All Points West Music & Arts Festival

— I came to this fest one year to peep Jack Johnson (well…actually to peep the dope chicks that came to peep Jack Johnson). Win.
— I came to this fest one year to peep Coldplay (well…actually I was dragged by an ex-gf…I mean… its fuckin Coldplay for god’s sake). Win.
— I came to this fest one year to peep Radiohead. It was raining all night/day…I basically drowned in mud. It was THE most disgusting walk/​swim/​crawl to and from this venue. WIN.
There are no more APW festivals at Liberty State Park. Sorry, JC newbies.

Aw, I had a blast at last year’s APW. Sure, I had to carry my sandals because there was an endless river of mud, but I did get to hear Tool, which is my favesies (And you know when I revert to teenage vernacular, I’m serious).
I think there was an appropriate number of bathrooms for the venue, and the beer was plentiful. I remember you had to drink it within a special beer pen; No walking anywhere near the stage with a cup in hand.

Ok, I know. It was rainy and miserable on Friday and Sunday, and muddy as hell for all three days, but I had a really good time despite all of that at APW 2009. A graduation gift from my cousin, I was supposed to attend Friday’s show only, but lucked out when they opened Sat & Sun admission to the Friday ticket holders. With my cousin being a three-​day pass holder, I used my ticket and his to return for the rest of the weekend.
This is how I survived APW 2009 and all of its Serious Issues.
Serious Issue 1: mud
How I Survived: going barefoot and trying not to think about what this could potentially mean for my health.
Serious Issue 2: security checks
How I Survived: I lied and capitalized on stupidity. On the second day, with not a chance of rain, I smuggled my dSLR and shiny new lens into the festival by leaving my smallish camera bag inside of my larger bookbag. When the security guard patted it down and took a peek inside, he asked what the square bag was. I said «make up!» and he didn’t question me. Thanks, gender expectations.
Serious Issue 3: OMG THE BEASTIE BOYS HAD TO CANCEL.
How I Survived: Enjoyed the hell out of Jay-Z’s stellar performance whilst ankle deep in mud. But that’s okay; I brushed the dirt off my shoulder. And legs. And hands. And face.
(Ok this wasn’t actually a serious issue, I just wanted to make a joke about Jay-​Z and dirt and mud.)
Serious Issue 4: everything was so damn expensive
How I Survived: I spent less than $ 25 the entire time. We brought and filled our own water bottles in the H&M tent, which had a free water bar (with free water bottles at first!) the entire weekend. The free water bar (and internet and chairs…) probably should have been better advertised but hey, I was able to take advantage of it. And I didn’t eat while I was there, I just frantically ate Subway sandwiches on the light rail on the way there. That Subway by the PATH/​light rail stations must have made lots of money that weekend. I also didn’t drink, because of the ridiculous lines and whatnot involved in that. Overall, this helped me avoid another Serious Issue (gross gross GROSS porta potties, ugh).
Serious Issue 5: Coldplay or MGMT?
How I Survived: MGMT, OBVIOUSLY.

I should have written this review last year, but whatever.
I went to APW with my wonderful friend Tadao from California. He wanted to come visit me, and APW seemed a perfect excuse for him to come out. We were both psyched for some of the acts, and of course to hang out and have fun.
The rain really put a damper on things for us. Both of us suffer from arthritis (his much worse than mine, he’s on permanent disability and has limited movement), so walking (or sloshing) around in the mud was difficuly for both of us. What could have been done was a little better preparation — staff from APW didn’t start putting out cardboard for people to walk on untill halfway through the day (at the earliest — we got there midafternoon and there was just mud EVERYWHERE), and offered more ponchos and covered areas. Just feels like poor planning for an outdoor event, especially in this area where rain is common (not like the middle of the desert or something).
Security was… unbelievable. Patdown searches, but not even looking in my bag? really? and making Tadao leave his wallet chain in a box «to be picked up upon exit», then having said box disappear? great. what, did they think he was going to commit come violent crime with a 10 inch fake silver chain attached to his butt? come on now. oh, and yelling at him when the box could not be located was just stupid.
Additionally, prices for food and merch was OUTRAGEOUS. We skipped drinking all together, bought a shirt each, and maybe some water ice on the 2^nd day when it was sunny and warm. but we couldn’t justify paying $ 10 for a hotdog (it was so crazy shit like that).
The acts were good, but this review is for APW itself, not the performers. Stages could have been more clearly marked, staff could have been more helpful and friendly, but whatever. all minor things that didn’t affect our enjoyment.
Overall, had a great time the second day when it was nice out (we ran into some friends, staked out a good place on the lawn and watched Gogol Bordello, My Bloody Valentine, Tool, and more), and relatively enjoyed the first day (i would have been less mad if my brand new sneakers didn’t get ruined by the mud since they had barely anyplace to walk that was covered with cardboard)
oh, and i lost my shoe in the mud at one point. and then fell down trying to get it. THAT was my least favorite part, but at least it was as we were leaving.
i wish they’d do it again!

