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All Points West Review (New York, NY - August 8-9, 2008) & Bonuses
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The pictures are still being reviewed and down-converted. I'll bump the thread once I have them up.
Summary:
Radiohead twice in one weekend was amazing.
Cabs in NJ are the worst.
All Points West is no Coachella; only go if you like most of the lineup.
Always see Underworld live.
The Jonas Brothers were following us.
(Tips and tricks are in the review below. Warning: it's long)
2007 was pretty insane with the number of big electronic acts in LA (um, Daft Punk?); whereas in 2008 I've been spending much more of my time at rock events.
Once Goldenvoice announced All Points West; it looked interesting but not compelling. A few weeks later, they announced 2! nights of Radiohead; I had to go (oh and that Jack Johnson guy; can't he stay home?) just on that. There was only one straight-up electronic act (Underworld) and some cross-over talent too (Girl Talk, Chromeo).
My friend, Ethan and I made plans, got our rooms and flights, and we were set. As this was the first year (and you know how f*cked Coachella was in 1999) for All Points West, we weren't expecting an easy time.
This was Ethan's first trip to Manhattan (and first real trip outside of California). This is my 8th trip to Manhattan; my first one this year.
Our trip was broken down as follows:
code:
Wed, Aug 6 Travel day Stay in Elizabeth, NJ
Thu, Aug 7 Bloc Party Stay in Elizabeth, NJ
Fri, Aug 8 APW Stay in Elizabeth, NJ
Sat, Aug 9 APW Stay in Elizabeth, NJ
Sun, Aug 10 Stay in Manhattan, NY
Mon, Aug 11 Stay in Manhattan, NY
Tue, Aug 12 Stay in Manhattan, NY
Wed, Aug 13 Travel day
I got a hotel in NJ on points rather than using cash (as all of the hotels in NY during our stay were $250+/night). Looking back on it now, I would do something different next year, but we had no idea what kind of problems we would run into.
Thursday
========
On Thursday, we went into Manhattan, met up with one of Ethan's friends that lives in the city (Brad) and we all saw Bloc Party at Webster Hall in the Village. The Hall is a great venue to see a rock show; the sound wasn't bad, but the atmosphere was fantastic. It reminded me of non-refurbished Avalon. You entered on the ground floor. There was a basement (bathrooms?) that we never went into. The first floor had 2 small bars on each side; you walked around to the back and up the stairs to the second floor for the main stage. The main area was about the size of Avalon, and had one bar in the back. There was also a balcony on top that also had great views of the stage. The gig was 18+ & Sold out.
Longwave opened (from Brooklyn); nothing exciting.
Bloc Party always plays a great show (even if their set lists are a bit predictable); during Banquet, the whole crowded was jumping; this cause the whole wooden floor to ripple like an earthquake. It was a really cool feeling to see the entire floor be so into the set.
During the show, some guy comes up to me; he was wearing a Coachella t-shirt (I was wearing one of mine that day as well). We chat about the 2008 festival and I ask him if he's attending APW. Of his party of four, only one girl was going at all, and only for Sunday (Jack Johnson, duh). It seemed like no one knew about APW.
I saw them at the Mayan on 7/29: at that show, they played a cover of "Prince - I Will Die 4 U" which was awesome. Unfortunately, they only played it the 8/6 show.
Bloc Party set list:
Waiting for the 7.18
Like Eating Glass
Hunting for Witches
Two More Years
The Prayer
Uniform
Mercury
This Modern Love
Song for Clay
Banquet
One Month Off
Positive Tension
Price of Gas
Helicopter
She's Hearing Voices
Before going on the trip, I tried to plan how we would get to the festival each day. Here was my initial plan:
$2.10 Bus to NJ Penn Station
$2.50 PATH to Exchange Place
$1.90 NJ light rail to Liberty State Park
Cost: $6.50
After my research on Thursday, I found out:
The bus stop that we would need to take was gone.
The "closer" NJ Transit stop in North Elizabeth was only for commuters; it wouldn't run when we needed it to run.
The "farther" NJ Transit stop in Elizabeth was a good 30-minute walk from our hotel. Plus, it added another 10+ minutes to our commute (which affected us on Saturday).
(aside, I've never been in NJ before, I've only flown over it)
Friday
======
(The Go! Team - {Michael Franti & Spearhead} - The New Pornographers - Underworld - Radiohead)
Thursday night I try and plan out our trip, and we make a decision to get a cab to the NJ Penn Station (rather than walk it). Friday morning, I have the front desk call us a cab. While we're waiting, it starts to downpour. Complete thunderstorm mess. I'm now envisioning Glastonbury mud. I knew that rain was a possibility each day, but it's now here, and we haven't even left the hotel.
The driver pulls up in some gas-gussling SUV, and looks for the people that summoned him. I'm already irritated that because I didn't specifically mention a taxi, we're getting stuck with a town-car-like-ride, and is going to cost us $$$. I ask him how much it's going to cost, and he quotes us $30. In any normal city, the ride should be about $12, tops. There is another couple that is at the hotel and they ask us to share a ride to somewhere else (I don't remember where), but we decline. We decide to bite the bullet and pay the $30+tip to the NJ Penn Station as it was still down-pouring.
We get to the PATH station, and Ethan's Metro card still doesn't work. We try about 10 times, and finally the train shows up. I swipe my card to get him through the gate, and he gets stuck on the turnstile. I have to swipe him again and I hold the train doors open while the conductor glares at me. We finally head on out to Jersey city. Once there, we go out to the street for the light rail. As I was thinking ahead (hah!), I decided to buy 4 tickets (2 for each day, each ticket was one-way). As the lines were pretty crowded for the tickets already (took us over 20 minutes to get our ticket), and we assumed the lines would be worse at night and on Saturday, we'd save some time. The light rail was fine; took about 15 minutes to get to the correct station. Then, the walk started. Even though it was on pavement, it took a good 20 minutes to walk from the train station to the entrance of the festival (pretty much the same walk from Lot 4 to the entrance at Coachella).
Commute time: 2 hours (12:30pm-2:30pm).
We walk across the entire festival to the main stage (it's at the far end of the park) to see The Go! Team who goes on right as we get there. We walk up to the center, and about 10 rows back.
I've seen The Go! Team twice before (once at the Troubadour, and once at Coachella). They played more songs off their new album rather than Thunder, Lightning, Strike. They did play "Do It Right", which is one of my favorites. I love the energy they bring to their gigs; plus, almost everyone in the band can play a multitude of instruments so they can keep it changing up. A solid set for the afternoon.
After walking around a bit, we get some water and head on back to the main stage around 4:00pm; We were planning to get as close as possible for Radiohead on Friday (suffering!), whereas we'd be farther back on Saturday. So that meant: once we got into position, there was no leaving the main stage.
The main stage was exactly like Coachella: it is separated into two sides; the middle is fenced in that leads from the front of the stage to the sound booth. We walk up to the right side almost in the middle and about 5 rows deep. Everyone else that was there already had the same plan as us (well, they got there earlier!)
At 4:00pm, it's partly cloudy, but it was still very sunny (and hot: imagine about 90 degrees) when the clouds moved. There was a bit of a breeze, but it was hot out there.
We arrived during the middle of Michael Franti & Spearhead's set. I don't like reggae, Ethan hates reggae, and he was sandwiched between British pop and British electronica. Sucky.
He ends at 4:30pm, and almost instantly, the clouds crackle and roar, and within 2 minutes, a thunderstorm drenches us all. And rains. And rains. And rains. Some of the people up front snuck-in umbrellas; Ethan and I put on our sweatshirts and soak it up. Some people leave (lets us get up to the 4th row), but some people were completely unlucky. The overhang of the main stage was directly above the 2nd row of people. When the downpour happened, it was worse than a thunderstorm; it was like a funnel of water was over your head! The grass turned to mud in the front but we were far enough back to avoid it.
At exactly 5:00pm, the rain stopped, the sun came out (and was back to 90 degrees in a couple of minutes). We shucked our extra clothes and were dry in 5 minutes while the New Pornographers came on.
They're not for me. They were good, technically interesting and had a wide range of vocal and instrumental ability. I did enjoy their cover of ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down".
