All Points West Rollcall

[HoyaSaxa03]

only 83 degrees tomorrow, hope the rain holds off
 
 http://www.apwfestival.com/event/settimes
 
 my schedule
 200 - 245 : Little Brother
 245 - 330 : Duke Spirit
 400 - 445 : Mates of State
 500 - 600 : New Pornos
 630 - 745 : Underworld
 RADIOHEAD
 
 here's my main conflicts:
 
 go team (230-315) v. little brother (200-245) v. duke spirit (245-330):  i like the go team a lot, but i'm not sure it's worth missing both little brother and the duke spirit to see them
 
 underworld (630-745) v. girl talk (715-815) v. andrew bird (645-800):  i'm leaning strongly towards underworld ... i've heard their new album and didn't like it that much, but i really want to hear their 90s anthems
 
 PM me if you want to meet up, sweetcell: i'll txt you when i get there

[wml7]

How far are these stages apart???  Like it's possible to catch all or is it like Lolla?

[sweetcell]

Originally posted by wml7:
  How far are these stages apart???  Like it's possible to catch all or is it like Lolla?

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/apwmap.html   (small map)
   http://www.apwfestival.com/images/map.jpg   (high-res)
 
 looks relatively small and quite walkable.  lolla has to put its stages far apart because of how big/loud they are.  APW will only have one "big stage", and two side-stages.
 
 interesting that they have "smoking lounges"...

[wml7]

Nice, this should be fun.

[you be betty]

seriously considered going on saturday but the barneys sale is next week, meaning i am officially in advance protecting my already squandered away money...
 
 prada vs. animal collective is a tough call

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by you be betty:
  seriously considered going on saturday but the barneys sale is next week, meaning i am officially in advance protecting my already squandered away money...
 
 prada vs. animal collective is a tough call

I cant believe Prada and the Animal Collective cost the same amount of money!!

[you be betty]

Originally posted by very sonick:
   

Originally posted by you be betty:
  seriously considered going on saturday but the barneys sale is next week, meaning i am officially in advance protecting my already squandered away money...
 
 prada vs. animal collective is a tough call

I cant believe Prada and the Animal Collective cost the same amount of money!! [/b]

um, $90ish tickets per day plus transportation plus food plus water at inflated festival prices...all points west costs way way more than prada...

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

Originally posted by you be betty:
  seriously considered going on saturday but the barneys sale is next week, meaning i am officially in advance protecting my already squandered away money...
 
 prada vs. animal collective is a tough call

Would you be interested in doing some sort of Barney's Semi-Annual Sale guest-report for Julian's America?

[you be betty]

Originally posted by Julian, certified WEBLEBRITY:
   

Originally posted by you be betty:
  seriously considered going on saturday but the barneys sale is next week, meaning i am officially in advance protecting my already squandered away money...
 
 prada vs. animal collective is a tough call

Would you be interested in doing some sort of Barney's Semi-Annual Sale guest-report for Julian's America? [/b]

by what do you mean Julian's America?

[sweetcell]

pix from day 1.  yes, there are a lot of them - i didn't have much else to do all day, what with being up front on the rail  
 
 superlatives fail to express how much i enjoyed my day and how intense an experience it was.  go team was high-energy, micheal franti was surprisingly good, new pornos were rocking, underworld tore the place up and radiohead did as radiohead does (might have been a better performance than dallas).
 
 off to day 2.
 
 

Originally posted by you be betty:
 by what do you mean Julian's America?

this.

[wml7]

Yeah I was in for Friday and it was awesome.  Stupid idea about how they did the beer thing.  Not as much freebies as other festivals.  Underworld was awesome.  Got some stuff of theirs on video especially born slippery.  Mates of State was good as well as Go Team.  Radiohead was awesome too.  All on video.

[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]

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"

Yeah the beer thing was ridiculous.  I dont think I ever been to a festival that had it set up like that.  Food was so so as far as price goes.  I think Lollapalooza still has the cheapest as far as food and beer.  You couldn't bring in your own sealed bottle of water so that cost 4 bucks a bottle which you could refill pretty quickly.  I only went the first day so don't know about the entry thing.  I was in pretty quickly the first day.  Didn't take the ferry as I took the Path train or Light rail, whatever you call it.  Not too bad at all.  Bands were pretty much on time for Friday.  Just must have got worse for Sat and Sun.

[sweetcell]

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"

sounds like your friends are exaggerating just a tad. a pint of beer was $7 - still spendy, but only a $1 more than the 930.  the 5-drink limit (you had 5 tabs on your wristband, one was taken away each time you ordered) was kinda silly although personally i didn't mind it that much.  the "beer garden" - commonly referred to there as "beer jail" - was indeed too small and on saturday the lines to get in were ridiculously long.  HOWEVER, one must keep in mind the fact that this is a state park so getting any beer at all was a victory.  LSP is normally 100% alcohol-free, you can be busted for having a beer while picnicking there.  definitely not ideal, but the alternative to these stupid rules was no beer at all.  blame the park service.
 
 lines to get in were indeed long on saturday.  this was where paying an extra $30 for VIP paid off - dedicated and faster entrance.  i haven't heard of anyone requiring more than an hour to get in, or 2 to get a ferry after the show (not that these times are any more acceptable!).  light rail + PATH train was the way to get oneself to the festie.  the severely restricted parking was the festival's way of encouraging the use of public transpo.  only car-pools of 4 or more were allowed buying parking passes.  good in theory, didn't work quite so well in practice - then again, there simply was no way of dealing with 40,000 people leaving all at once.  night 1, i stayed behind and danced in the DJ tent for an hour while the crowds cleared (after-hours dance tent = brilliant).  the second night i left as soon as radiohead finished their set.  both nights i waited no more than 10-15 minutes for light rail.
 
 none of the bands that i caught started late, on any stage.  then again, i caught only a third of all the acts.  maybe punctuality was a bigger problem on the side-stages, where i spent less time.  underworld actually started early!

[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.