Kanye West, Flaming Lips, & Extreme Sports at X-Games Austin

In its 20^th year of existence and first of four years in Austin, the summer X-Games, hosted last weekend at Circuit of the Americas, triumphed as a diverse and rare weekend of entertainment. Around the time of the inaugural X-Games in 1995, I began frequenting skate parks with my brother as often as I could. We’d drive hours from our secluded East Texas hometown to Shreveport, Louisiana or Dallas, TX for opportunities to skate on ramps. I can’t say that my own obsession with skating and the inception of the X-Games are directly related, but perhaps. We were certainly the demographic extreme sports marketers were trying to reach: bored teenagers in a boring town with nothing better to do than buy skates or a skateboard and go jump off shit. X-Games was born at a time when children of the 80s were at our most receptive to the allure of doing physically dangerous acts.

Gold medalist Nyjah Huston.

In our spare time at home, we’d read the skate magazines we subscribed to or watch skate videos like CKY, the video series featuring Bam Margera, who would later go on to play an integral role in the series Jackass. CKY was not only a video series, but also a band, which soundtracked most of the videos. From the earliest days of extreme sports, music has played an integral role. Honoring this close relationship between action sports and music by having a stellar lineup of artists perform throughout the X-Games weekend gives the competition enormous credibility.

Black and White Years perform at X-Games.

Although past installments have intersected with X-Fest, this year’s music lineup featured far more interested, relevant, and quality acts than before. If my research is right, it’s also the first time that music has been so closely integrated to the X-Games site. The competition bolstered their local cred by having KUTX curate one of the weekend’s stages, which featured some outstanding Austin artists: Mirror Travel, Black and White Years, Little Radar, and Not in the Face. More prominent headlining acts performed the main Austin 360 amphitheater throughout the weekend. In fact, X-Games managed to recruit the best live performers in both rock and rap: The Flaming Lips and Kanye West, respectively.

The music served as an excellent soundtrack to reliving the passions of my teen years, which consisted of some pretty cool stunts and a lot of falling down. Major sports components of this year’s summer X-Games broke down generally as follows: skateboarding, BMX, and motor sports. In the latter category, X-Games debuted a new sport, Stadium Super Trucks, which has small monster trucks (oxymoron, I know), racing around part of the F-1 track, navigating both dirt and pavement as well as two ramps. A staggering three of the trucks were driven by Austin residents Gavin Harlien, Charles Dorrance, and Jay Reichert, the former of which finished 9^th, while the others did not qualify for finals. Perhaps unsurprisingly, one truck did end up completely overturned on its top, but the driver was lucky enough to escape without severe injury. Other motor sports included Moto-X events where motorcycle racers navigate a dirt track as well as perform stunts during gravity defying jumps.

Morgan Wade, silver medalist in BMX Big Air competition.

The BMX portion of the competition consists of events held in a street skatepark setting, on vert, and on the mammoth big air ramp. Watching bikes hurtle down what looks like a near vertical 50 foot drop and soar into the air was easily one of the most stunning sights of the weekend. As many riders had unsuccessful (and painful to watch) attempts as those completing jumps. However, Tyler, TX native Morgan Wade proved one of the most consistent and talented riders at the big air event. He took home the silver medal for his efforts, but the uproarious applause from the Texas crowd likely meant as much as the medal.

Gold medalist Nyjah Huston.

The high-flying stunts of Moto-X and BMX were among the most exciting of the weekend. However, I just can’t deny that my favorite part was watching the street skate finals. Motorized vehicles and death-defying jumps are impressive, but the nuance and poetry of a guy with his board on the street course possesses greater romance. During the competition, no run held greater power than 19-year-old Nyjah Huston’s second run in the finals, which set a record as the highest score ever achieved in this event.

Kanye West performs at X-Games

Sports were the focus of the weekend, but my heart lies in the music portion of the festival. Considering that Kanye West has been the marquee name for many of music’s biggest events over the past couple of years, his performance for X-Games had many surprised. That surprise might be doubled in light of this being his first show since his highly publicized wedding to Kim Kardashian. In short, X-Games attendees were a lucky bunch. West debuted a new stage setting, which like his last one, still features mountains, although much smaller renditions. The largest stage piece, a monolithic LED screen, towered center stage, depicting live images of West performing as well as a barrage of colors, often glowing an ominous red.

Kanye West performs at X-Games

West wore several of the masks he has been known to don in recent performances, as he played the setlist of my dreams. This is my second time time to see him perform, and his commitment to captivating and visually stunning performances deserves recognition and praise. West jumps around the stage with furious energy, spitting his rhymes harder on stage than on record, not an easy feat to achieve. Notable selections for the night included “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” as well as “Gold Digger,” which West indicated he added to the setlist impromptu. Cuts from his most recent album Yeezus included standouts “New Slaves” and “Black Skinhead” as well as an amazing rendition of “Blood on the Leaves,” featuring samples from Nina Simone’s version of “Strange Fruit.” I could honestly keep listing songs until I rattled off the whole setlist, so here it is.

The Flaming Lips performs at X-Games

I’m closing in on having seen the Flaming Lips a dozen times now, and they still amaze me. Recently their performances have edged into dark psychedelia with strange, mechanical tubes covering the stage, which is littered with ominous, shiny, futuristic half-spheres. Taking a live show in a new and austere direction when the band’s colorful, confetti-filled, Wayne Coyne-in-a-giant-hamster-ball set has been so lauded, requires artistic conviction and bravery. That decision deserves applause and open-mindedness, although many have denounced the new staging. Now, it seems the band has begun to blend these two performances.

The Flaming Lips performs at X-Games

Strange cords still dangle from the ceiling, but the confetti is back and colorful rainbows and mushrooms dance across the stage. Coyne has taken to wearing a suit that makes it look like all his skin has been peeled away to reveal his muscles beneath, which is eerie or fascinating (depending on what kind of trip you’re on, I suppose). The Lips played a short set, and Coyne seemed a bit perturbed by security’s refusal to let fans come down to the relatively under-attended general admission floor area. It seems that since it was the last event of the evening, and all sports had ended, many attendees had already headed home. The remaining crowd was comprised of those fans devoted enough to buy a ticket to X-Games just to see The Flaming Lips.

In a weekend where everything ran pretty smoothly, my one piece of advice to X-Games organizers is to market the music more clearly, and consider the audience for your performers. Flaming Lips on Saturday would have had a solid crowd, since sports were on until late. Kanye performing after everything was finished still would have held the masses. This brings me to my final list tips to the public for X-Games Austin next summer:

1) If you want to just check out the spectacle and see what it’s about, buy a one-day GA ticket, and be prepared to spend a ton on food and drink. It is worth it, but it’s just for the experience.

2) If you want to see sports, buy an upgrade. The event is structured so that you almost need an upgraded ticket to see any of the sports. At first I thought this was a raw deal, but consider this: is it reasonable to make it so that every ticket holder can see every sport? There were 30,000 people there most of the time. Tickets were approximately $150 for the full weekend. That’s reasonably priced, because to experience a sport, you need an upgrade. So pick what you want to see: skatepark, moto-x, four wheels, BMX, and buy an upgrade.

The Flaming Lips performs at X-Games

3) The above also applies to music. If you’re there to see music, buy an upgrade.

4) Above all else, next year, go. It’s an honor to host this event, which has largely been held only in California. It fits here. We’re a city that values alternatives, and we should support and celebrate the opportunity to see extreme sports, which act as a cultural counterpoint to the more salient forms of entertainment. We had a blast at this year’s X-Games, and hope to see you there next year.