08/10/08: All Points West Day 2, Liberty State Park, NJ

Animal Collective, Main Stage

Animal Collective, Main Stage

The Roots

Main Stage (During Kings of Leon)

The Black Angels

The Black Angels

Animal Collective, Main Stage

The Roots

The Roots

The Roots

Radiohead

The 2nd day was lots of fun, but also more frustrating. It took me over 3 hours to get there, i waited in line for the ferry for about 40 minutes, then the line to get into the venue was about 30 minutes. It was a total mess, they had about 3 people padding the crowd as they walked in, all 30,000 of us were padded down by the same 3 people. This trend would continue the entire day, as the lines for everything were very long. I passed on the beer area because it would have meant waiting at least an hour to get an awful beer anyway, they only had bud when i was there Friday, all out of the Stella, no surprise there given the options.

Despite leaving my housing at 2:00 i did not get inside the venue in front of the main stage until 5:20. At that point i had missed 20 minutes of the band i was mainly paying to see, Animal Collective. I was not going to let that bring me down, and I really enjoyed the next 40 minutes. They did a fantastic version of "Fireworks", which is such a great song. They are totally interesting live, lots of ambient noise, lots of what appears to be improvisation but somehow it all makes total sense and often its song driven. Some people were not impressed, but I think that was the case the entire festival. With such a diverse group of bands, most people did not seem to be very knowledgeable about each band, except for Radiohead. It was fun seeing them on such a grand stage, their sound and sounded great outside.

After they ended i made my way over to the "Bullet" stage to catch the last few minutes of The Black Angels. I've heard them promoted as part experimental, but they seems very straight forward to me, albeit with lots of delay and reverb on the main vocals. They were good, nothing very memorable, and a bit repetitive, but a good band. I might pick up their last CD. The singer would have sounded much better if he was not drowned out by the various effects on his vocals, but that was what they are going for i guess. That point is lost of me, but still enjoyable.

I went back to the main stage to check out Kings of Leon. I really did not enjoy them at all. I don't understand the logic of putting this band on after Animal Collective and before Radiohead. I really don't think they fit at this festival. Boring, pop hard rock music, i moved on after 2 songs.

I went and found a nice shady spot back at the 2nd stage before the Roots came on. I have seen them a couple of times a few years ago so i thought i knew what to expect. They blew away my expectations with an incredible show. Instead of mainly being what i would call a hiphop band, they have really transformed themselves into a funky jazzy act with an MC. Its amazing how tight they are and how good musically. I'm not sure how long it has been since they have added the guitar player (Cody Chestnut?) to the band as a full time member, but we was an excellent addition and a great guitar player. The addition of a Tuba player was also great, thu at times it may have clashed with the bass player. Very high energy set, with incredible attention to detail. They had the set of the weekend for me, i'm excited to pick up their latest CD which i hear good things about.

Then on to Radiohead, as i mentioned in my last post, i used to be a HUGE fan. When OK Computer came out i thought it was the greatest album ever, its still one of my all time favorites, so is Kid A. I tried to get a better view of the show that i had the night before, but there were what seemed like twice as many people, it was a bit much. It took me over 5 minutes to get out of the middle of the the crowd. I stayed for about 8 songs and it was just a boring as the night before for me. Way to many DOWN slow tunes for a headlining festival set. Maybe if i had a seat and it was at MSG, but after a day in the sun and some decent to great opening acts i was ready to rock, and unfortunately that did not happen. I did enjoy The National Anthem very much, and it was nice to hear the Bends, even from the way to the Ferry.

Overall i had a really nice couple of days. There were a bunch of things people were complaining about, such as the problems getting in, alcohol designated area's, and the lines for everything. Those were all valid complaints, but at the end of the day i still really enjoyed myself. I will be back next year if the lineups impress me, i really hope they learned from the many mistakes they made this year in the booking department and try and secure some good bands, besides just an impressive headliner.

Video of The Roots: