All Points West Rollcall

[Bags]

Ah, I remember another problem is that you had to pay for the ferry in advance.  So even if you realized on Friday that light rail would be better, you'd be out the $30 ferry fee along with what you'd then have to pay the train.

[amnesiac]

Aside from the beer, I have none of the complaints mentioned above. Bud and Bud Light were $7, and Stella and Red Hook IPA were $9. At first I was annoyed by the 5 drink limit, but then realized I don't wanna spend $35+ on beer anyway. So we snuck in some liquor on Day 2, and it worked out just fine.
 
 We got to the festival around 1:30 both Friday and Saturday, and there were no lines to get in. The wait for the ferry to the park was about 15-30 min each day (really nice ride, btw). Going back was a different story, although not surprising with everyone leaving at once. I think we waited about an hour both days. The biggest problem was trying to find a cab once we got back to Manhattan.
 
 Duffy was the only act that I know of that started late.
 
 Radiohead on Saturday was one of the best sets I've ever seen from them. Other highlights for me were Andrew Bird and Animal Collective. Grizzly Bear sounded great, but they're not really what I want to hear at an outdoor festival. I saw about 5 minutes of Girl Talk and it looked like alot of fun. I wanted to stay but also wanted to secure a good spot for Radiohead (second row!). I decided I'll just have to catch GT here at the club.
 
 Overall, I thought it was a great festival. I hope they do it again next year.

[wml7]

Originally posted by Bags:
   

Originally posted by sweetcell:
   both nights i waited no more than 10-15 minutes for light rail.

Could you take light rail to Manhattan?
 
 My only pause is that these folks go to a lot of these festivals, so they're not 'easily annoyed newbies.'  Perhaps they are easily annoyed veterans, however, having been at many they think are far better organized. [/b]

You could take the path to NY because I saw the world trade center as one of the stops and the WTC itself.

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by Bags:
     

Originally posted by sweetcell:
   both nights i waited no more than 10-15 minutes for light rail.

Could you take light rail to Manhattan?
 
 My only pause is that these folks go to a lot of these festivals, so they're not 'easily annoyed newbies.'  Perhaps they are easily annoyed veterans, however, having been at many they think are far better organized. [/b]

yes, take light rail to exchange place, from there take PATH to world trade center.  
 
 i can see how a festival vet would complain about APW.  i doubt that coachella, lolla, etc got everything right the first year.
 
     

Originally posted by Bags:
  Ah, I remember another problem is that you had to pay for the ferry in advance.  So even if you realized on Friday that light rail would be better, you'd be out the $30 ferry fee along with what you'd then have to pay the train.

yeah, that would suck... but given the choice of sucking up $30 or waiting 2 hours in line, especially at the end of a long day - i'd kiss the ferry fare goodbye.  new downside, tho: 4-5 minute walk to the ferry pier, but a 10-12 minute walk to light rail.
 
 if they hold APW again next next year and i decide to go, i'm taking my bike and using it to get from exchance place to LSP.  another option that people spoke about was walking from the PATH's grove st station to LSP.  if that is do-able, that would definitely be the fastest way out - 2 stops and you're at WTC.

[HoyaSaxa03]

had a great time on friday ... i went into the day not thinking about it as much as a festival, but like a radiohead show on steroids
 
 my friend predicted the ferry mess and we took the PATH from world trade center to exchange place and light rail from there to the park ... pretty easy, although it was a long walk (20 mins?) from the light rail station to the park
 
 got there around 330pm, had no lines getting in
 
 the storm was pretty crazy, but it blew over quickly and the weather was PERFECT afterwards, felt like an awesome early fall afternoon/evening
 
 beer was $7, unless you felt the need to drink stella ... beer garden was annoying, but there were at least 3 of them, you didn't need to choose the one near the bathrooms ... we saw that they allowed water bottles, so we brought an opaque bottle, filled it up with beer and strolled out of the beer pen ... also pretty easy to bring in and consume bottles of liquor and anything else you wanted    :eek:  
 
 i wasn't shocked by food prices, but can't remember exactly what i paid for a pulled pork sandwich
 
 sound was great, could feel the ground rumbling way back from the stage ... the views of manhattan and lady liberty were really really cool
 
 the bands i saw started on time like clockwork ... i told my friends that it was like being at a 930 club show, they were on time almost to the second
 
 watched mates of state, new pornos, underworld, and radiohead ..... all were great ... i was surprised that i liked mates of state ... new pornos were really solid, one of my favorite bands ... underworld really killed it, loved hearing pearl's girl and born slippy ... radiohead were amazing, my third time seeing them and their best performance, they put on just such an incredible live act, their video work was great
 
 funniest moment:  carl newman (new pornos) says after some poignant anthemic song that he can't stop thinking about "cloverfield" while staring at the statue of liberty and how strong the monster must have been to knock its head into the financial district
 
 hauled ass after the second encore and the return trip was really easy ... light rail was waiting for us with no wait, minimal wait for PATH, and we were in a bar on the lower east side within an hour or so (how many festivals can you say that about!?)
 
 would definitely go again in the future, and even though the "radiohead and friends" format was fine with me, i would love to see them make it more of a "festival"
 
 PS:  oh, and i never waited once to pee
 
   

Originally posted by Bags:
  I had about 10 friends go to APW (they all live in the NY area) and I got nightmare stories from all of them.  The only positive thing I heard (about the festival, not the bands) was that the sound was better than Lolla.  The list of grievances was extensive:
 
 - $9 beer, with a 5 per day limit
 - insanely expensive water and food as well (I'm curious how VirginFest compares.)
 - tiny 'beer garden' (where you had to stay to drink) that was next to urinals, smelled like piss and was way way too tiny (Coachella and Bumbershoot each do the beer garden concept, and it apparently works both places)
 - 2 hour entry lines, and as they didn't have a three day bracelet, you had to go through it each day
 - The ferry system was a nightmare and also took hours - 3 hours average from folks I know (this I predicted in advance).  And if you did't get a parking pass in advance, you could not park there.
 - Many bands started late, creating chaos trying to catch certain bands or follow the schedule
 - One friend estimates, "30% of the time getting there, 40% of the time standing in lines, and 30% of the time watching music"

[wml7]

Some of my videos from the festival.  Shit takes forever to upload.
 One of my favorite bands at the festival they put on hell of a show.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x53ZEvuPEmU
 
 radiohead
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhoSvDRma5w
 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux8Lsxn2Gss