By this time, we're all in it together. The guy behind us saw Radiohead at Lollapalooza a couple of weeks beforehand. The couple in front of us were from Italy and decided it was cheap enough to see Radiohead in the U.S. (they saw them in Milan a couple of years ago for free). Other people came in England. Basically, no one in our area was from either NY or NJ.
After the New Pornographers, all of the instruments are rolled off the stage, and a big keyboard/synthesizer plus 3 Macs are rolled out: time for Underworld!
Ethan and I danced during the entire set (which was hard because we were packed like sardines at this point). We also screamed like mad after the first chord or two at the start of every song (We recognized Born Slippy.NUXX after 1 chord, while it took others about 30 seconds to realize what song it was :)) Everyone around us thought we were crazy: We didn't care!
It was shorter than we would have wanted, but for 75 minutes, it was fantastic. Glam Bucket was over 10 minutes and was outstanding. Ending was Moaner was mind-blowing.
Underworld set list:
1. Intro
2. Glam Bucket
3. Cowgirl/Rez
4. Pearl's Girl
5 (Nicodermus)/Jumbo
6. Two Months Off
7. Born Slippy.NUXX
8. Shudder/King of Shade
9. Moaner
It took over 30 minutes to get the stage set for Radiohead. Once the lightcicles started to be put into place, I knew we were in for a magical night.
I was blown away by Jigsaw Falling Into Place (my favorite off of In Rainbows), Paranoid Android and Street Spirit live. I love Idioteque and Everything In It's Right Place. The light show was fantastic (best one I've ever seen at a rock concert, and was up there with The Chemical Brothers (Coachella 2005/Nocturnal 2007) or Daft Punk (Coachella 2006/LA Sports Arena 2007). They used LED lights (the lightcicles) within plastic tubes and hung from the rafters vertically (they were similar to the ones at Avalon on 07/19), but they had different lengths so they were enveloping the band.
I know it's obvious, but Radiohead is the rock band for our generation. When we're old, we'll be telling the youngins', "I saw all of the original members of Radiohead before they had their reunion tour!"
If I only got to see them once during the trip, I would have been ecstatic.
Radiohead set list:
1. 15 Step
2. There There
3. Morning Bell
4. All I Need
5. Lucky
6. Nude
7. Arpeggi
8. The Gloaming
9. Optimistic
10. Videotape
11. Reckoner
12. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
13. You And Whose Army
14. Idioteque
15. Climbing Up The Walls
16. Bodysnatchers
17. How to Disappear Completely
Encore #1
18. House of Cards
19. Pyramid Song
20. Paranoid Android
21. Dollars & Cents
22. Street Spirit
Encore #2
23. Cymbal Rush
24. Just
25. Everything In It's Right Place
Still blown away, we walk with everyone else to the light rail station. There was a curve before you even got to the station, and the line was backed up before the curve. For the next 75 minutes, we waited. And waited. And waited. Every 5 minutes, the crossing guard and the bells went off. Loud. Noisy. Annoying. And, we were tired. After waiting forever, we finally got on the light rail and took the 15 min ride to Exchange Place. The PATH runs only every hour that late at night, so we had to wait a good 30+ minutes for the next train. By this time, it was past 2am, and we were exhausted and hungry.
We walk outside NJ Penn Station (which is now deserted), and we immediately get harassed by at least 10 taxi cab drivers. I try to negotiate a reasonable price for a cab, but I was stuck with: $20, $25x6, $28x3. I took the $20 guy (which again, should have been maybe $8), and he gets us back to the hotel at 2:45. By this time, nothing is open, and the "24h coffee shop" at the hotel isn't really a coffee shop, so we have some cold sandwiches for dinner.
Commute time: 4 hours (10:45pm-2:45am)
Saturday
========
(Animal Collective - Sia - Do Lab - Kings of Leon - Radiohead)
On Saturday, Ethan is irritated about the cost of the taxis the day before, so he decides that we should walk to the Elizabeth train station, and cab it back home (knowing we have no way around that issue).
So, the thirty minute walk is fine for me, but by the time we get to the Elizabeth station, Ethan is soaking with sweat: lovely. There are only two ticket dispensers at the station; we get behind this old couple who should have asked for help fifteen minutes before we got there (or paid the surcharge on the train). Ethan is now blinded as the sweat is in his eyes and he can't see without his glasses, so once the ladies are done getting their two tickets, I get both of our tickets. We wait about 10 minutes and hope on the train.
