All Points West | 07.31 - 08.02

Words by: Ron Hart | Images by: Rod Snyder

All Points West :: 07.31.09 – 08.02.09 :: Liberty State Park :: Jersey City, NJ

All Points West 2009

If there was anything that the mud, madness and mayhem of this past weekend’s All Points West confirmed – besides the fact that this writer just might be getting a little too old for this shit – is that after many years of false starts, almost-happens and never-will-go-downs, it looks as though the NYC area finally has an official contender to the large scale international three-day music festival circuit.

What promoters Goldenvoice Productions – the folks behind Coachella on the West Coast – didn’t expect, however, was that two out of their three-day concert would be mired in torrential downpours on a near-Biblical level, rendering the festival site on the otherwise beautiful, scenic landscape at Liberty State Park a veritable lake of thick, smelly mud. Thank God this one was a commuter festival and not some glorified sleep-away camp like Bonnaroo, right? Now the romantic in me could look at the events of this past weekend as a truly fitting commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, getting soaked in the rain and trooping through muddy lands similar to the way our parents’ generation did on Yasgur’s Farm back in the summer of ’69. The pragmatist in me, however, kicked that flowery notion right to the curb after navigating around the tents and trailers of such blatantly corporate sponsors as Toyota and Sony Playstation 3, tending to swollen legs after walking what seemed like an eternity between the comedy/electronic music tent and the main stage and dealing with the stench of rain-saturated earth mixed with an unholy (and possibly toxic) combination of goose shit, lawn fertilizer and dirty feet. To be honest, I don’t know who I feel worse for, the landscapers who have to reseed that massive swath of lawn mucked up by the human traffic all weekend or the poor masses risking Paddy foot from trucking through that mess for three days straight.

Vampire Weekend :: APW 2009

Yet for all the kinks that didn’t necessarily make what one would-be comedian operating one of the festival merchandising booths hailed on a makeshift cardboard sign as “All Points Wet,” the utopian experience Goldenvoice Productions had hoped for, it did succeed in providing a busy weekend of great live music by bringing together nearly three generations of acts from all areas of interest. And seeing all the aging college rockers and new wavers there to see My Bloody Valentine and Echo & The Bunnymen coexist with the Hot Topic goth kids in attendance for Tool intermingling with the hip-hop heads amped for Jay-Z and Kool Keith in the company of the young blog rockers there to upload images of St. Vincent and Vampire Weekend to their Facebook accounts was certainly a testament to the communal powers of the music festival as a concept. And while you might think that such a wild variety of personalities could stir up a good deal of drama for the overabundance of security and police overlooking the masses, there was a minimal amount of confrontation amongst the mixed assortment of folks in attendance. Well, at least from my perspective. The morning-after posts from the online dailies found a much more hostile vibe amongst concertgoers, with many slinging digital mud at everyone from the youngsters who didn’t “show enough respect” for the likes of Echo and MBV to the concert promoters themselves.

“I know I’m going to come off as a grumpy old man here – but the APW crowd (for the most part) are a bunch of twats,” lamented an anonymous poster on Brooklyn Vegan in regards to Echo and the Bunnymen’s raggedly glorious Sunday evening set, which he felt was otherwise ignored and under-appreciated by the younger fans in attendance. “The kids there have no respect for bands like Echo – showing off their ZERO musical knowledge and their attachment to texting useless information during a great gig (and for watching something horrid like Crystal Castles why do these two have a career?). Fuck ’em – the kids today don’t know shit.”

All Points West 2009

Elsewhere, some fans took aim at Goldenvoice Productions, chastising the company for its lack of cohesiveness in choosing the acts to play for this year’s festival. “[APW] still appears to be a random lineup shoveled together by people intent on making cash that are not music fans,” griped one reader on Billboard.com who questioned the sincerity and expertise of those in charge of putting the festival together. “Perhaps if an artist curated it a la Bowie, Morrissey, Reznor, a.k.a. someone who knows what they’re doing AND knows about music, it could be a better experience and I would be more interested in attending again while dropping hundreds of hard-earned dollars on a three-day pass.”

