Saturday night closed out the barking tuna festival with a confusing mess of awesome music.  Like the previous two nights, the Strutt was filled with over 200 in attendance.

The show began with local grunge warriors, Coma Nova, who fought off 7 other bands to get their spot on the show.  The Fight for the Tuna winners defended their victory with a series of duets, blending a mellow female voice with front man Eli Kroes’s sing/shouting.  If you are into heavier rock music, you should track down a copy of their newly released album.

Michigan based Cheap Girls took the stage next. The three piece was solid throughout their set of melodic mid-tempo powerpop.  Though not fitting at all with the chaos that was to come later in the night, they delivered a quality performance.

If you’ve ever heard a mass murder being performed in a subway, then you have an idea of the sound that Wolf Eyes brings to the stage.  The Detroit based trio composed their audio horror movie with an array of electronics, heavily deranged guitar, incomprehensible vocals, and shrieking soprano sax.  Some songs had a beat underneath, others had an semi-rythmic pulse, while others were purely malicious chaos.  It is completely understandable for most listeners to loath this type of performance, but Wolf Eyes is a true gem for noise fans.

Once Wolf Eyes had cleared the stage, 9 or so cabs were set up into a massive wall of speakers.  One would think that there would be 4 or 5 people plugging into all of this amplification, but it all belonged to one man: Lightning Bolt’s bass player Brian Gibson.  He ran his bass through plenty of effects and different amps, so it could cover all of the ground that would normally be filled with a guitar.  In front of the wall, Brian Chippendale sat on his drum set with a new version of his signature microphone-mask.   The Rhode Island duet spent the next hour or so  blasting a completely unique blend of spastic and speedy drumming coupled with noisy and nasty bass and with Chippendale’s bizarre modulated vocals occasionally poking above the sound scape.  With minimal members, Lightning Bolt was free to create song structure that usually goes untouched by more conventional bands.  Even though the band played on stage (usually they play on the floor) the show earned a spot in my top 5 of the year.

With the 2010 Barking Tuna Festival complete, it is safe to say it was a success from the fan’s standpoint.  Lots of great bands.  Lots of people in attendance.  It seems that the new venue worked out great.  Thanks WIDR for doing this and thanks to the Strutt for hosting it.