kevin barnett

This week has been batshitcrazy, not just in my own little world but in the big, big world. The Olympics started off with an unprecedented ceremony in China while Georgia, Russia and John Edwards decided to drop some bombs during our distraction. The POTUS campaigns seem to be in a weird place, building up the tension for their Veep selections. And then came the news that Mr. Isaac Hays and Mr. Bernie Mac have left the big, big world for presumably something much better.

Which brings me to a needed mental break courtesy of Mr. Bernie Mac and Mr. Issac Hays. Can you dig it?

Radiohead makes All Points West a worthwhile experience (barely). Photo by Chinycjo/Flickr

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

Courtesy of Telstar Logistics:

Tuning in the plane’s tailcam on your in-seat display is just one of the several amenities awaiting you on Emirates Air. For a $10k first class ticket, you get a suite - not a seat - and can even take a shower.

Also, what’s with the Gynoid vibe I’m getting from the flight attendants? (see various photos on Emirates.com)

For $1.99: Use this application to receive a real-time update of the US National Threat Level from the Department of Homeland Security.

Fig. 1 National Threat Advisory on the iTunes App Store (larger version)

It’s about as useful as the $999.00 I Am Rich iPhone application which does nothing more than display a shiny red gem on your phone.

For the record, I’m done eating sandwiches on tough, hard, crunchy bread. The taste isn’t very satisfying, it wears my jaw out and gives me a headache. It’s sort of like eating a crunchy cookie vs. soft-baked but as if the crunchy cookie were made from bagged concrete. This is the experience I had eating a sandwich (or as much of it as I could) on sfilatino bread from Alidoro.

Still, much love to this wonderful SoHo Italian sandwich shop. I’ll come back in a few weeks for another sandwich assuming I’m not full the first one. And I’ll stick with the focaccia bread.

Can you guess how many times Supergrass has played Webster Hall? My guess is 15

All in all a solid performance of a mediocre setlist. The band, coming off an arena tour in support for Foo Fighters, must have been stuck in Promote-New-Album-Introduce-New-Fans-To-Old-Material mode. The majority of the NYC crowd were fans who most likely already have the new album and were ready for some surprises. While the band was as tight and great sounding as I’ve heard them, they failed to deliver on the spontaneity.   And nothing from Life On Other Planets!

I think the band caught on to their faux paux after it was too late but pledged they would come back to play a new setlist.  Here is my recollection of said mediocre setlist (margin of error +/- 2 songs):

Diamond Hoo Ha Man
Bad Blood
Mary
345
Late In The Day
Rebel In You
Ghost Of a Friend
Moving
Outside
St. Petersburg
Butterfly
Strange Ones
Richard III
Sun Hits The Sky
Pumping On Your Stereo

Lenny
Caught By The Fuzz