While the lineup seemed a little discombobulated to some, there was, in fact, some form of order to the festival, albeit in some odd Chinese arithmetic kind of way. In looking at the schedule of events prior to the weekend, one could easily surmise that Friday was the hip-hop and indie darling combo platter day, Saturday was relegated to a gloomier, heavier rock theme, and Sunday was reserved for the British. On paper it seemed like it could make sense. Yet why was it that acts who looked like they should have been on the Friday bill ended up playing Saturday and those who would have been a better fit on the Sunday lineup wound up performing on Saturday? For example, why did they put the Arctic Monkeys before the rowdy likes of My Bloody Valentine and Tool when they would have been better served to play on Sunday? And why leave Kool Keith and The Cool Kids stranded on the rock-heavy Saturday bill when they would have been much more at home playing on Friday alongside Q-Tip, The Pharcyde, Organized Konfusion and Jigga?

APW was hardly the cultural event that Woodstock has grown into, both in intention and dimension. However, despite some of the rather large generational gaps in the audience, the unity of such a diverse array of people stuck together in the mud and the rain could definitely be seen as a tribute of sorts to the communal spirit of the granddaddy of all rock festivals. That is, of course, if Woodstock had a tent sponsored by H&M that served shitty-tasting tap water and Toyota Priuses shuttling people to and from the site. Nevertheless, this year’s All Points West was certainly an upgrade from last year’s festivities and, given some pretty amazing performances from not only the headliners but the dozens of acts that outweighed the sorrows of soaked heads and sore feet, here’s hoping next year will bring us Metro area folks another weekend of summer sounds. Now if I can only get that stink out of my nose…

Friday, 07.31

Fleet Foxes :: APW 2009

Ominous thunderclouds hovered above Liberty State Park on Friday afternoon like a bad head cold that’s about to turn into a full-blown case of swine flu. And while they were staved off enough for the likes of Ra Ra Riot and Seasick Steve to enjoy relatively dry sets in the early afternoon, once Fleet Foxes arrived on the main Comet Stage and kicked into the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Dennis Wilson-isms that have made them such media darlings, the sky ripped open right in the middle of a particularly fervent rendition of “White Winter Hymnal.” Thanks for bringing some of that Seattle weather over here to the East Coast, fellas.

Brooklyn-by-way-of-Cincinnati’s The National followed them on the main stage and enjoyed a soggy but inspired 50-minutes of the kind of rainy day rock that perfectly fit the climate. There was even a moment when frontman Matt Berninger went into the crowd to soak in the weather and the adoration of his fans. The storm, however, hit its climactic crescendo during the legendary Queens-based underground rap duo Organized Konfusion‘s first live show together in over a decade. But the rain didn’t put a damper on the reunited duo of Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch‘s fiery and unforgettable set peppered with material from all three of the group’s classic albums (1991’s Organized Konfusion, 1994’s masterful Stress: The Extinction Agenda and 1997’s The Equinox), highlighted by an appearance from longtime friend and fellow under-appreciated rhyme hero OC of the DITC Crew, who is said to be officially joining the group in 2009 alongside the group’s other new member, the mighty DJ Boogie Blind of the new X-Ecutioners crew. For the modest legion of true underground hip-hop heads in attendance at APW, this particular set proved to be one of the great highlights of the entire festival.

Karen 0 – Yeah Yeah Yeahs :: APW 2009

In spite of the driving rain, Vampire Weekend, NYC’s most loveable Afro art poppers since Talking Heads, maintained positive vibes throughout their fun-filled set jam-packed with such hits as “Cape Cod Kwasa Kwasa,” “Oxford Comma,” “M79” and “Walcott.” “Beautiful park, New York City behind us, it’s not so bad,” enthused frontman Ezra Koenig before debuting a new song, “White Sky,” which presumably will be featured on the group’s forthcoming sophomore album, which is rumored to come out later this year.

A long trek across the festival site from the main stage to the comedy/electronic tent was well worth the screaming kankles as we walked in on Los Angeles abstract hip-hop young blood Flying Lotus deep in the mix of a kinetic set. Fans who were expecting to hear the heady Madlib-meets-Aphex Twin grooves that helped to make FlyLo’s Warp debut, Los Angeles, one of 2008’s finest moments were greeted with a more dance-heavy blend from Alice Coltrane’s grandnephew with snippets of Snoop Dogg and dialogue from WarGames tossed into the chopper for good measure. Hearing the tit-for-tat between the WOPR and Matthew Broderick about chess and global thermal nuclear war ride atop skittering tech-hop beats was certainly well worth missing half of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs set, although Karen O and co. certainly were doing their thing quite impressively as we were walking back and caught images of guitarist Nick Zinner looking quite funny sporting some sort of reverse Kate Gosselin haircut on the giant jumbotrons on the horizon.