We get to the NJ Penn Station, and the Penn train is on the other side, mocking us. Both Ethan and I have to get tickets (my card is now out, and Ethan's card still doesn't work). Plus, one of the ticket booths is out of order, so there are only 2 booths for over 50 people. The train takes off while we're still in line, so try and not worry about it (but knowing that we just lost 30+ minutes on the day). I get my card refilled, and I get through the turnstile, and Ethan is denied yet again. After trying the card a couple of times, he gives up and I swipe him through. He goes off to find someone that may help him, but returns empty handed. After about 10 minutes, this shaggy-haired guy (SHG) comes up to us, and asks us if this is the correct train (Ethan is wearing a Radiohead t-shirt. Plus, 95% of the people there waiting at the station are going to the festival). We affirm, and make small talk. We find out that SHG goes to school in Humboldt and works in Yosemite for the summer. He does odd jobs there for room and board, and he gets to mountain climb the rest of the time that he isn't working.
SHG and us are pretty much into the same music and we talk about the shows we've seen recently (Daft Punk, Bloc Party, Sasha & Digweed, and some others); he's going to the Outlands Festival in SF to see Radiohead again, where we were going to see them at the Bowl. He hits us up for trees, and we decline (Ethan doesn't smoke, and I never found a hookup in the area, so I gave up); I lose track of time (SHG and I talk about every drug on the planet it seemed while Ethan just listened intently :))
By the time the PATH rolled around, there were TONS of people waiting for the next train. By tons, I mean, not everyone was going to get on. The doors opened when the next train arrived, and it was a mad rush to get on. SHG and us get separated in the same car, and Ethan and I get stuck to this guy on a bike. We thought it was going to be miserable, but he glared at all the hipsters to back off, so he actually made some room for us to stand near him.
At this station, the PATH waits about 10 minutes to let people on, as I stated before, the train was full in 10 seconds. On our train besides us, SHG, the dude on the bike were: BIG loud people from NJ and annoying hipsters going to APW.
As we're waiting, this mother with her kid in a stroller tries to go through the turnstile. She swipes the card, pushes the stroller half-way through, and then tries to go through. She gets stuck on he metal; she tries to go back and forth to get through, but the turn-style has already clicked, so she was stuck on the wrong side. Once she notices this, she backs out, and the metal bar comes back to the original position and smacks her kid in the face. Now, the kid is balling, an she's on the wrong side. She swipes the card again, goes through, and it smacks the kid on the arm as it was rotating. All of the loud NJ laugh hysterically at the woman and get louder: it's now impossible to think or communicate in train. Their laughter continues for another 10 minutes until the door closes and we're on our way. Of course, when the NJ people finally shut-up, the hipsters have to talk smack about the woman for the rest of the trip to Exchange Place.
At Exchange Place, Ethan gives SHG one of the light rail tickets (as we know we don't need it at night), and try to go to Au Bon Pain for lunch. As I didn't check the hours the day before, we find out it's closed on the weekend. There is nothing else in the area to eat, so we jump on the light rail and head to APW.
Commute time: 3 hours (1:30pm-4:30pm).
Today, the lines entering the festival were long, and instead of opening all 12 lines, they only had 6-8 open. When we get in line, it was the festival of glass: everyone that drank on Friday realized two things: 1) sneak in booze; and 2) binge drink the little airplane-sized alcohol containers while waiting in line. There were at least 500 of them in our line alone; crunch, crunch, crunch each time we moved up closer to the entrance. We finally get in at 4:25; I quickly walk over to the main stage, and I miss Metric.
