Critiques

Fri 31 Jul – All Points West 2009 Music & Arts FestivalAll Points West
Aug 1-2, Liberty State Park, NJ

I thought I could escape the murky conditions that plague U.K. festivals by attending All Points West, but rain and mud made a transatlantic trip, turning the weekend into a damp experience. Skipping stormy Friday, I trekked from Manhattan to New Jersey and kicked off Saturday with Arctic Monkeys. Against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty, Turner and Co. started their set with ‘Pretty Visitors,’ which has a guitar-crunching chorus tailor-made for live performances. They sprinted through ‘Brianstorm,’ then introduced ‘Potion Approaching,’ another new addition that sadly lacked ‘Visitors’ punch. ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ got the crowd going and was followed by ‘Cornerstone,’ possibly my favorite track from Humbug. Other standouts were slinky ‘My Propeller’ and perennial favorite ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor.’ Strangely, the song tempo sometimes lagged…

Fri 31 Jul – All Points West 2009 Music & Arts Festival

Ah! All Points West, second year in a row, and still haven't paid fo' tickets. The good life. The great life. Perfect.

We (me, Mom, Lily, my mom's friend John o'Toole, and my friend Francesca) were really only there to see two (and 1/2) bands: Arctic Monkeys, Gogol Bordello , and My Bloody Valentine. Can't say I'm much of a Tool fan. . .Okay, does anybody know any Tool songs? Anybody? They were headlining?. . .

But man, did we get lucky.

Four out of the five of us had 'Production' wrist bands. Lily was the only one with a 'real' ticket. So when we (Me, Chess, Lily) wheedled our way to a great spot in the Arctic Monkeys crowd before the show started, we were happy. But it was only. . .TEMPORARY!!! Yeah, some annoying girl in front of us pulled her friends up ("oh, it's only one, and she's tiny") and then, when the show started, a guy started moshing (he was so high. . . …

Fr., 31. Jul. – All Points West 2009 Music & Arts Festival
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Fr., 31. Jul. – All Points West 2009 Music & Arts Festival
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Just when you thought it couldn't possibly get any muddier, it did. After a rainy Friday and sunny Saturday, the rain returned for the final day of the All Points West festival. This time, the doors were held until after 4:00pm (4 hours later than scheduled), which unfortunately lead to the cancellation of the early bands. The bright side (literally) was that once the rain went away it never came back. And any frustration due to weather was long gone by the time Coldplay hit the stage later that night to close out the epic three-day festival.
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The Silversun Pickups were fortunate enough to be the first to rock the main stage on Sunday at 5:00pm.
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No use trying to fight the mud, just embrace it like these guys.
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It's a damn shame Organized Konfusion isn't a household name. It's rare to find one, let alone two superior emcees in any group these days, but Pharoahe Monch and Prince Po are unquestionably two of the all-time greats. The bigger question is usually who is the better emcee of the two, but I won't get into that because, despite the pouring rain, this was the performance I was looking forward to the most at All Points West. No disrespect to The Pharcyde, Q-Tip or Jay-Z, but I've seen all of them multiple times in the past ten years. This was the first show Monch and Po have performed together in the past twelve years, and now backed by theX-Ecutioners DJ Boogie Blind, die-hard fans nodded their heads in appreciation as they came out to 9xs Out of 10:
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I didn't think I was going to make thru the entire first day of the All Points West festival, with pouring rain and thunder storms turning an otherwise stellar lineup into a few hours of seeking cover. The rain came down so hard, at times it was impossible to twitter from my phone and a lot of my pics had the effects of a foggy lens or water drops.

However, I persevered through the storm, determined to catch one of the biggest acts in hip-hip, [artist]Jay-Z. Before I go any further, I must give the All Points West organizers serious props for keeping the artist schedules on point throught the storm. Now, before Jay-Z's set, I noticed his trailers near the press area. I was considering testing their security and crashing Hova's premises, but I settled for this picture instead:
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I personally think i could have taken this dude but I guess we'll never know.

Of course, we had to wait a bit longer for Hova than all the other acts, but that was expected:
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Getting to All Points West was not easy. First, you need to get to Battery Park (if you're coming from Manhattan), then you take a scenic ferry ride past the Statue of Liberty. When you get to the dock, you think you're there but not yet! You have to walk a mile to the entrance, not to mention the yardage on the festival grounds alone just to get to the main stage. It's a fun journey but only recommended for serious music lovers.
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The ongoing thunderstorms were definitely a factor. For some it was a downer, yet many free-minded spirits made the best of it. Fleet Foxes' '70s rock-era harmonizing combined with the rain and the NYC skyline was magical (the lead singer Robin Pecknold commented on how awesome the rain was). But when the light drizzle turned to a downpour, that's when it got annoying.
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