I’m really torn on what to actually rate All Points West, seeing as how I probably (definitely) didn’t experience it at its finest. First, the background. Having recently discovered this amazing band called The Gaslight Anthem last spring, I was intrigued when they announced a North American tour. Naturally, I was über-​disappointed when I saw that they were stopping nowhere close to Houston. However, upon planning a vacation to NY, I stopped by their website and saw that they were playing in a little thing called All Points West. Could I justify $ 100/​pp on Sunday to see them? All signs point to yes.
So if you didn’t already know, they canceled the hometown boys (Gaslight Anthem is from Jersey) due to weather. Ugh. We’ll get to that in a second.
We got to the ferry pickup (from the subway stop to the water in pouring rain, no less) and promptly boarded; less than 30 minutes later, we were at Liberty State Park. For those worrying about the ferry service, I thought it was top-​notch. However, upon arriving, we were shuttled into a waiting area like cattle. I pity the cops that had to explain the situation and keep the crowd at bay. Apparently due to weather, they were either going to postpone the start or cancel the festival altogether. This, of course, with the tagline on their website saying «rain or shine.» Now they already encountered this problem once before on Friday, and due to visitor displeasure, they had granted people with tickets on Friday access to Saturday’s or Sunday’s shows. Anyways, they finally opened the doors at 4; however, they held back the ferrygoers in their holding pen until about 4:30. Why? Who knows.
As they opened the floodgates, swarms of people descended upon the front gates to get in, trudging through muddied grass and splattering brown on their shoes, legs, and clothes. So that’s why they had kept the concert closed? For mud that people were going to experience anyway? Upon encountering said mud, my girlfriend promptly took off her new shoes and went barefoot the entire concert. Probably a good choice, as my shoes smelled so bad after the end that I threw them away in the hotel. Anyways, their entrance policy was downright idiotic. A full body search and detailed bag search is understandable, but when you’ve got a crowd-​full of people trying to get in to something they’re already late for, there’s going to be some animosity. And did you really need to scan tickets? Wouldn’t it have been all right to assume that people waiting hours to get into this thing would have had tickets?
Upon arriving, we sprinted to the main stage and finally got there at 5:20, halfway through Silversun Pickups. Apparently, they kicked off the music at 5:00 with whoever was supposed to be performing, which means, of course, that all bands before 5 were canceled. This, of course, included The Gaslight Anthem. F*(^*&)%*&%*(^*&)&!~!!!
Getting over my disappointment, I was able to see: end of Silversun Pickups (including their performance of Lazy Eye, one of my all-​time faves), We Are Scientists (Nick and Norah, holla), some of Mogwai, Echo & the Bunnymen, Coldplay, and MGMT (by the way, kudos to the guy who decided that Coldplay and MGMT should play AT THE SAME TIME. You are S-​M-​R-​T), so not all was lost – still some good acts there.
The concert set-​up wasn’t bad; the music from the two stages carried pretty far, so you could still be far off and still here. The bathrooms were plentiful (if dirty), and the food vendors weren’t bad at all (my girlfriend fell in love with the jalapeño turkey corndogs). The beer garden segregation wasn’t worth the effort. Merchandise was pricey and some sold out, but what else can you expect on the evening of the third day? The designs were pretty cool.
The atrocious, muddied grounds actually turned out to be kind of fun, squishing along everywhere and seeing rowdy patrons get into mud wars. But seriously, not having a proper gameplan for rain is inexplicable and unexplainable. The mud was there to stay; the rains wouldn’t have deterred people from having a good time. Let them in, play the music, and enjoy. Terrible, terrible coordination.

