Treasure Island hosts annual music festival

Presented by concert promoters Another Planet Entertainment and the organizers of San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival, the fifth annual Treasure Island Music Festival presents full weekend of music spotlighting a dazzling array of local and international talents on two separate stages. A rousing success since it's inception, the festival uses a bus bridge between AT&T Park and the island to swift moving a crowd of 10,000 to and from the show to minimize traffic impact. A remarkable lack of lines for food, drink and bathrooms at past festivals have made Treasure Island one of the most civilized music celebrations to emerge in the past few years. With Saturday geared towards electronic dance grooves while Sunday aims more specifically to indie-rock tastes, the festival offers up an eclectic line-up of entertainment at one of the most unique venues the Bay Area.

Saturday's show features a widely varied bill topped by Australian electro glam-pop band Empire of the Sun. With echoes of Adam and the Ants neo-romantic look and a modernist twist on a new-wave synth-driven sound, the duo composed of Luke Steele (of The Sleepy Jackson) and Nick Littlemore (of Pnau) first came together in 2008. Though they've only released one album ('Walking on a Dream'), the band has reportedly been at work on new material. Its reputation for a sumptuous and visually stunning live show should provide a fitting spectacle to close the first night of the festival.

The balance of the bill on Saturday is a mix of noted DJ and electronic acts matched with like-minded live bands. In addition to popular Aussie electronic outfit Cut Copy (who are riding on the success of their biggest album to date with 'Zonoscope') and reunited noise/groove duo Death From Above 1979, fans will be offered a wide range of sounds with sets from rising Los Angeles-based hip-hop experimentalist Flying Lotus, UK grime MC Dizzy Rascal, electro pop duo Chromeo, Portuguese kuduro crew Buraka Som Sistema, math rock vs. synth pop band Battles (anchored by former Helmet and Tomahawk drummer John Stanier), hip-hop iconoclasts Shabazz Palaces and Aloe Blacc, and local electronic act Geographer round out Saturday's line-up.

The Sunday line-up once again brings the indie-rock guitars to the fore with Northwestern favorites Death Cab for Cutie and Texas post-rock instrumental quartet Explosions in the Sky topping the bill. Since starting out in 1997 as the solo project of singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard, Bellingham, WA, indie pop group Death Cab for Cutie has gradually built up its audience from a small cult to a sizable fanbase.

Death Cab's first official album 'Something About Airplanes' garnered much acclaim from indie circles, showing off the kind of shimmering melancholy pop that would become the band's trademark. Death Cab For Cutie received the best notices of its career with its stunning 2004 album 'Transatlanticism,' but the accolades and mainstream attention only grew with successful follow-up 'Plans' a year later (though repeat appearances of the onetime hit Fox show 'The O.C.' certainly didn't hurt either). The group has never been known for bracing rockers, but its 2008 full-length effort 'Narrow Stairs' delivers the band's trademark hooks and melodies with heavier guitar distortion and brisker tempos, garnering Death Cab its best reviews of its career. Expect fan favorites and songs from their new album, 'Codes And Keys.'

Instrumental post-rock outfit Explosions In The Sky has earned itself a solid following since first forming in Texas in 1999. With the cinematic nature of the group's instrumentals, it wasn't long before the band's music became a popular choice for television and movies. Explosions In The Sky got some of its biggest exposure after providing the soundtrack for the high school football drama 'Friday Night Lights' in 2004, adapting the song "Your Hand in Mine" 'The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place' as well as writing original material. The band returns to the Bay Area to offer tunes from its fifth album 'Take Care, Take Care, Take Care.'

Other bands of interest on Sunday include dreamy pop duo Beach House, anthemic Brooklyn roots rock quartet The Hold Steady, Pavement front man Stephen Malkmus and his band The Jicks (playing songs from their acclaimed Beck-produced album 'Mirror Traffic') and indie chanteuse Annie Clark aka St. Vincent. The Bay Area gets solid representation with appearances by SF garage-psych juggernaut The Oh Sees and rising shoegaze band Weekend.

Adding to the festive atmosphere will be gourmet food far beyond what one can expect at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, art installations and roving performance artists, an 80-foot-high ferris wheel, a "silent disco" with a host of local DJ talent, a vendor village and much more. Due to traffic congestion concerns on the Bay Bridge and a shortage of parking on the island, the only festival attendees able to drive directly to the festival will be those holding a VIP Four-Pack; all other festival-goers will have to take the free shuttle from Lot A at AT&T Park to get to the event. To find out additional information about transportation and the festival itself, please visit the official website.

Treasure Island Music Festival Saturday and Sunday, October 15-16, 11 a.m. $69.50-$219.50 (general admission Saturday tix sold out) Treasure Island