Our DIY 2013 Recap

This weekend DIY brought together some great bands and artists and it seems as though it also brought fall with it. The three day festival is usually one of the marks of the end of summer in the area. From what I remember, last year's fest was pretty hot. But, as Detroiters do every fall, we all layered on the clothes and shivered in the 50 degree weather that felt more like 30.

Despite the low temperatures and rainy skies, the spirits were high at this year's DIY and it was a blast. This installment of the event featured one of the best lineups I can remember to date, with bigger acts like The Suicide Machines and Death, paired up with first timers like Ojala.

Friday night kicked off DIY with what Sadie and I agreed from the beginning was the best bill of the weekend, and now that it has passed we still maintain that statement. Things may have gotten off to a rocky start with George Morris getting pushed back, moved to another day, then moved again, along with some malfunctions during the Flint Eastwood set, but after that the stages and bands were all smooth sailing. At least from what the crowd could tell. On the WAB Stage, Alexis got things started off great and got the crowd moving, as always. Tunde, The Suicide Machines and Child Bite were just a few of the other acts that played outside, while The ILL Itches and Electric Corpse played inside The Loving Touch.

We were really shocked to see that The Suicide Machines were playing this event and curious as to what it would be like. Tons of people crawled out of the woodwork to see them, the jokes about playing an art fair in Ferndale were limited, and their set was as awesome as ever. The band even gave a shout out to Sadie for her birthday mid-set, which was pretty awesome and our 15 year old selves probably would have died.

With that being said, our coverage and pictures are lacking a bit from Friday and Saturday due to the mass amounts of partying going on. Regardless we can tell you these few things. The Suicide Machines were awesome. Tunde played at the same time, so although we were unable to catch him this night, we heard people talking about him and witnessed people coming up to him all night raving about his performance. Child Bite was excellent as always and The ILL Itches killed it. If you missed out on their set, you really need to make a point to catch these guys soon.

Saturday night's highlight was the reunion of Thunderbirds Are Now. Lucky for us and everyone else that missed this once in a lifetime reunion, the band filmed their set and will be releasing a video soon. If you also didn't get a chance to check out our interview with Ryan Allen about this reunion show, make sure you take a minute to read that here. We hear we really missed out on a hell of a show and a great time.

Sunday we were dead set on getting our absolute fill of the DIY Street Fair. This was the first chance we had to actually check out all of the amazing artists and of course some more great bands. Alongside the numerous Detroit t-shirt stands, there were truly some spectacular artists that come up with the craziest ideas utilizing cassette tapes, records, wood, paint fabric, and pretty much anything you can think of in the most creative ways. Most booths were reasonably priced, so it makes it difficult to not run around and buy a ton of stuff. Although there were MANY great tents, my favorite by far was the 18X24 Detroit Tent featuring some amazing show posters and other prints. Make sure you head over and check out 18X24 and all of their artists here.

Sunday was the rainiest of the 3 days, but the music still killed it. James Linck sounded bigger and more amazing than ever with a full band on stage with him. Then Destroy This Place played a great set, that was slightly overshadowed by the cute kids in the crowd, but still pretty sweet. Later in the night Bars of Gold played an incredibly energetic set. And then the crowd got to end the night with the highly anticipated debut of Ojala. This band was completely different than any of Chris Jarvis' other projects, but just as amazing. Make sure you check out our interview with Chris about Ojala and check them out online here. 

Overall this year's DIY was better than ever. There were some bands we were surprised to see on the schedule, some great new food trucks, and artists that were both new and old, but unlike those at your mom's art fair. One band joked about playing an art fair saying their career must be over, while others took it as a huge honor to start off at this highly regarded festival. Despite the jokes, we're sure everyone that was a part of DIY, whether in a tent or on the stage, was honored to be included in it and we know we are honored to have such great people in Detroit that are willing to work their butts off to put this event together every year. Definitely one of the best ways to close out the summer or kick off the fall, whichever way you want to look at it.

~C