Q-Tip :: APW 2009

As the sky cleared up, New York City’s garage punk-cum-new wave dance mavens were steady rolling through a stream of crowd favorites, including some great choice cuts from their pop-tastic new album, It’s Blitz!, like “Heads Will Roll” and “Zero” intermeshed with old fan favorites like “Y Control” and a beautiful reading of “Maps,” which Karen, wearing a white arm band in his honor, dedicated to Adam “MCA” Yauch, whose recent cancer diagnosis forced the Beastie Boys to cancel their headlining performance on Friday.

Q-Tip, delivering that low end theory he does so well on the smaller Bullet Stage with an amazingly talented band in tow, also paid homage to MCA by performing a snippet of his verse from “Get It Together,” Tip’s collaborative hit from the B-Boys’ 1994 masterpiece Ill Communication. “That’s my family right there,” Tip proclaimed before going into the Midnight Marauders gem “Sucka Nigga” followed by a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” in homage to the fallen King of Pop.

The most poignant tribute to Yauch, however, came from the man who pinch-hit for the absent Beasties on Friday night. Flanked by a full band on par with the likes of Prince and D’Angelo, Jay-Z kicked off his set with a genuinely rockin’, verse-for-verse version of “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.” “Born and bred in the U.S.A., they call me Adam Yauch but I’m MCA,” Jigga lovingly proclaimed to a sea of adoring fans dancing in the mud like they didn’t care before setting fire to the Comet Stage with a 28-song performance spanning the entire length of Mr. Carter’s 15-year career in hip-hop, on his very first appearance at a U.S. music festival.

“I want to dedicate this show to Adam,” said Jay-Z prior to delivering an expertly executed set featuring such classic Hov anthems as “Blue Magic,” “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)” (which featured a shout out to Michael Jackson with the reconfigured line, “Ladies love me long time like MJ’s soul”) and “Dirt Off Your Shoulder.” Jigga announced, “Y’all are pioneers. One of the reasons I’m on this stage is because of y’all.”

Jay-Z :: APW 2009

For over 90 minutes, Jay and his band blasted through the Brooklyn MC’s catalog with the breathless pace of a Green Lantern mixtape, delivering knockout punches with heated renditions of his Reasonable Doubt gem “Can I Live,” a brassy cruise through “Roc Boys” and his latest heater “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune),” which saw images of bling and boxes of the notorious voice manipulating computer program exploding into pieces like the Death Star at the end of Star Wars.

Jigga also took time to contemplate some major cultural turning points as well. Following a soulful run through his Vol. III: The Life and Times of Sean Carter anthem “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),” Jay’s DJ played the song’s source sample, The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” as images and footage of Michael Jackson and his brothers filled the jumbotrons to the delight of verklempt fans still reeling from the Gloved One’s sudden death in July. “If you take one thing from this concert, remember this,” an emotional Hov declared, “we don’t mourn death, we celebrate life.”

When Jay reemerged for the encore, he offered up an a capella preview of a verse from his upcoming Blueprint 3 album before literally pummeling the crowd with a sprint through some of his biggest hits, including “Big Pimpin’,” “99 Problems,” “Can I Get A…” and “Hard Knock Life.” Then, following an extended thank you that saw him shouting out random people in the crowd (“I see you Guido,” for some reason, had me howling with laughter), the Jigga man hopped into an awaiting Maybach backstage and jetted as quickly as he emerged.

Jay-Z Setlist
No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Brooklyn Go Hard, Say Hello, D.O.A. (Death Of Autotune), U Don’t Know, Blue Magic, My President Is Black (Remix), Beware Of The Boys, I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me), Show Me What You Got, Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix), Roc Boys (And The Winner Is), Izzo (H.O.V.A.)/I Want You Back, Can I Live, Swagga Like Us, Jigga My Nigga, Jigga What, Jigga Who, Public Service Announcement (Interlude), Dirt Off Your Shoulder, Run This Town
Encore: A verse from The Blueprint 3, Medley: Money Ain’t A Thing/La La La (Excuse Me Miss Again)/Fiesta(Remix)/Where I’m From/”Feelin’ It, Can I Get A…, 99 Problems, Big Pimpin, Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem), Encore

Continue reading for Saturday’s coverage of APW…

Saturday, 08.01

All Points West 2009

Though Saturday’s attendance was sparse compared to Friday’s, those who made the second day of All Points West benefited from the beautiful, sunny weather even though the heat and dryness wasn’t enough to harden the mud, which still proved to be a messy issue throughout the day. But the festival certainly did not get any more diverse or freewheeling than it did on Saturday. My day, personally, really kicked off in the comedy tent during comedian and 30 Rock star Judah Friedlander‘s hilarious stand-up set where he played up his “World Champion of the World” routine to maximum funny, talking about kicking Tool’s ass backstage and riffing on the absurdities of Facebook and Twitter.