There were considerably more people at APW on Saturday: at least 25% more by our estimates. Ethan catches up to me, and we decide to eat (no breakfast or lunch for us at this point) first. I look at Ethan's water bottle and it has no cap; he mentions that the vendors are taking the caps today. Weird, but that's not going to stop me. I go one of the drink vendors, ask for two waters, while my $8 is already out (and correct change). She opens one, and sets the cap down next to about 10 other caps from other people. I grab the cap and re-cap the water; "You can't have the cap! Give it back" I calmly say, "Give me the other bottle, here is your $8 and I'll go. If you want to refuse service or call security, please do so." She then opens the other bottle (the first one in in my possession now) and retains the cap. I lay the $8 down, grab the bottle, and try and grab one of the caps on the counter. I completely fail and I knock every single one on the ground. The lady scrambles to pick them all up (and hides the "bottle cap bag" from everyone), while I take the other water and cut my losses.
We walk over to the food vendors, and order food. We watch as none of them are retaining the bottle caps. Again, it's very annoying that the rules change from day-to-day (and from vendor-to-vendor).
We start with Animal Collective. Ethan has one of their albums, I've never heard of them. They were passible, but they were at the wrong stage. For the 20 minutes I stayed, they played a uneven-flowing electronic set that was way too experimental even for me (and all the hipsters there for Radiohead were way too confused).
We walk over to see Sia. I missed her at Coachella this year, and I haven't seen her since she was in Zero 7. She was fantastic and had an awesome voice. We chilled on the grounds at the second stage and listened to most of her set (she went on early and ended early). She played 2 songs from her Zero 7 days (Destiny & Breathe Me). She cracked us up when she asked the crowd, "do I have cameltoe?" A great afternoon set.
Ethan headed back to get a place for Radiohead (and he wanted to see Kings of Leon); whereas I wanted to dance. I headed on over to the Do Lab and hung out there for about 30 minutes. The first 20+ minutes were great; the DJs were tag-teaming with some funky house, and great music to dance to.
The next DJ came on around 6:30, and completely changed the mood by serving up breaks. I'm not a breaks-guy, and I have a real hard time dancing to them as well. Within 5 minutes EVERYONE besides me left, and I left five minutes later as it was obvious that he was spinning for himself.
I walked back to the main stage (passing by The Roots along the way) and find Ethan near the middle at the edge of the sound booth. It was actually a very good position for Radiohead especially not having to wait all day.
I'm not really into Kings of Leon, but I know Ethan really liked them (he's going to see them again in Los Angeles this month).
After they close, the push of people toward the front began, and we moved up another 25 feet or so where we would be for Radiohead. Ethan and I switch off taking breathers. All of the preparations for tonight are the same as the night before as the sun starts to set.
As Friday night was phenomenal, there was not much they could do to top the night before except play a couple of songs: Ethan (Planet Telex), Mike (Karma Police). Of course, they played those two plus Fake Plastic Trees!
One of the other things we missed the night before because we were too close (pretty much the only negative) was that during Everything In It's Right Place, the lights were spelling out all of the words to the song. Fantastic!
Radiohead set list:
1. Reckoner
2. 15 Step
3. National Anthem
4. Kid A
5. All I Need
6. Nude
7. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
8. Where I End and You Begin
9. The Gloaming
10. Faust Arp
11. No Surprises
12. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
13. The Bends
14. Bangers and Mash
15. Everything In Its Right Place
16. Exit Music (For A Film)
17. Bodysnatchers
Encore #1:
18. Pyramid Song
19. Videotape
20. Videotape (restarted)
21. Airbag
22. Fake Plastic Trees
23. There There
Encore #2:
24. House of Cards
25. Planet Telex
26. Idioteque
After the end of Radiohead, we are forced to leave with the mob heading out; it was too hard to get closer to the stage or near the vendors to hang out. We herd back to the entrance, leave, and Ethan uses the facilities; I just hang out on a bench for a good 15 minutes waiting for Ethan. Next to me was a group chatting up about Radiohead (of course); none of them were sober, so I was trying my hardest to not laugh at their inane banter while they were mangling up the names of the Radiohead songs played (Karmic Police? Plastic Fake Trees? Ideology?)
Ethan returns, I relay him the last 15 minutes, and he almost trips on his face because of my story. During the walk out, I told Ethan I would rather walk and keep moving rather than waiting in the long line for the light rail (which really didn't buy us that much time the night before). We walk back to Exchange Place which was for the win; it took us 25 minutes, was lighted and side-walked the entire way, and we just followed the pack of people there. We took some pictures of the Manhattan skyline, and headed down to the PATH station.
