The Awfulness
All Points West is the worst concert festival I’ve ever been to and I only showed up to see two bands play. After avoiding the 1hr+ wait for the ferry and taking a combination of PATH and the Jersey City light rail, we walked what seemed like forever through the Liberty State Park only to come up on another massive line just to get in.
At this point, I should qualify my griping by admitting that I did not purchase a ticket before hand, knowing that I would be likely to find a ticket under face value. While on the pilgrimage through Liberty State Park, we got lucky and met someone involved with festival in an unknown capacity who had a stack of comp VIP tickets for sale at $30/each. It seemed a little shady but the gentleman had an English accent and a smile on his face. It was a gamble that paid off. Now, more on why I’m glad I only paid $30…
There was a shorter line for VIP ticket holders to get into the festival grounds although it was still a substantial wait. Then we joined another line to get our IDs checked at which point we’re issued a flourescent yellow wristband with five detachable tabs for drinks. We reasoned that this was classic New Jersey nanny-state bullshit, limiting audience members to five alcoholic beverages not to mention that drinking was only allowed in designated areas and last call was at 8:30pm. I can’t imagine how irritating this would have been for people who actually showed up at the beginning.
Five beers would have been enough for us rolling in at 6:30pm, except the line for beer in the VIP area was at least a 30 minute wait. While in line with nothing to do, we talked to people who actually paid $150 for their VIP tickets and bought them because they were advertised as “no lines to wait in”. If I had actually paid face value for my ticket, I would be filing a class-action lawsuit this week.
For those without VIP tickets, the situation looked even more dire with the lines for drinks, food and bathrooms stretching out in all directions.
After double-fisting two beers and getting back in line, it was now 7:45pm with Radiohead scheduled to go on at 8:30pm. We bailed out of the line and took up ground to the left of the soundboard. Trying to meet up with other friends proved futile as the crowds were intense and mobile phones were essentially useless, most likely from the nearby cell tower overloaded with connections. After some fantastic pre-set music and finding , Radiohead took the stage shortly after 8:30pm.
The Awesomeness
Radiohead’s performance was nothing short of brilliant, busting out all of In Rainbows (only Bangers and Mash from the bonus disc) shuffled among some classics and reference material like The National Anthem, Everything In Its Right Place, Airbag, Fake Plastic Trees, Planet Telex and Idioteque. The sound was mixed so well that at one point I caught Jonny Greenwood messing up and starting over on the xylophone amongst the heavy bass, drum, guitar and electronic beats. With that and a false start on Videotape (Thom says “We meant to do that…”), the sound was otherwise flawless.
I was thoroughly impressed with the visuals which utilized three large LED panels to display segmented shots of the band with live video switching. The video was then toned to match whatever lighting scheme was being used at the time in addition to filtered effects layered with the playback. What from a distance looked like long flourescent tubes hanging down from the stage were actually strips of LED lights which were used for a variety of applications from falling rain, rising fire, water and static lighting effects. On songs like National Anthem, Everything In Its Right Place and Idioteque, the ensemble of cue’ed lights and visual effects were mind blowing.
If that wasn’t enough, I read post-concert that their lighting rigs indeed used 100% LED lights powered by batteries as a part of Radiohead’s efforts to create a carbon-neutral concert tour, the details of which can be read about on their website. There is no doubt that a significant amount of thought, engineering and talent went into this production.
With bands like Radiohead who have an extensive catalogue of material, there’s always going to be some disappointments in the setlist. While the consensus seems to be that we had the better setlist vs. Friday night, I was still itching to hear songs like I Might Be Wrong and Backdrifts or just more OK Computer material. That said, this was and probably will be the best show I’ve seen all year, despite the awfulness of All Points West.
I’m serious this time: no more music festivals. As a friend put it, “Not even if the Beatles rise from the dead.”
Reckoner
15 Step
The National Anthem
Kid A
All I Need
Nude
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Where I End And You Begin
The Gloaming
Faust Arp
No Surprises
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
The Bends
Bangers and Mash
Everything In Its Right Place
Exit Music (For A Film)
Bodysnatchers
Pyramid Song
Videotape
Airbag
Fake Plastic Trees
There There
House of Cards
Planet Telex
Idioteque