It's a big night in Miami. Some indie music's biggest names--Surfer Blood, Black Lips, Vivian Girls--are in town for the inaugural Bruise Cruise Festival, and before they set sail with 400 other seafaring hipsters tomorrow, they're playing the Bruise Cruise Kickoff Party at Grand Central tonight. We'll be there live-blogging every relevant minute of it.
What can you expect? We don't know, but that's the beauty of it. Maybe the Jacuzzi Boys stop by for a drink, or we meet Quintron and Miss Pussycat's puppets. Whatever the case, we'll be there, bringing you in-depth coverage of Miami's biggest night of indie tuneage.
We'll be kicking things off live from Grand Central at around 7 pm. Be sure to check back often.
7:31: We're at Grand Central. Jacuzzi Boys scheduled to kick things off in a bit.
7:41: Hipster getting there booze on, still no sign of Jacuzzi Boys hitting the stage. Guess we'll start drinking too.
7:48: Overhead during Jacuzzi Boys sound check: "Woooooo! Bruise Cruise!"
7:51: "We're Jacuzzi Boys and this song is called Zeppelin." Cue dope LED backdrop.
8:05: Grand Central's starting to fill out, and it's really starting to smell like Parliament Lights and PBR. Nothing wrong with that.
8:13: Not sure if dramamine patches are a new hipster trend, or just a precautionary accessory. Nonetheless, we've spotted a few.
8:20: Jacuzzi Boys just wrapped their set. Once again, they make Miami proud.
8:33: "Check, check, check. That's fine. Hey, we're Turbo Fruits from Nashville, Tennessee and I've really gotta pee."
8:36: 8:36 is not 4:20, or is it?
8:57: Turbo Fruits really rocking the fuck out. Wonder if Kathy Lee GIfford will enjoy 'em as much as the Grand Central crowd.
9:06: Thank you, Turbo Fruits, for the gnarly set.
9:12: Just got a lesson on how to use the Keytar to control the LED light show. Who knew
9: 22: A Frenchman just thanked Miami for something... we think.
9:43 Ventured into the crowd for Ty Segall. Live show living up to all the hype.
9:47: Ty Segall: Most generous band at the show. Some dude just walked away with a Fender.
9:58: The downtime between bands is fairly uneventful.
10:00: Quick glance at the schedule says Surfer Blood's next.
10:07: The Bruise Cruise commemorative tote comes with, among other things, a pair of neon sunglasses and a condom. Not bad for $500.
10:17: Surfer Blood's PSA as to where to pre-regsiter for the Bruise Cruise was both informative, and a great segue into "Floating Vibes."
10:31: Surfer Blood sounds great, but the crowd seems tired after Ty Segall's set.
10:40: A couple of girls at the front of the stage will probably flash their alt boobs by the end of the night, for sure by the end of the cruise.
10:43: Last song for Surfer Blood, "Swim," triggered a fan invasion on stage.
!0:46: Things ended pretty abruptly after security c*ckblocked. Not sure from our vantage point what exactly happened when John Paul Pitts seemingly jumped into the crowd.
10:55: Five more bands to go. Over/under 10: people that miss the cruise tomorrow?
11:00: People are starting to fall asleep on the couches. Hoping the Strange Boys wakes everyone up a bit.
11:11: After the longest soundcheck of the night, the Strange Boys are up and sound great, and the crowd's responding to their twangy, southern sound.
11:19: It's a hipster hoedown at Grand Central.
11:33: Strange Boys have given birth to the hipster hoedown. Some dudes that are likely tripping have decided to start dancing in front of our setup.
11:35: The Strange Boys just killed said hoedown with the end of their set.
11:50: Wonder if any food trucks are going to post up outside of Grand Central.
11:52: "Thank you, we're Thee Oh Sees from San Francisco... My feet hurt."
11:57: Let the kids mosh, bouncer.
12:02: Security on the side of the stage with the flashlight is obnoxious.
12:06: Thee Oh Sees have had the rowdiest set of the night.
12:08: Who's Josh? "Fuck you, Josh" is a recurring theme.
12:16: Thee Oh Sees just finished their set, we're exhausted.
12:32: @ChrissyBorges wants to us to mention the security shit show, and rightly so.
12:40: Vivian Girls managed to get some of the lazy hipsters off the couches the minute their set started.
!2:51: Someone in the crowd yelled, "La Sera," in between songs.
12:55: The music's been really solid tonight, all the band have been great, but the crowd's much smaller now, and we may/may not have dozed off for a bit.
1:09: Vivian Girls cut their set short because of scheduling conflicts, and no there were no La Sera tracks.
1:11: John Norris is in the crowd. Remember him?
1:44: Quintron and Miss Pussycat have yet to bust out any puppets, and they've only got two songs left. Also, to the dude that just yelled at his girlfriend and caused a scene by smashing a Stella bottle against the concrete floor, grow the fuck up.
1:48: Dino Felipe is on stage with Quintron and Miss Pussycat playing makeshift maracas.
1:55: Music's over, Quintron's asking everyone to hold and watch the puppet show.
1:57: The puppet show has a nautical flare to it, complete with a prop cruise ship.
2:03: During the puppet show: "Hey, put on the fucking Black Lips!"
2:12: Wonder if there's any energy left in this sleepy crowd for Black Lips.
2:30: Someone get the Black Lips some PBR.
2:37: Round one of the crowd surfers for Black Lips in the air now.
2:42: The pit's pretty vicious, even at this hour.
2:51: The Black Lips plagued with technical difficulties, the crowd's starting to get restless, and we're calling it quits. Cheers.
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