It’s been a few days since APW — I wanted to be sure to let my thoughts settle in before trying to rate my experience. My friend and I got 3 day passes, it’s a big time commitment but seemed to economically make sense. You as the reader might be researching APW because A) You went and you want to hear what other people thought B) You didn’t go, but you want to hear how it was C) You are considering going next year and want to know what to expect, and tips for all day festivals. I’m going to do my best to cater to these perspectives.
Whether you were there, in the mud, with me, and the bourgeoisie or not, this is the musical deal:
DAY ONE — First shout out goes to The National — it was pouring. Generally you think of The National being pretty chill but these guys rocked it out brought lots of personality into their performance and totally played their hearts out to a crowd of soggy fans. I was totally impressed and loved when Matt Berninger climbed off the stage and into the crowd. Second big shout out — Yeah Yeah Yeahs, amazing. That Karen O, I tell you what, she is feisty! I thought the bouncing eye balls were cool — they all looked great, fun music to dance to. Third shout out — Jay-​Z. Unreal. Blew my mind. What a well produced tight show. His live band was great, visuals were gorgeous. I was the one in the back screaming «Can I get an Encore???» after the first set.
DAY TWO — St. Vincent, Neko Case, and the Ting Tings. St. Vincent is a peculiar lady, I’m not totally sure what was going on with her hitting her guitar and sitting on the stage so much — but she was in the zone and that’s all that matters, performing from her soul. I thought she was great and her band did some fun things with the songs that vary from the studio recording (which is always appreciated.) Right after at Neko Case I had one of those transcendent moments — rain boots on standing in a suckie of mud, eating delicious chicken wings, sipping on strawberry lime juice (with gin, shhh!), cool breeze, as the sun was starting to set. heavenly. Ting Tings were fun to dance to and scream all the words.
DAY THREE — What a disappointment with the lighting delay. There was lighting right before Jay-​z went on and they didn’t stop or cancel the show. We had a hunch maybe it had something to do with health inspectors — it was pretty nasty in there with the mud + food. I was really looking forward to seeing Gaslight Anthem & Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, as I know many people were — sucks they got cut. I saw Akron/​Family, La Roux, Lykke Li, The Black Keys, and MGMT. Big surprise with La Roux — hadn’t heard them before and loved them (and the hippie couple dancing their faces off in the grass!) Black Keys were solid. Lykke Li was also a big surprise — I had seen her before in BK and she was totally boring. You’d think with those cool videos she has and her sweet dance moves she would kill it live, but again she sported the weird black cloaky outfit and all-​black-​no-​visuals set. This time I thought she was muuuuch better, more energetic and engaging.
LOGISTICS — If there is even a chance of rain, or if it rained the day before wear rain/​mud boots & bring an extra pair of sneakers or flip flops for the ride/​walk home. Invest in an all day access locker for $ 10 — soooo worth it! Bring cash, suncreen, towel, plastic shopping bag for wet things, sunglasses, kleenex/​toilet paper — lots of porta johns ran out — ew! Good thing I was prepared. Getting there from NY — take Path train to Grove, walk down Columbus to Jersey Ave and turn left — walk until you see the Light Rail, look both ways and cross the tracks, walk along a little foot bridge to the site. If you don’t mind walking a little, this was so cheap (compared to the ferry) and easy (compared to having to transfer trains.) I didn’t go last year but I liked the layout of the stages, the sound didn’t seem to bleed too badly. The sculptural shelters were cool too.
MERCHANDISE — The craft area has very cool venders with stuff ranging from t-​shirts, to jewlery, paper goods, vintage items, sunglasses, many of the shops also had stores on
. There were several APW merchandise tables throughout the grounds — some bigger than others. T-​shirts were $ 20-​$ 25, hoodies $ 45, ponchos $ 5. Free stuff too.
FOOD — Buy a plastic sippy bottle from ‘Just Squeezed’ — its $ 10 and you get FREE unlimted refills all day long of strawberry lime juice, or lemonade. Chicken wings were unbelieveable — I only saw one place doing BBQ, and they were located inside the beer garden. A whole family operation, I told them they should open a restraunt in NY — the mom kept slipped me extra wings, while her husband grilled corn, and her little boy stirred the spicy chili, I looove them! There was deffinitly some burrito compeition going on — I think I counted at least 3 places. Lots of typical festival options like friend Oreos, pizza, funnel cake, Italian sausage, Philly cheese steak.

