APW in Review: Saturday, August 9th
The second day of All Points West may have started out a little slow, but the pace picked up quickly, as the crowd filed in, seemingly doubling the number of people as were in attendance the previous day. The sun felt a bit hotter and the shade became a valued commodity, as the day wore on. Another day, another solid lineup filled with up n’ comers (K’naan), indie-approved (Animal Collective), ol’ time favorites (the Roots), and one superstar headliner (Radiohead).
Nicole Atkins took the stage early. The crowd started out fairly small, but she impressed everyone within earshot with her sing-along “Brooklyn’s on Fire.” Folks quickly hustled over to check out the auburn-haired “swoonstress,” who mixed in the rowdy group vocal chorus with her better-known throwback style. Playing along on guitar during a good portion of the songs, her band aptly jammed out, turning her folk songs into psychedelic, romantic pop-rock.
If you are a regular reader of Consequence of Sound, you might remember how K’NAAN absolutely killed it at Bonnaroo. We were looking forward to our next chance to catch the Somalian-Canadian artist (so much, in fact, that he was a top priority when it came to booking interviews). After an hour-long set consisting of everything from spoken word poetry to funky hip hop jams, K’naan continues to impress. Armed with a drum strapped over his shoulder, the Dusty Foot Philosopher took stage to deliver stories of his youth in the warlord infested Mogadishu, heart-filled descriptions of his passion for music and art, and some songs that were so catchy that they could have been about anything and the crowd would have eaten it up.
he final performer on the Queen of the Valley on Saturday was the cult favorite Sia. The singer, who many know from her extensive appearances on Zero 7 records, continues to grow in popularity and undoubtedly impressed a new segment of fans on this afternoon/evening. With the ability to switch from moody trip-hop to powerful ballads to lively pop songs, Ms. Furler makes singing (and “octave jumping”) seem easy. Even at a festival like APW, Sia was able to connect with the crowd. One minute she would be playing around and laughing between songs and the next, she was back in a powerful song.
The Roots put on a mind-blowing performance on the Bullet Stage in front of a stunning sunset painted along the horizon. Surprising those who were less familiar (or have not seen them in a few years), the Roots crew came out with the rock and the audience could not get enough of it. Hard drum beats, deep bass lines, and loud guitar parts shook the crowd into a frenzy, it is a bit of a surprise that a mosh pit did not break open. Just like that, the band flipped and the rock blended into smoothed-out jazz with just a taste of funk. A highlight of the set was an unforgettable rendition of “Mellow My Man” off their classic Do You Want More?!!!??! Extended for over fifteen minutes, the guys filled the middle segment with a jazzy, ad hoc piece that didn’t leave those looking to party scratching their heads. Instead, this song was fun and, while showcasing individual talents and crazy melodies, ?uestlove’s beats kept the kids’ dancing. The band also played an extremely improvised version of their hit “You Got Me.”
The Roots were not finished with the rock n’ roll. In fact, I think they caught just about everyone off guard when they dug into a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” Captain Kirk, the Roots’ virtuoso guitarist handled Plant’s legendary wails, while Black Thought shared “percussionist” duties with ?uest, beatboxing along to the heavy metal riffs. While anyone who closely follows the Roots knows that the progression from hip hop jazz to more of a rock base (particularly with the live show) has been slow yet undeniable, seeing them pull off such a departure from their trademark sound was still impressive. If members of the audience were disappointed by the cover choice (even though it only lasted a minute or two), the Philly band quickly fixed these relationships, getting back on track with the concert staple “The Next Movement.” The thousands in attendance joined in for the hook, clamoring along with, “We got the hot music, the hot mu-sic.” This will go down as one of the Crew’s most memorable performances in the NYC area - if not of all time.
As if the clock struck midnight and they had some sort of pumpkin phobia, at 8:00 sharp, the crowd broke down and cleared out. With fifteen minutes left of scheduled performance time, attendees left to get spots at Radiohead, leaving better views for the rest.
Did you not see all the incredible lines for everything. I missed half the show due to Golden Voices inability to put on a festival
1 hour to get in (one entrance really 30000 people & one entrance)
2 hours to get Id checked by big brother
1 1/2 hours to actually get a beer
1 hour wait for bathrooms
and 4 hours to get back to Hoboken.
