Fun Fun Fun: Washed Out

Is chillwave dead? Our friend Ernest Greene and the huge crowd of avid fans at Sunday’s Washed Out set at Fun Fun Fun Fest would have to answer in the negative.

As an avid fan of the genre, and Washed Out’s meditative and euphoric interpretation of it in particular, I was looking forward to seeing Ernest Greene (Washed Out) and his touring band for months.

After staking out a good spot close to the rock ledge at the Orange Stage, some friends and I got set for the show and gazed at the heavy-yet-distant blanket of clouds that looked definitively like a harbinger of winter.

By the time Greene and his band finished their soundcheck, the crowd was thick and ready to be taken to the land of good vibes. Then the dreamy, drippy vibraphone synths faded in and the shakers started, sounds that I know all too well from “Paracosm,” Washed Out’s summer album; we were off.

The vibes at this show were indescribably good. Everyone was moving, smiling and having a good time, and the music provided the perfect ease at the tail end of what was probably an exhausting weekend for most of us; there were even vibrant fake flowers all over the equipment on the stage, a décor that fit the aesthetic and album art of “Paracosm.”

As the set progressed, Greene began to dip into his non-“Paracosm” catalog, playing more danceable tracks like “Soft,” from the genre-defining 2011 chillwave album “Within and Without,” and “New Theory,” from the impeccable 2009 EP that brought Washed Out onto the scene, “Life of Leisure.”

Near the end of the set, Washed Out played a slow, hyperchill rendition of his most popular song, “Feel it All Around,” from “Life of Leisure,” the track that became famous as the intro to “Portlandia.”

Throughout the show, Ernest seemed as the homophone of his name suggests: straightforward and genuine, there to deliver his music without worrying about how he and his band came across. Washed Out played one of the most uplifting and peaceful shows I have ever seen, and blissed the Fun Fun Fun Fest 8 crowd out for the rest of the night.