Thousands of eager hipsters and indie kids flocked to downtown Los Angeles on Saturday for the third annual LA Weekly Detour Festival. A forty dollar ticket bought access to the festival which featured 25 acts on 4 outdoor stages, spread across six city blocks around City Hall.

    In matching red tracksuits, Norwegian band Datarock played their afternoon performance which delivered a stimulating jolt of energy to the crowd. The dance-punk group performed their hit Fa-Fa-Fa, and closed off the set with a saxophone solo which served as quite a warm up for the rest of the evening. Shana Halligan’s sensual alto paired with the ambient-infused performance by Bitter:Sweet provided a chilled-out vibe reminiscent of a cool martini bar.

    As dusk set, those that skipped the soulful, disco-inspired sound of Hercules and Love Affair, probably could not help but wander into the large crowd at the Triforum Stage to catch the headlining band, Gogol Bordello. Call it gypsy; call it punk; the irrepressible, kooky multi-ethnic music collective played an energizing two-hour set, incorporating a fiddler and an accordionist to accompany the animated vocals of front man Eugene Hutz. Genre-bending progressive rockers The Mars Volta closed off the night to the biggest crowd of the festival. As the group finished their set, the experimental progressions and intoxicating presentation of their compositions left the crowd in an aura of satisfaction. -Shaunt

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Taken October 4th, 2008 at in Downtown Los Angeles

Following Detour, we caught DJ Mehdi at the Avalon. Those photos will be up on Monday.
Patience is a virtue.

This Saturday, get yourself to downtown LA for the annual LA Weekly Detour Festival. It will feature over 25 acts on 4 outdoor stages, plus vendors and art installations, spread across 6 city blocks around City Hall. We wouldn’t miss it.

This year’s headliners include genre-bending proggies The Mars Volta and irrepressible Gypsy-punk collective Gogol Bordello. If it’s electronic music you want, you can catch the likes of the spiders-gone-italo-disco-duo The Bloody Beetroots, or DJ sets from Institubes label-mates Surkin and Para One. The full line-up can be found on the official Detour website. Tickets are available for $40 on ticketmaster.

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Detour ends at midnight, but if you haven’t had enough, equip yourself with a Redbull [or any substance of your choice] and head over to the Avalon for DJ sets from Ed Bangers’ own DJ Mehdi and iheartcomix man-in-charge Franki Chan. Sorry kids: this one is 21+. Presale tickets are available for $15 on wanttickets.

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Sunday morning, as you slowly but surely regain your consciousness, get yourself out of bed and walk over to your laptop and check back here for photos. If you’re still hungover, a nice shower and a fiery Bloody Mary should remedy the situation. By the evening you should be feeling great. If you didn’t catch him at the Avalon [or simply have no recollection if it], DJ Mehdi is rumored to be playing a DJ set at the weekly Banana Split Sundaes event at LAX. If you want to improve your chances of getting in, show up early and RSVP!

The Bloody Beetroots, signed under Dim Mak Records, have a new track coming out called T*A*P*E* which pays homage to analog recording and playback equipment. The track is quite different from their other uptempo italo-house material, and is instead rather mellow and beat-oriented.

Credit to LAFriendly for the scoop…

• Download MP3: The Bloody Beetroots – T*A*P*E*

A favorite track of mine by the italian duo is their remix/rework of Metallica’s Seek and Destroy which they have re-titled Ill to Destroy.

• Download MP3: The Bloody Beetroots – Ill to Destroy (Metallica Rework)

In other news, you can catch them live at the upcoming LA Weekly LA Detour Festival October 4th.

This year the LA Detour Festival 2008 will take place on October 4th. It will feature over 25 acts on 4 outdoor stages, plus vendors and art installations, spread across 6 city blocks around City Hall. Confirmed bands include genre-bending proggies The Mars Volta and irrepressible Gypsy-punk collective Gogol Bordello. Take the Metro (there’s a stop just steps away); stroll the streets, drink-in-hand; and celebrate our own world-class music festival.

 This year’s lineup features: