There are moments in music history that will live on forever and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Mercury Lounge in 2000 is one of them. The art-rock trio had rehearsed a grand total of one time before they stormed the stage in support of the White Stripes. Out came frontwoman Karen O, drunk on margaritas and doused in olive oil, with a truly berserk performance that carried on the lineage of Iggy Pop and GG Allin.
A musician of mythic proportions, she did things that, on paper, sound impossible. Swallowing a microphone, for instance. Or making a bowl cut look cool. From then on, the band were swept into the Noughties “rock revival” alongside Interpol, The White Stripes, and The Strokes – the latter of which are also on this evening’s festival billing.
