Shoes were fucked, knees were tired..but me and my large group of friends kept pushing strong. The field was basically acres and acres of muddy sludge…safe to say it wasn’t the most ideal conditions for a music festival. However, the weather was very nice Saturday…although there was no avoiding the muddy water that occupied your walking/dancing space.
My day started with Cage The Elephant, who I had no knowledge of prior to their show…and it will stay that way. They absolutely sucked live, the singer was just painful to listen to. They did not impress anyone that day. Next up was Cool Kids who are a very good act, but there was only so much that they could do live, failing to really captivate the audience unless you knew all the songs word for word.
Much to my excitement the Arctic Monkeys were up next and boy was it a good time. They crowd was really into their set chanting to the songs and having fun. However once the boys played their more “rocking” songs like “The View From The Afternoon” and “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” my section erupted into muddy mosh pits making all of us completely filthy from the shoes to the knees. It was beyond epic. They also played “Cornerstone” for the first time EVER live, saying “you deserve it”. Oh boy did we flip out. I think he noticed my friends and I singing all the new songs word for word, even though Humbug didn’t come out yet….oops.
After him Gogol Bordello came on. I was unfamiliar to them aside from “Start Wearing Purple”, and thought they were a fun live act. However, I wasn’t nuts about them like everyone else. After that we caught My Bloody Valentine and had to use earplugs because they were so damn loud! They were a rockin’ good time, although the asshole Tool fans were pretty disrespectful to them. We saw a bit of Tool but weren’t really impressed making us check out Crystal Castles and The Ting Tings instead, who were both a lot of fun!
Overall a good day filled with great bands showing tons of energy.
Here are the best photos I took from Sat:
The Cool Kids
Arctic Monkeys
Gogol Bordello
My Bloody Valentine
Crystal Castles
The Ting Tings
steve b — 5 Aug 09
its not a music festival without muddy fields- you should try some of the british ones!! awesome you saw the arctics, and great photos btw.
youhavenotaste — 5 Aug 09
you really don’t have that good of taste in music, you should stop doing reviews. CAGE THE ELEPHANT WAS BUY FAR THE BEST SHOW OF THE DAY, IF NOT THE WHOLE WEEKEND!
Will — 6 Aug 09
i guess i have no taste. sorry but they didnt do it for me. i dont think i was alone either. everyone around me in the crowd was practically laughing at the lead singers voice and random whines and screams.
but each to their own…
Jade — 8 Aug 09
everyone has their own tastes and their own standards of what’s “good”. i personally like cage the elephant’s “ain’t no rest for the wicked” on record but i was disappointed by the live show.