If Fun Fun Fun Fest were incarnated as a human being, your new punk-rock friend would definitely have knuckles proudly tattooed: STRT CRED. Fun Fun Fun Fest has carved a name for itself by casting off any fetters of booking bands of the present moment, instead embracing artists influential in their respective genres, selecting bands with cult followings, or simply those that will rock the hardest. No better example exists than last year’s headliner: Slayer. The brains behind Fun Fun Fun seem to book whoever they think kicks ass. I imagine brainstorming sessions involving copious amounts of Lone Star and CD collections from the prime of indie-rock, the early days of hip-hop, and plenty of punk. Certainly, there are no button-ups or ties. No executives weighing the cost benefit of booking bands recently at the tops of charts or gracing the covers of Rolling Stone. STRT CRED.
This year’s headliners represented the same mindset that FFF has always possessed and they came in the form of a Swedish punk outfit formed in 1991, Refused, and a quintessential hip-hop troupe formed in 1981, Run-D.M.C. Two or three decades later, each remains powerful, but these sets weren’t the only dynamic performances of the weekend. Today, we bring you our top five sets from the first day (and a few honorable mentions).
5. Bob Mould
Furthering the initial claim posited in this article, Bob Mould represents an artist who still absolutely slays live while transporting listeners back to the dawn of indie-rock, made especially true by Mould performing Copper Blue in its entirety. Mould rocked out, slinging around his head and guitar as he stomped across the stage. Perhaps most importantly, the songs came across as perfectly rendered in the live format. This is a veteran showing youngsters how its done.
4. Cursive
I wasn’t expecting this. I really dug Cursive in that time when Saddle-Creek had exploded and Domestica was first released. It’s a fantastic, dark concept album about domestic relationships. However, they haven’t even been on my radar for almost a decade. They killed it. Kasher’s spastic “dancing” around the stage represents all of the discord and dissonance of their songs as the band plowed through their greatest hits. “The Radiator Hums” emerged as one of the highlights of the set, as did “A Gentleman Caller.” Cursive didn’t just hit that nostalgic button for me alone; talking with other writers and photographers following their set, the agreement was consistent: great performance.
3. Santigold
This marked the third time I’ve seen Santigold, and although her performance hasn’t changed much in the last year, I’ve enjoyed it immensely every time. Her utilization of coordinated costumes with back-up musicians and dancers adds a visual spectacle to the performance. Meanwhile, theatrical choreographed movements, emotive singing, and plenty of pumping up the crowd characterize Santigold’s onstage presence itself. Her set delivered the highlights from her first album as well as her more recent record, Master of My Make-Believe.
2. Run-D.M.C.
Despite the absence of Jam-Master J, Run-D.M.C. performed a set of classics that had the crowd engrossed from the moment they walked onstage. Although this set was performed on the inaugural evening of the festival, it seemed to be the most hyped and anticipated set of the festival, and it didn’t disappoint. Fans got to hear rap cornerstones like “It’s Tricky,” “It’s Like That,” and “Walk This Way.” Rev Run and D.M.C. paced the stage, walking to the edge of the stage to hype the crowd. Bottom line: these pioneers of hip-hop still know how to run the game.
1. Black Lips
Believe me, if anyone has any reason to be pissed about this performance, it’s me. No media was allowed in the photo pits for this one, so a few of us camped out right down front on the rail after the previous set to be in a good spot for photos. I’ll get to the extreme antics in a moment, but to get to the point, special guest Val Kilmer ended the set by throwing a bucket of “uranium” (maybe corn starch) all over the first few rows of the crowd, which included me—and my camera. Powdery dust went everywhere—all over the lens, in the creases of the mounting rings, in my pockets, my hair, my camera bag. It was beyond messy. The set also included Kilmer punching, pushing, and tackling various members of the Black Lips as they performed. 
Kilmer also cut into an amp with a chainsaw and cut his own hair off with a hunting knife, stabbing himself somewhere in the process, ending up with blood streaks around his mouth. Throughout the set, the crowd erupted in a frenzy, pushing and shoving violently. Security, like me, seemed concerned that the barricade would topple over. The spectacle was part of filming for Terrence Malick’s new project. Rooney Mara pretended to play guitar alongside Kilmer, and Michael Fassbender poked his head out from backstage once or twice. As hazardous and frustrating as parts of the set were, nothing came close to topping it. It emerged unparalleled as the set that everyone talked about for the rest of the night, if not the rest of the weekend.
Other noteworthy sets:
Sharon Van Etten sounded amazing, her voice haunting and powerful. Her set was the most difficult to leave off this list. Between emotional stretches of belting out lyrics, her genuine smile conveyed a refreshing joy in performing. Dum Dum Girls also delivered an outstanding set with an impressive degree of energy for such a hot, bright afternoon early on the first day of a not-yet-crowded festival. The band sounded great, and I would have loved to see them play a set when they had more crowd energy to work from.
At the end of the day, Friday emerged as surprisingly full of artists that I wouldn’t have been surprised to see saved for the weekend days, but then again, the lineup is full of quality acts. Fun Fun Fun kicked off with another impressive start for this growing festival.