Piss poor festival and to review the show and not mention all the god damn waiting means you had a speacial pass. Think of the customers Golden VOice not just your wallet.
obviously you didnt look at the map. there was a bathroom behind the bullet stage that no one went to, so maybe it wasn’t goldenvoices fault that you have an inability to find things. also, it took me 5-10 minutes to get in each day because i got there at 12 30, not later in the day. the lines for everything were shorter if you got there at 12 30-1. so dont complain just because you came late.
oh yeah, and there was a PATH 30 minutes away from the park that was empty, so you could have used that instead of the light rail
Im sorry can you define late. Is this a job do I have to arrive at a certain time to not wait in line to get in. Also your secret bathroom trick, sorry you are able to find an open shitter you are so smart. So you think its ok to say that anyone who maybe has to work and cant get there by 12:30 or 1:00 should have to wait in line. Hey, in this festival if your not in by 1:00 you deserve to wait in line after line after line after line. Do you work for Golden Voice is that why you cant admitt things were planned piss poor. All I am saying is be clear in what people should expect when they get there. Why not explain the beer nightmare on the website or maybe have more then 2 people checking IDs?
I’m interested to see if APW returns next year, and if so, what it will look like. Obviously there will need to be some changes.
Nice pics! Makes me wish I was there. Sorry you had a bad experience music man. You might want to focus the music in between the beer and bathrooms next time.
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i hope it comes back next year, but maybe in a different place. i have no problem with it being at Liberty state park, but apparently a lot of people do. oh and by the way musicman, i went to the bathroom at 3 30, the main one, and there was no line, so if you are saying there was a line at the end of radiohead your just retarded for complaining about that.
No problems with lines or waiting.
Just a problem with Underworld playing with the sun still up!! Who do they think they are?? Kanye West at Bonnaroo???
Wish I were there to see Nicole Atkins. At the same time, though, I was watching Swell Season at V-Fest, so I can’t complain!
Anyone see Exit 105 sat?
anyone see Exit 105 on sat?
Hey Nick
You are one of those tuff guys. 1029 Washingon ST. Hoboken apt 2. Lets have this talk face to face. Dont just write tuff words, follow up. I know you wont because guys like you hide behind your computer. I will do one better I will meet you anywhere you want,just name the place. The whole festival was a cluster fuck of major proportions bottom line. Music was great but for my $100 I dont want to be treated like a child. So I look forward to seeing you soon.
Sorry Guys Im going to have to agree with musicman, this festival was very poorly planned. I would be surprised if you see it in that location again. RH rocks in any setting but GV did take fun out of the festival. Oh and musicman dont waste your time this guy will never meet you face to face he is part of the new IM board hard guys. No doubt in his parents basement.
musicman - Sorry you had such a bad time. We did mention a lot of your complaints in our Friday piece and we will discuss some again in our recap in a couple of days. We don’t want to report the same things everyday!
Overall, the majority of the attendees seemed to have a great time at APW. I do think that the organizers will make some changes, but that always happens with new festivals.
One things is clear, the organization and communication between APW staff, hired security and the many other secs of employees set up around the festival needs upgrading. I believe that shoddy preparation (particularly, with the communication issues) led to most of the problems.
I don’t think it was ‘communication problems’ that caused the very time consuming and tedious restrictions on getting a beer at this festival!
Don’t get me wrong or get self righteous please, but as a Brit I was amazed at a five beers per person rule and those minute areas where you could actually have a drink.
It was quite funny to see those tiny tents where you had to show ID to get in and smoke a cigarette tho, whilst people freely ploughed through mountains of ganja stage side.
Anyway that aside, Radiohead were superb. Also enjoyed kol, and the transport connections were not too bad.
All in all, 100 bucks to see two top bands was fair value. I didn’t see anything else of interest tho. God, what about ‘Metric’? A poor copy of Toyah - how crap were they?
Aug 16th, 2008 at 11:33 am
[...] than an hour after K’naan put on one of the highlight performances at the inaugural All Points West Music & Arts Festival, he sat down with me to chat about a [...]