The Cool Kids were, in fact, anything but, as their attempt to deliver “that old school rap” fell flat in comparison to all of the great hip-hop performances on Friday. However, Kool Keith, who has been laying low for a while after his overexposure in the late ’90s/early ’00s, made a comeback for the ages on an estrogen-heavy Bullet Stage. Sensitive fans who may have been saving their spaces for St. Vincent and Neko Case were surely mortified by the rap legend’s raunchy performance, as he and his entourage (augmented by a surprise appearance from his Analog Brother running buddy, gangsta icon and superstar TV cop Ice-T, who dubbed himself “the world’s most expensive hypeman”) barreled through every aspect of Keith’s 25-year career in the game, highlighted by gems dating back to his Ultramagnetic MCs days like “Two Brothers With Checks” to his Dr. Octagon psychedelic anthem “Blue Flowers” to the golden shower-loving title track off his 1997 XXX classic Sex Style to the Black Elvis/Lost In Space deep nugget “In Your Face.” Even at 45, Keith can still swing the non-linear swagger like nobody else.

Eugene Hütz – Gogol Bordello :: APW 2009

One-time indie guitarist for hire Annie Clark and her band St. Vincent proved to be a jarring juxtaposition with the porned-out antics of Kool Keith on the Bullet Stage, but she nevertheless dazzled her fans with her uncanny skills on the six-string, setting fire to tracks from her new album, Actor, like “The Strangers” and “Laughing with a Mouth of Blood” with her Robert Fripp-like scale techniques. She even stumped some of the novice Beatles fans in the crowd with a quixotic cover of the deep Let It Be cut “Dig A Pony,” where she managed to play both John Lennon’s and George Harrison’s guitar parts at the same time.

Meanwhile, on the Comet Stage, England’s Arctic Monkeys flexed the darker side of their otherwise chirpy Brit-pop by showcasing material from their harder-edged third album, the Josh Homme-produced Humbug, highlighted by a particularly caustic rendition of the new album’s opening track “My Propeller.” Lower East Side gypsy punkers Gogol Bordello seemed completely out of place nestled between the Monkeys and My Bloody Valentine on the big stage, but from the fun that Eugene Hütz and co. seemed to be having, it made no matter. As someone who never quite got into Gogol before seeing them on Saturday, I personally have to say that after watching the group’s Clash-meets-Klezmer dance party up on that massive stage – reaching its crescendo during a high energy run through their fan favorite rabble rouser “Start Wearing Purple” – they most certainly won me over in spades. A most amazing performance, to say the least.

Kevin Shields – My Bloody Valentine :: APW 2009

The most controversial set of the day, however, certainly came from the recently-reunited shoegaze icons My Bloody Valentine, whose near-hour of pure, concentrated layers of chaotic squalls of guitar feedback polarized the audience standing before them in a way I have never seen in all my years of concert-going. Oh, the blogosphere was set afire on Monday morning with old school alt-rockers defending their longtime heroes and the unorthodox union of lunkheaded Tool junkies and precocious Pitchfork fanboys (and girls) waging a Tweeting war over the group’s performance, which literally had some folks walking away with middle fingers in the air while chanting “Tool! Tool! Tool!” Yet for every hater there was a diehard noise monger blissfully entranced by the twin guitar attack of Kevin Shields and a rather lovely looking Bilinda Butcher that could be described as the sound of an atomic bomb going off on Manhattan Island as the roar of one thousand 747s departing simultaneously from JFK and LaGuardia flew overhead. It was that loud, and, as a fan of noise I found it bloody glorious. And the way the band just stood their ground so stoically as they created a sonic apocalypse around them was really just a sight to behold, especially during the group’s final song, the 12-minute “You Made Me Realise”, which I am certain gave people on the other side of the East River some serious 9/11 flashbacks.

And then there was Tool.