After I let Ethan in (the lines for the tickets were long), we waited for the PATH. Of course, who do we run into? SHG! He is still completely tripping out of his mind (he said the shrooms were fantastic), and we really can't make good conversation with him. We mostly try to focus on Radiohead as not only they had the best performance of the day, but it was all SHG could relate to :).
After taking the PATH to the NJ Penn Station, we score (well as much as we could): we didn't realize that there was a McDonalds in the train station, and it was open until 1:00am on the weekend (remember the night before, we didn't ready the station until after 2:00am!) So, all three of us got a hot dinner, said our goodbyes (he was staying near EWR, so we couldn't share a cab together), and we hopped into a $28 taxi back to the hotel. I devoured half of the large fries in the taxi and stunk it up; I could care less as $28 for a 10 minute ride is outrageous.
Commute time: 1.25 hours (11:00pm-1:15am).
We found out many things during the trip:
Even though the contracted security company is different than Coachella, they search you the same way. It's pretty easy to sneak in anything you want.
The bathrooms were passible. They only had two sections for them (I assumed the VIP area had more); one section had 25 and the other about 15. Neither were near the main stage, so if you wanted to use them, it was a good 20 minute round trip back to the stage (longer if you were a woman, shorter if you ran).
I have no idea of the VIP benefits: They did have "seating" (bleachers) for the main stage, but were the back of the venue. I'm assuming they had bathrooms. We don't know if they only had Bud/Bud Light (probably), if it was free, or if there was a quota.
Be prepared for different rules each day. Coachella used to have that issue (backpacks in the earlier years, water bottles more recently), but at APW you could get hung up on something simple.
The Do Lab was similar to Coachella. It was the only place you could hear DJs and dance at the venue. The Do Lab did play to at least 11:30pm each night.
They had 1 beer garden. They did have 2 areas for wristbands. However, you had to get re-validated each day. Why? Each wristband only came with 5 drinks (there were pull-off tabs on the band). Yes, only 5. Completely insane. On Saturday, there were mountains of mini-alcohol containers (like on airplanes) in the entrance lines. They forced everyone to binge drink before entering the festival. Oh, and only Bud & Bud Light. We did find out that this was the first time that a festival was allowed at Liberty State Park on Federal lands and alcohol was present (it is not normally allowed in the park). This was the same reason why the event ended at 10:30 (but also the mass transit also played a part).
They only had 6 lines for entering. On Friday, this was no problem (we walked right in), but on Saturday, it took us over 30 minutes to get into the festival.
We can't talk too much about cell service. Both Ethan and I had Sprint, and it was impossible to make calls in the venue (we had no problems text-messaging though). I had no problems at the entrance to the festival, however.
The ferry from Manhattan to NJ was almost as bad as our commute. It cost $35 (round-trip, each day), and they only ran two ferries (each holding ~150 people). So, at night, you were worse off trying to get back into Manhattan.
You don't need a light rail ticket coming home at night from the concert. However, either leave a bit early (10:15pm), late (after 11:15pm), or instead just walk back to Exchange Place.
Who we didn't get to see (conflicts or we were just late):
Chromeo
Girl Talk
CSS
Metric
Sunday
======
On Sunday, we wanted to swim in the outdoor pool. Of course, the pool was half-closed: only the indoor part was opened. And not heated. And the loudspeakers played really really really awful music (think of KOST + KYSR). At least we made fun of the people running on the treadmills in the fitness center.
The wheel of taxi corruption landed us on Carmel; I ordered pickup service for 2:45pm. And, it was only $60 (plus tips and tolls). He calls me at 2:15pm, and through his broken accent I realized he was already at the hotel. I told him that he was too early and we wouldn't be ready until 2:45pm, and I wouldn't pay him for waiting. He apologized and said no problem.
To his credit (Ethan thought otherwise), he was the best ride we had all week. He was fast (he avoided a huge backup to the exit to APW on the freeway), he had the air conditioning on, he had Fastrak and got us to our hotel in 45 minutes. Best $80 spent all weekend.
