Cruel World Festival 2024, Pasadena, CA

Cruel World 2024 was a musical journey through time and space, bringing acts from all over, and all decades, to Brookside Golf Course at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The day started off early with doors opening at 11:30 and the first band taking the stage at 11:45. Some of the problems that festival-goers faced last year were cleared up this year, last year’s hour and a half line to get into the festival (even through the VIP section) was cut down to about 20 minutes this year. Also, parking was significantly more efficient, both getting in and out.

Of the bands that played in the first few hours of the day, there was one that stood out: Nuovo Testamento, who played an afternoon set on the “Sad Girls” stage. Lead vocalist and frontwoman, Chelsey Crowley, commands a stage like no one’s business. If you were to watch this band without any volume, it would still be a show worth seeing because of how effortlessly Crowley takes control of the stage (and the XLR cable, which seems to be a character in the band’s performance itself) and communicates through her stage presence.

The Mission’s set was one of the most fascinating sets I’ve ever witnessed, not just because of the band, but because of the crowd. It seemed that the crowd weren’t just casual fans, but seriously dedicated followers of the band. At one point, a pink-haired woman seemed to levitate above the crowd, I soon realized she was balanced on someone’s shoulders. She began to twist her arms about, as if she was somewhere between dancing and casting a spell. Although, it was The Mission that was truly casting a spell on her.

The Faint, who I had never heard of before this weekend, proved themselves to be a force to be reckoned with. My first thought as I heard their bass rumbling across Brookside Golf Course at the Rose Bowl was that they could be playing the festival the next weekend at the Rose Bowl, Just Like Heaven, because they had a sound that could almost be lumped in with some of the early aughts pop-adjacent music. When I got home, I wasn’t surprised to learn that they had played at Just Like Heaven the previous year. Their playing at both festivals is certainly a testament to their versatility. Their sound can’t be tied down to any one genre, whether it be pop, punk, or electronic music. And if their broad range of genres isn’t enough for you, their on-stage performance is nothing short of exhilarating.

The Jesus And Mary Chain opened their set with “jamcod,” a song off of their latest release “Glasgow Eyes.” They’ve stuck to their style of lyricism that’s often extremely cryptic, but also often extremely on the nose. The band is notoriously shy, and they certainly lived up to that notoriety this weekend as vocalist Jim Reid wore sunglasses and sang with both hands on the microphone so as best to cover his face, and the rest of the band stood about as far back on the stage as they could without tripping over the drum kit. Still, for any fan, the set was extremely fun since they not only played new songs, but also fan favorites like “Head On,” “Blues From A Gun,” and of course, “Just Like Honey.”

Walking back to the main, “Outsiders,” stage from the Sad Girls stage, where the Jesus and Mary Chain were finishing up their set, I heard what I would soon find out was a band called Dreamcar, a supergroup including members of AFI and No Doubt. The band’s cover of King’s 1984 song “Love and Pride” proved to be an earworm for the rest of the day. Dreamcar is music to dance to and the crowd was doing just that throughout their set. Dreamcar was a hard act to follow for Adam Ant. His set was one that was likely very fun for the people who were already a fan of his and otherwise, likely didn’t inspire nearly as many new fans as Dreamcar certainly did. To close off the night, I bounced back and forth between the Outsiders stage and the Sad Girls stage for Blondie, Interpol and Duran Duran.

Blondie’s set, and the crowd’s reaction to the set, was very interesting because, listening to the whispers among the crowd, there were some people who liked their set and some people who felt very strongly opposed to it. The most common complaint that was heard was that Debbie Harry’s vocals weren’t in key. That said, it seemed that her singing out of key was almost intentional and a part of the performance. Even if it wasn’t intentional, for 78, Harry’s vocals are more in tune that most 20-year-olds. For the most part, people aren’t seeing Blondie live to hear perfectly tuned vocals, they’re seeing Blondie to see Blondie.

Interpol, like The Faint, is a band that could fit into Cruel World or Just Like Heaven. They’re hard to pin down genre-wise, but they also don’t need to be pinned down. Their yearning, dark, and brooding music fit well into Cruel World’s lineup. They are extremely sharp, both sharp instrumentally and sharp dressed. When watching them perform live, it’s clear that there is an image that they are trying to uphold, or perhaps an image that they try to conceal behind the dark clothing and intense backlighting.

Headlining this year’s Cruel World was Duran Duran who, while I would realistically describe them as a pop group, delivered a refreshingly exciting set to close off what is generally described as an alternative festival. The crowd was full of “Duranimals,” one of whom shared that he’d attended at least 40 Duran Duran shows and had even followed them on tour. All in all, the world didn’t seem quite so cruel after a wonderful day in the sun, listening to music and dancing along.