Tool :: APW 2009

These Los Angeles art metal linchpins are one of the most creative and celebrated bands creating music today. Though they only have four full-length albums and one amazing EP to their name, each title is a classic in its own right. They have created a wholly unique sound that picked up where fellow California luminaries Jane’s Addiction left off in 1991 and brought the sound into deeper, darker and more distant territory, essentially replacing the Bauhaus influence with that of King Crimson. The last time I saw Tool was in 1997. They had The Melvins opening up for them at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, and they were, simply put, fucking phenomenal in every sense of the word. Maynard Keenan, covered in fluorescent black light blue was brilliantly and challengingly backed by guitarist and videographer Adam Jones, bassist Justin Chancellor and drummer Danny Carey, whose firm belief in the ways of Sacred Geometry dictate the patterns by which he performs. Playing songs off their two best albums, Ænima and Undertow, the group sounded hungry, eager to crawl inside our brains and shake things up from the homunculus on out.

Seeing them 12 years later headlining Saturday night at All Points West, I did not get that same sense of wonderment that I did in Poughkeepsie back in ’97 nor at Lollapalooza ’93 in New Jersey’s Waterloo Village. Instead, I got the same feeling I did when I saw Pink Floyd during their Division Bell Tour. On this night, Tool felt as though they were phoning it in. Sure, on a technical level, the band’s performances of such favorites as “Stinkfist,” “Schism” and “Ænima” were spot-on and skillfully played, no doubt, but the feeling didn’t seem there at all. They really did sound like they were going through the motions, right down to the almost same tired setlist from their 10,000 Days tour. I know this is going against type here, as most everyone who saw Tool on Saturday night and wrote about it just couldn’t stop singing their praises, but I gotta keep it real, and it was a little bit of a snooze, right down to the non-Adam Jones video art they put on display compared to the amazing visuals they had going 12 years ago, where they literally made their outstanding album art come to life. This time the stuff they were projecting beyond their videos looked like something you’d see in a commercial for a graphic design school on a Saturday afternoon commercial break. Yes, they really did play great, especially the stuff off 10,000 Days which sounded phenomenal, especially “Rosetta Stoned,” but overall a pale shadow of their sound and presence back in the day.

Tool Setlist
Jambi, Stinkfist, Forty-Six & 2, Schism, Rosetta Stoned, Flood, Ænema, Lateralus, Vicarious

Continue reading for Sunday’s coverage of APW…

Sunday, 08.02

All Points West 2009

As a make-good for attendee’s troubles in sitting through their concert in the pouring rain on Friday, Goldenvoice announced, via Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, that their tickets for Friday would be good for reentry for either Saturday or Sunday. This was news that certainly made my fiancé very happy, as she is a hardcore Coldplay fan and was hoping to get miracled into the Sunday show to see them in some form or another. However, what nobody expected for the last day of the APW weekend was how bad the rain would return. If Friday was bad in terms of weather, what we woke up to Sunday morning was nothing short of a storm of near-hurricane proportions. It was so bad, in fact, that APW promoters were forced to delay the start of sets until later in the afternoon, causing the cancellation of the early part of the day’s festivities, including the performances of such acts as The Gaslight Anthem and the retro country outfit Kitty Daisy & Lewis. As fans began to arrive to the festival site, they were greeted by a denial of entry, causing a huge, cattle-like line of angry people looking to get in and start their day. Chants of “bullshit” grew with every minute the overzealous security refused to open the gates until they eventually succumbed to the growing crowd agitation and started letting people in.

Those who were looking forward to seeing comedians Dave Barry, Christian Finnegan and Janeane Garofalo in the comedy tent were treated to truncated 10-minute performances from each, the majority of which were finished just as people were getting settled in.

Seth Olinsky – Akron/Family :: APW 2009

Meanwhile, on the Bullet Stage, Akron/Family was gearing up for an amazing Sunday afternoon performance that was mostly culled from the reconfigured Brooklyn band’s latest, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free (JamBase review here), a brimming combination of hippie rock warmth and free jazz cool that is one of the finest releases this year. Live, the group is much more animated than their music suggests, and they played their set with maximum urgency and passion.

On the Comet Stage, British rockers Elbow delivered a fine sense of English charm and wit to the day, doing shots on stage and delivering stunning renditions of songs that are far more popular on their side of the pond than ours, including “Grounds for Divorce” and “The Bones of You.” Back on the Bullet Stage, Scotland’s Mogwai certainly made a much lovelier wall of noise than their Irish neighbors My Bloody Valentine did the night before, delivering a set of some of their most beloved rackets, including “Hunted by a Freak,” “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead” and the epic “Mogwai Fear Satan.”

