Tuesday, August 12, 2008

All Points West: Saturday

"All I Need"
(Photo by Jonny Leather)
If things hadn't gotten so down right dirty at the Hercules & Love Affair show, post-Radiohead on Friday, we probably could've made it to Liberty State Park a little earlier. But who wants to go to a clean disco show? Not I. And so was the case Saturday when we arrived at APW at the tail end of Metric's set on the Main ("Blue Comet") Stage. While Emily Haines was looking sexy as ever, the day didn't truly start for us until Animal Collective took over Jersey City. AC threw a monkey wrench into the very "accessible" All Points West lineup, which consisted of a lot of ear friendly acts more likely to win over new fans than scare the be-jesus out of them. But, hey, that's why Animal Collective rules. As expected the band stuck to the general set they've been bringing all summer, including Panda Bear's "Comfy in Nautica", the explosive "Fireworks -> Essplode", the philosophical psyche piece "House (Material Things)" and the new jam (gem) "Brother Sport." Needless to say, AC brought it hard and left us hard of hearing, literally. AC's set was so bombastic that the Geologist was literally moving the earth with gutteral bass and punishing %&^$% (unknown sound). It literally took Hunter and I a good twenty minutes and a nice jaunt around the park to fully regain our hearing...only to get our ears pooped on by Kings of Leon.

(Photos by Self-TitledMag)




(Photo by Jonny Leather)
After washing the urine and feces from our ear canals it was time to get serious. Night 2 of Radiohead. Night 1 was, well, everything you'd expect from one of the most talented bands in the world. Night 2 did not disappoint, with Thom and Co. ripping apart classics like "Planet Telex" and "Fake Plastic Trees", while also slaying "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and "Weird Fishes/Arpeggio." There is something to be said about the goosebump inducing power of 40,000 strong singing "the beat goes round and round" in sync with Mr. Yorke. I'm not sure what that something is, but when I figure it out, I will cry, and then do my best to communicate it. Oh yeah, they ended the show with "Idioteque"... Shazam. The only bummer about Radiohead's set Saturday night was that I knew I wouldn't be seeing them Sunday. Oh well, guess I have an excuse to head to Japan in a few months.

"Idioteque" @ All Points West 8/9/08

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