 08, 2007, at 09:28PM – #4
You want to know the best part about Detour LA - hardly noticed any traffic impacts.
Ed Fuentes on October 08, 2007, at 10:35PM – #5
Skid Row, that question is worthy of another post. We may comply. Ginny, how fast a complete festival was able to build up and tear down was also impressive.
Dennis Smith on October 08, 2007, at 11:24PM – #6
This year's Detour Festival made for a fun afternoon and evening hanging out with friends. The layout was different and far more spread out this year, completely encircling City Hall and stretching as far north as Temple Street, making the Triforium available to be a brilliant background for the groups performing on the City Hall East stage. By moving the main entrance gate north of Second Street, the festival avoided many of the traffic and building access hassles for folks living in the Higgins Building that occurred last year. The only drawback was that St. Vibiana's was outside the festival grounds and went unutilized.(Last year they had DJs set up their turntables on the high altar and couples were making out in the old confessionals. Sacreligious and inspiring at the same time.) The maintenance and clean up crews supplied by Chrysalis did a great job although I heard a number of people complain that the portable toilets were "not as clean as at Coachella". As for the bands, its all subjective. Personally, Detour 2007 was going to have a hard time topping last year's show that was highlighted by memorable sets from Queens of the Stone Age, Beck and Redd Kross. I did enjoy seeing the Noisettes, Kinky and Turbonegro. I had seen Bloc Party once before and I remain underwhelmed after catching the last half hour or so of their set. Walking home from the show, it was a buzz to see hundreds of people on the sidewalks, out for a night in the Historic Core, club kids queueing up to be allowed entrance into the Edison and taxis trolling for tolls on the streets. It was the kind of urban energy many of us hope will be regularly manifested in night time Los Angeles.
p.s. Festivals are great one day in the year experiences, but venues regularly presenting live entertainment are what make a night life district. Two thumbs up to Steve Needleman for his renewed efforts to make the Orpheum Theater a premier site for bands visiting Los Angeles. Since 2001, he has made halting attempts to present live music and there have been some remarkable shows like Bright Eyes playing a concert there a few years back. P.J. Harvey's show sold out fast and on Sunday night the Black Crowes concert just plain rawked. Please keep up the efforts to revive the Orpheum as a live music venue as they are greatly appreciated.
dave on October 09, 2007, at 10:37AM – #7
We greatly enjoyed Justice, Moving Units, Shout Out Louds... and the crowd, which was a lot of fun.
BusTard on October 09, 2007, at 08:16PM – #8
That top shot with Perry Farrell and the Triforium is especially nice; I wish I could have gotten some better photos, but my camera was broken during the night’s headlong rush into unexpected fun.
I never got that shirt that jim so sweetly suggested, but I did walk through the L.A. Times area to get into Detour, then invited myself into what I learned was a private party inside City Hall, then wandered over to the wall over the vendors and what I am sure was Bloc Party (the singer of which was kind enough to warn us to "be careful on that balcony up there!) while I watched the Triforium do its best after all these years of darkness despite all the noise meant to stimulate its pulsating lines of light.