Karen O of indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs could not have been any happier to be in stage at the close of the Just Like Heaven Festival on Saturday.
And the feeling was, quite clearly, mutual in the crowd that filled the grassy fields of Brookside at the Rose Bowl, the rolling greens of the golf course in Pasadena that in recent years has become the best festival grounds in the Los Angeles area.
RELATED: Photos: Early Saturday performers at Pasadena’s Just Like Heaven Festival
At the end of a day tromping back and forth between two stages and 20 indie rock acts that arrived in the 2000s, you want someone with the energy and charisma of Karen O to reinvigorate you in the home stretch. And the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, still vital, still powerful, still thrilling two decades into their career did just that.
The band opened with “Spitting Off the Edge of the World,” a slow, moody piece from its strong 2022 album “Cool It Down,” which a few songs later also delivered a highlight with “Burning.”
Fan-favorites were easy to spot — the glowing screens of phone cameras held aloft greeted popular songs such as “Zero” and “Sharp Shock,” and later “Y Control” and “Maps.”
Guitarist Nick Zinner, drummer Brian Chase and touring guitarist Imaad Wasif sounded as tight as ever in the bluesy indie rock the band found in forming in New York City in 2000. Their hour on stage passes swiftly, peaking with “Heads Will Roll” and “Date With the Night.”
Here’s what else we saw during a day spent remembering why the synths and guitars of the aughts made such memorable music.
MGMT put on a show
The indie electronic duo MGMT arrived with much anticipation in the Orion main stage just before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Anticipation because they planned to play…
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