I gave Ethan numerous choices on where to stay in Manhattan. He chose one of the two hotels I haven't stayed at (the other was W - The Court). The W - Union Square was fantastic. I didn't get upgraded to a suite (one wasn't available for all 3 nights), so we settled on a Wonderful Room on the 18th floor facing Union Square.
Monday-Tuesday
==============
I had some business to take care of on Monday; one of my friends was coming in from Connecticut for the day. Ethan spent the day with Brad, and we were going to meet up in the late afternoon.
Ethan calls me at 3:30 saying that he's in the Upper West Side and he's going to see the Underworld exhibit.
http://www.jacobsonhoward.com/exhibitions/underworld
A couple of weeks ago, I get an email from Underworld stating that they are doing live art at a gallery in the UES during the time we're in NYC. We thought it would be cool to see what was there, see some art; plus it was free. We had to plan a little bit as the gallery was only open Mon-Wed while we were in the city.
My friend from Connecticut and I get caught up eating chocolates at Max Brenner so we lose track of time. We jump on the 6 train; I don't pay attention that it is an express, so it dumps us off at 86th street which means we have to walk about 20 blocks to get to the exhibit. (To rub salt in our wounds, if we wanted to take the downtown train, we'd have to leave the station and pay an additional fair as there was no free cross-over at this station).
We get to the address about 6:15 and it is closed. Ethan liked the exhibit, but he mentioned it was tiny (everything in NYC is tiny). I really wanted to see it, so we make plans to try and get back on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, we get back to the exhibit around 2:30. We get off the elevator, and turn into the exhibit.
We make another turn, and I notice Karl Hyde sitting down on a couch at the other end of the hall just chilling with his MacBook Pro on his lap. I smile and Ethan punches me in the arm, "is that, is that...?!?!" "Yes, it's Karl Hyde."
I can tell Ethan is jumping up and down inside (and wanted to jump up and down there :)), I calmly walk over to the other side of the room with Ethan in tow, and say hi to Karl. He is totally cool, says hi back, and Ethan gushes out, "I normally don't do this, but it is such an honor to meet you, and you are the reason I got into electronic music", etc... Karl smiles, and he totally rolls with Ethan's fanboy-ness.
We talked for about 25 minutes about many different topics:
Actually "recognized" us from the APW show were we were screaming after the first chord every song.
Agreed with us that the APW set list wasn't deep, but he knew that he had to play songs familiar to the crowd (i.e. Born Slippy.NUXX).
We talked about Glam Bucket; he opened with it at APW, and finally Ethan and I put together that song was the one song we didn't trainspot at the Bowl last year.
This lead to a discussion of the Bowl in 2007. He said it was the best show he played at all year, and would love to come back again and play at the same venue. He was worried about the gig though; after the first song at the Bowl gig, all of the people in the boxes didn't clap and were confused with their music. However, by the third song, the box people were dancing and enjoying just like the rest of us in the bleachers. I had to explain to him the seat structure of the Bowl, how much those people paid for their seats, and why they weren't really there to see Underworld.
The final item we discussed was the weak dollar. Karl told us that he would get paid in dollars for U.S. shows, and in the last 2 years, he would either break-even or lose money on most of the U.S.-based shows. He knew he had a huge fan-base in the U.S., but he would cut down on the number of shows in the U.S. in the future: it just wasn't profitable. (So, anytime you can see Underworld live, do it!)
Ethan got his picture taken with Karl and had him sign a CD for a friend back home (some Tibetian-human-rights thingy). He had to leave to catch a flight back to the U.K.
We stayed another 30 minutes so I could actually review the exhibit. As we leave, Ethan was dogging himself because he didn't wear his Beaucoup Fish t-shirt that day.
Because I missed the exhibit on Monday, we got to spend thirty minutes with Karl one-on-one on Tuesday. Wow.
The Jonas Brothers. If you don't know who they are, count your blessings. Their fan-base is screaming, obnoxious, 13-year-old girls (and maybe their parents).
We got hijacked by them three times during the trip.
Sunday night: We were in Times Square, and they were doing a signing at Virgin Megastore. The NYPD closed off most of Broadway, so we had to go around to 8th, go up a few blocks, and back to Broadway.
Monday day: TRL appearance. We had to make the same detour as the night before.