The Black Keys, also on the Bullet Stage, never cease to amaze at just how two men can create the sound of four, as guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, who broke four sticks during the duo’s set, delivered a raucous, bluesy 50-minute show loaded with cuts from their five-album catalog.

Echo & the Bunnymen :: APW 2009

For the elderly of the alternative nation, however, the highlight of Sunday came when British post-punk legends Echo & the Bunnymen took the stage. The group sounds much more rugged and ragged on stage than they do on record, giving their sound a more classic rock edge than their synth-heavy studio endeavors may suggest. As the group tore through their most beloved singles, including “Lips Like Sugar,” “Bring on the Dancing Horses,” “The Killing Moon” and “The Cutter,” one can easily hear the sizeable chunk of their sound that U2 took a bite from and spun into platinum. The band also made nods to their own influences as well, working in The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” during “Villiers Terrace” and weaving in Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” in the middle of “Nothing Lasts Forever.” The group even debuted a new song, the promising “I Think I Need It Too,” from their forthcoming new album, The Fountain, which is scheduled to come out October 12.

Now, I’m not sure how blasphemous it is to say that I actually enjoyed Coldplay more than Tool but I’m not gonna lie. Having seen them three times prior with my girl, the Brit-pop demigods continue to impress me with their strong stage presence and tremendous sound live. Though you will certainly not catch me with any of their studio albums on my stereo any time soon, hearing these songs live is quite enjoyable and the group certainly delivered one of the strongest sets of the weekend.

Chris Martin – Coldplay :: APW 2009

“As four people who grew up in the mud and the rain, we take off our proverbial hats to you,” proclaimed Chris Martin to the crowd before blasting into “42” off the band’s latest, Brian Eno-produced album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. Their 90-minute set played out like a greatest hits package come to life, as they barreled through such beloved anthems as “In My Place,” “Yellow” (complete with giant yellow balloons tossed into the crowd), “Clocks,” “Fix You” and “Politik.” Not to be outdone by his new BFF Jay-Z, Martin staged his own tribute to Adam Yauch by delivering a piano ballad rendition of “Fight For Your Right (To Party).” Cheesy, yes, but the passion with which Martin sang, “Your mom threw away your best porno mag,” was both funny and endearing all at once.

In a move nicked right from the playbook of their most direct inspiration, U2, Coldplay went into the crowd and trucked through the mud onto a small stage on a catwalk in the middle of the audience a la the “Zoo TV Tour” to deliver an acoustic set highlighted by a stunning version of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” which beats Chris Cornell’s tired take by a country mile. The Viva La Vida songs sounded great live, especially the title track, which saw guitarist Jonny Buckland do the job of an entire string orchestra as drummer Will Champion pounded on his drums as though his life depended on it during the uplifting “Lovers in Japan.”

“You probably won’t be seeing us again for a while, which is probably good news for some of you,” joked Martin towards the end of the group’s set before launching into “The Scientist,” not only the band’s greatest song but one that continues to grow more beautiful with every listen.

As we left the festival grounds to the pulsing sounds of French house maven Etienne de Crecy, eager to clean the mud off our legs and plunge our sore tootsies in a bath of Epsom salts, we could only hope aloud that Mother Nature will be kinder to the All Points West Festival when it comes back around in the summer of 2010.

Coldplay Setlist
Life In Technicolor, Violet Hill, Clocks, In My Place, Yellow, 42, Fix You, Strawberry Swing, God Put A Smile Upon Your Face, You Gotta Fight (Chris on piano – Beastie Boys cover) Viva La Vida, Lost!, Green Eyes (acoustic), Death Will Never Conquer (acoustic, sung by Will) Billie Jean (acoustic – Michael Jackson cover), Viva La Vida (remix interlude), Politik, Lovers In Japan, Death And All His Friends
Encore: The Scientist, Life In Technicolor ii, The Escapist

Continue reading for more pics of APW 2009…

Friday, 07.31







Heartless Bastards
The Knux
Seasick Steve
Seasick Steve
Telepathe
Ra Ra Riot
Ra Ra Riot
Fleet Foxes
The National
The National



Xavier Rudd
Q-Tip
Vampire Weekend
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
MSTRKRFT
MSTRKRFT
Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Jay-Z

Continue reading for more Saturday pics of APW 2009…

Saturday, 08.01





Cage the Elephant
White Rabbits
Electric Touch
The Cool Kids
Kool Keith
St. Vincent
St. Vincent
Arctic Monkeys
Gogol Bordello
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
My Bloody Valentine
My Bloody Valentine
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool
Tool