I went to the All Points West festival last weekend. My buddy Darren came up from good ole' Virginny to join me and to hang in the NJ. It was billed as the "Coachella of the East." Now, I've never been to Coachella but my guess is that, despite a valiant effort, this was not an equivalent show on the whole.
I mean, for one thing, Prince did not play at All Points West (APW). I digress.
The day was filled with an eternal public-transportation commute to the show which had us passing by at least 3 teams of canine-powered police units. Once there, we had to walk a mile or more to get to the gate of the show and then another mile to the main stage.
After arriving around mid-afternoon, the skies threatened to unleash a might rain, wind and hail cocktail. There was nowhere to hide either so if it was coming, Darren and I were going to get it on the noggin.
The majority of the bands that we got to see were not good. Not one bit. However, we really came to see Radiohead. This was our first time seeing this band live and the hype was huge. Every review of this tour has been glowing and, well, the band continues to reinvent itself with every album so the possibilities for the show were endless.
Needless to say (or is it?), they did not disappoint. The show was unbelievable. The band played flawlessly. Throw in a futuristic light show (apparently powered by solar energy) and a video production that brought basically within touching distance of each band member and you had an experience that we won't soon forget.
The setup of the festival was not great with the beer gardens being out of sight and sound of every stage (there were 3) and the band choices consisted of many 2-man groups playing turntables, drum machines and mixing consoles. I know there's a lot of good music being made using those "instruments" these days but it's BORING to see it live. How does one rock out on a mixing console? Answer: they don't.
I attempted to Twitter my way through the entire show and got a few pics uploaded via (Twitpic). You can see the stream of consciousness here. A lot of my photos didn't upload due to bad connections (curse you EDGE network!) but Darren sent along some good ones that I'll post up shortly.
This was my first attempt to do some live lifecasting/micro-blogging/etc using my new Blackberry Curve. It was fun but Darren laughed at me.
All in all, it was a great time. I got the day off, saw an old friend, heard some great music and drank a few beers. Not bad.
15/08: All Points West
I went to the All Points West festival last weekend. My buddy Darren came up from good ole' Virginny to join me and to hang in the NJ. It was billed as the "Coachella of the East." Now, I've never been to Coachella but my guess is that, despite a valiant effort, this was not an equivalent show on the whole.
I mean, for one thing, Prince did not play at All Points West (APW). I digress.
The day was filled with an eternal public-transportation commute to the show which had us passing by at least 3 teams of canine-powered police units. Once there, we had to walk a mile or more to get to the gate of the show and then another mile to the main stage.
After arriving around mid-afternoon, the skies threatened to unleash a might rain, wind and hail cocktail. There was nowhere to hide either so if it was coming, Darren and I were going to get it on the noggin.
The majority of the bands that we got to see were not good. Not one bit. However, we really came to see Radiohead. This was our first time seeing this band live and the hype was huge. Every review of this tour has been glowing and, well, the band continues to reinvent itself with every album so the possibilities for the show were endless.
Needless to say (or is it?), they did not disappoint. The show was unbelievable. The band played flawlessly. Throw in a futuristic light show (apparently powered by solar energy) and a video production that brought basically within touching distance of each band member and you had an experience that we won't soon forget.
The setup of the festival was not great with the beer gardens being out of sight and sound of every stage (there were 3) and the band choices consisted of many 2-man groups playing turntables, drum machines and mixing consoles. I know there's a lot of good music being made using those "instruments" these days but it's BORING to see it live. How does one rock out on a mixing console? Answer: they don't.
I attempted to Twitter my way through the entire show and got a few pics uploaded via (Twitpic). You can see the stream of consciousness here. A lot of my photos didn't upload due to bad connections (curse you EDGE network!) but Darren sent along some good ones that I'll post up shortly.
This was my first attempt to do some live lifecasting/micro-blogging/etc using my new Blackberry Curve. It was fun but Darren laughed at me.
All in all, it was a great time. I got the day off, saw an old friend, heard some great music and drank a few beers. Not bad.
[Jeff]