Tuesday day: They played a surprise set at the Apple cube, so we were prevented to even getting close to the store to take a picture.
The rest of the trip was fun, but didn't have anything to do with music. In no particular order:
NY pizza three times.
Katz' wonderful pastrami + Belgian Fries + a bench in the Village = perfect.
Thunderstorms every day.
The Empire State building really is NYC's answer to Disneyland.
My friends from Philly coming down on the train at 6pm, having dinner with us, drinking until 5am, getting back on the train and going into work on Monday! (For the record, I was still drunk at noon when I had to meet my friend from Connecticut.)
Chelsea Papaya at 5am.
At JFK, I met a Ugandan guy that trying to get back home. He needed to borrow my computer so he could send emails to his ride home that he was delayed a day (I'm assuming he was bumped).
On my flight back home, they ran out of chicken (2/3s of the meals loaded for the plane was chicken), so I had some really bad pasta. But, I made up for it with unlimited gin+tonics.
Not many bootlegs out there for APW, though.
Coachella 2008
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I was going to do a full review of Coachella this year, but I never got around to it, and I've now forgotten most of the details. However, here is a sentence each of who I thought was interesting:
Roger Waters: Absolutely fantastic and mind-blowing.
Cut/Copy: Phenomenal. I'm going to see them two more times this year. My sleeper hit of the show.
Kraftwerk: I enjoyed this set better than the 2005 set, but the visuals were better in the tent (and one of the LCD screens malfunctioned during their set).
Goldfrapp: Killer as always.
Danny T: I always enjoy seeing him; did a lot in his ~2 hour set.
S&D: Great light show, but went and saw others instead. When I saw them in 2002, they got a 3-hour timeslot. I think they were robbed here.
Prince: I'm glad I saw him; he has great stage presence and he sounds fantastic; but was completely overshadowed by Roger Waters the next night.
MGMT: Boring. Their one song was interesting, but their rest of their set was yawn.
Flogging Molly: Not as good as their small shows (seeing them again in September).
Hot Chip: They aren't Soulwax.
Dimitri from Paris: Fun as always; was actually really nice to chill out with during the hot day.
Pendulum: Was fantastic; was really interested in seeing them, and I was glad I did.
Booka Shade: Great live set; wished I didn't miss them at Avalon a couple of weeks ago.
Deadmau5: Was fun.
Simian Mobile Disco: I just couldn't get into them.
Justice: Were fine.
Who I didn't see because of conflicts, sleeping in, or I was instead in the pool:
Modeselektor
James Zabiela
Boyz Noize
Diplo
Sia
Portishead (their bootleg is fantastic)
Metric
Oh, and smoking out with Thrax each night in my car :)
If you didn't get my offer for a DVD of all of the bootlegs at Coachella year, I'd still be happy to send you one. However, now, you need to send a SASE (CD size bubble envelope for 4 oz).
Also, we're looking at renting a house for Coachella 2009; if you're interested, just PM me and I'll ping you once it gets closer and I have more details. |
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| dollaroff |
TBD: pictures.
APW, Day 1:
I doubt there were less than 10 people that used the portapotty within the first 10 minutes!
She was right next to us...well, across the fence. And the water.
This art exhibit was made out of balsa wood. It was very cool. (this was the only interesting art exhibit that was at APW that wasn't at Coachella)
The Go! Team
The New Pornographers
Underworld during Glam Bucket
Underworld during Two Months Off
Underworld
The day ending; Underworld finished and now waiting for Radiohead
Radiohead's lightcicles
Radiohead's lightcicles
APW, Day 2:
Animal Collective
Sia
Kings of Leon
Radiohead
Skyline of Manhattan from the edge of Jersey City. Bye APW!
New York:
The view of Union Square outside our hotel room
The same view during one of the thunderstorms
These pigeons on the Empire State Building have no fear!
Ethan & Karl Hyde at the Beautiful Burnout Exhibit
Myself, Ethan, and Brad in front of the Apple Cube store. This was the second trip to the store (the first day we got stopped by the Jonas Brothers) |
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| |Thrax| |
| Thanks for taking the time to write this. |
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| dollaroff |
| Bump. Pictures done. |
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