APW in Review: Friday, August 8th
Day one of All Points West flew by. In fact, one could even say it was way too short. Part of the problem is that the schedule is extremely light early in the day. It is as if the “real” festival does not begin until 2:00 and then, besides the single headliner every night, it is over at 8:15. Thus, All APW is just terrible bang for your buck. The consumers are paying for a mega-festival, but in the end, getting a three-day, six-hour fest with two Radiohead shows and a Jack Johnson show. In addition, the headliners are scheduled to finish at 10:30, which is extremely early for this type of festival. Compare this to Bonnaroo (4:30, with times really finishing closer to 6) or even Coachella (midnight).
Overall, All Points West just feels small in comparison to bigger festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo, yet AEG Live/Goldenvoice charge the same (more than Bonnaroo). If rent is the issue (as I’m sure someone will argue), move it to upstate NY (the Catskills) or down further south in Jersey (uhhh…Vineland, anyone?) It would not doubt be a shame if they were forced to move APW, as the scene is surreal. I’ve driven past Liberty State Park hundreds of times without even realizing its existence. It is amazing to watch a band with the NYC skyline all around.
Speaking of which, the film Cloverfield was a popular topic of discussion among the artists today. When Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis) took the stage, he made it a point to mention that this field is where Cloverfield took place. The New Pornographers also brought it up, discussing how crazy it was to see the Statue of Liberty’s head fly and roll into the Financial District of downtown Manhattan. By the way, the view of the Statue from the park is breathtaking. Absolutely stunning.
The ferry ride over in the morning was a great way to see the City and surrounding area. However, it is simply too expensive for a ten minute ferry. In the end, charging $30 (without any service fees, since it was handed to someone sitting at a table) seemed like another way for the festival promoters to rip the kids off. Once they get to Liberty State Park, they were faced with $4 waters, $10 burritos and $90 posters!
The weather was extremely pleasant. While it was humid and hot at times, the rain cooled it off. In fact, the temperature significantly dropped at night and the cold breeze felt great until around 9:00 when, all of a sudden, it became a bit too cold for this time of year.
The North Carolina hip-hop group Little Brother started the party early on the first day of the inaugural All Points West. While the attendees were still filling in on this early afternoon, Phonte and Big Pooh managed to grab their attention as they walked by to scope out the rest of the scene at Liberty State Park. Little Brother’s beat master turned it up on the one’s and two’s as he hyped up the gathering crowd and introduced the dual lyricists. The group was great at getting everyone within earshot to throw a hand up and bounce with the beats. It seemed a bit out of place for a mostly indie centric festival, but they held their own for their supporters at the front of the stage.
Liela Moss, all legs and pale British heat, seemed to serenade Lady Liberty just across the river as she clung to a crescent tambourine. If Liberty’s goddess is the sun, Leila Moss’ is surely the moon. Songs like “Sunken Treasure”, and “The Step and the Walk” had the sexual, rock energy of things typically nocturnal. By “Dog Roses” Moss announced, “My hangover has officially left the building,” and The Duke Spirit continued to play a strong set into the sundrenched afternoon while everyone worked on their base tan.
More in tune with the weather (ha ha, oh god) was Forro In the Dark, whose Brazilian beats were the first thing to get people really dancing all day. And once the ice was broken, time flew by. CSS took the stage to cheers and howls as Lovefoxx emerged in a full floral bodysuit. It didn’t seem like things could get much better. Then Underworld and Girl Talk happened.
Though the Bullet Stage was heavily backed up, when Cansei de Ser Sexy finally made its way onto stage, it did not disappoint. Playing a nice selection of songs off both of their albums, CSS may have been the only band on Friday to dance more than the crowd watching. There were even two “backup” dancers, one on each side of the stage (I swear, one of them must have been a band member’s mother.) Of course, the audience was into the music and returned the favor. The festival organizers layered the stages to allow CSS to fit between the New Pornographers and Underworld, but the backup caused CSS to pair up against the powerhouse DJs. As a result, the majority of the attendees were over at Blue Comet watching Underworld, but those getting down to CSS were enjoying every minute of it. On the music side, highlights included “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” and the poppy “Alcohol.”
While CSS entertained festival-goers over at the Bullet Stage, Underworld made a European dance floor party off the Blue Comet Stage. Most went nuts, sweating up a storm, hell, even some ravers made it into Liberty Park, turning the English duo’s set into the hottest party this side of the Hudson turning the set. The trio hit a selection of recognizable tracks, along with many that were simply good to get down to. As expected, everyone’s highlight was the classic “Born Slippy” (you know, that song from Trainspotting.)
Among the many inflatables thrown out into the crowd, Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, tossed an air mattress. He literally crowd surfed it, standing on top, until he fell off on top of the crowd. As is becoming customary at any festival he played, the Pittsburgh born DJ put on a show for the ages, both in terms of music and energy. A b-boy busted some moves up on the side of the stage, while a cross-dresser flashed the crowd on the other, all behind the backdrop of Girl Talk’s familiar mishmashes. He seemed to play everyone’s favorite 30 seconds of everyone’s favorite dance tracks, from the Jackson 5’s “ABC” to Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” to Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love”. The sun was setting and everyone was finally putting the “fest” into this festival. There was even room for laughs with a mix of Khia’s “My Neck My Back” with Yael Naim’s “New Soul.”
It was all perfect prep for Radiohead, a warm-up for the rubdown that was Thom Yorke and The Amazing Technicolor Light Show
“the headliners are scheduled to finish at 10:30, which is extremely early for this type of festival”
I don’t think you should compare this to a camping festival. This is like Virgin or Lolla, which both end at the same time as this. Camping festival specifically happen in the boondocks so they are not lmiited by sound ordinance etc.
People keep complaining about how weak the lineup is, and how expensive everything is, but lack of bathrooms aside, I think I got way more than my moneys worth and I thought the lineup was very strong. The other days might be weaker, but that is why I chose not to pay for them. I paid more than 90 bucks just for Radiohead in May.
True. It is going 30 min longer than Lolla lol.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I agree that we can’t fully equate APW to a “camping” festival. However, let’s just say that for New York (other wise known as “the city that never sleeps”), 10:30 is on the early side. I don’t think it really matches up well against Virgin or Lolla either. Those two festivals have much more mainstream lineups with many more big-name bands. APW’s lineup was similar to Coachella, but teeny-tiny in comparison.
I did not think it was a weak lineup. In fact, I think APW put together a great stable of artists. I just think it would have been nice if the days felt longer. You have to remember that from Boston to Philadelphia, this is by far the biggest festival and it has been discussed by many as “the Coachella of the East.”
Still, I’m not sure how you can argue that it was not expensive. That aside, APW was a great event. When it comes down to it, there are not many BAD music festivals in the world.
Trust me, no one that works for CoS is doing it for the money and yet if you ask many of us, we’d be happy to tell you that there is nothing we’d rather be doing (except maybe this and supporting ourselves better). Nonetheless, we try to give fair comparisons to other festivals. With that responsibility, we have to report on positives and negatives.
Aug 12th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
[...] the chaotic scene associated with Greg Gillis’ recent performances at Lollapalooza and All Points West, many folks have still yet to actually seen the man behind Girl Talk up close and personal. [...]