What a clusterf*#k.
Since when does a «rain or shine» event get delayed because of rain for over 4 hours, keeping a crowd of many increasingly irritated ticket holders corralled for those 4 hours and then releasing them, all at once, to trample into this place. We had to run for our lives to catch the second half of the Silversun Pickups set since they didn’t push back the itinerary at all. That means we missed at least 2 bands that we wanted to see… No explanation, no refunds, nothing. I understand there’s not much they could do about this but honestly, the mud was repulsive. I’m not afraid of getting dirty but this mud smelled like sewage. To top things off, their rules at this venue are unbelievably ridiculous. No beer outside the designated beer areas, you have a limit on your drinks and they draw a giant purple «x» on your hand (for no apparent reason since you’re already wearing a bracelet) that I’ve been scrubbing at for hours and can’t get off. They confiscated some people’s umbrellas and let others take them in. It took hours to walk back to the ferry and then we stood on a line of over a thousand people waiting for a boat. Oh, I could go on and on and on…
The saving grace of this show were a few of the bands (especially Silversun, We are Scientists, Coldplay) who were full of awesome energy despite the conditions and mood of the crowd.
Never again, though, never again.

I have mixed feelings about All Points Wet 2009 (yes I meant Wet, not West). I had a great time while I was there, but things could have been run much better. Overall, Lollapalooza the past two years was a much better experience. As my buddy said, «Lolla was like a giant fun sandbox… and apw is like the sandbox that all the stray cats pee in and no one wants to play in.»
But there were also good things goin on, so I’ll start with those:
THE MUSIC — You come to a fest primarily for the music, and apw delivered. The lineup and all the bands I saw rocked — Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cage the Elephant, Electric Touch, Cool Kids, Gogol Bordello, Arctic Monkeys, Crystal Castles and Ting Tings. Despite the rain and the mud, the bands put on kick-​ass shows. It was easy to get a good view of the stages, and the giant screens on the sides of all 3 stages helped. The sound quality was good for everything I heard, disregarding the first minute of Cage the Elephant’s set when the lead singer was screaming into the mic unaware that it wasn’t turned on. Also props for getting Jay Z to replace Beastie Boys on such short notice (even though I missed him.)
THE CROWDS — Probably partly due to the weather, but the crowds were pretty thin and I only had to wait in line for the porta-​potty once. There weren’t really lines for food, beer, entrance, etc. either. And the you could get really close to the stage without trouble for a lot of the shows which was nice. Friday evening we stood maybe 30 feet back from the stage and still had room to dance around. Thank you giant mud puddles. On the downside, the crowd that was there was a little lackluster in their enthusiasm. At a lot of the performances I felt like the one crazy girl dancing by herself.
THE PARK — The skylines were gorgeous, especially against the sunset after the rain Friday. The view of the statue of liberty and waterfront is amazing too. The stages were nicely spread out so the sound didn’t overlap, and there was enough open space that you never felt crowded. It was a bit of a hike from the Light Rail, but still convenient to get to. Sure the entire park was a mud pit by the end, but so was the entire tri-​state area.
Now for the not so good:
THE RAIN DELAY — They held the doors over three hours Sunday due to the torrential rain. Weather is uncontrollable, but the lack of information and cancelled bands with nothing to make up for it makes a lot of unhappy festival goers. I didn’t even attend on Sunday, so I paid for an entire days worth of bands I didn’t see.
THE BEER NAZIS — I still don’t understand the 7 drink limit. They gave you a wrist band with 7 beer tabs, and once you drank those you were done for the day. They marked everyone’s hand with a purple X so you couldn’t just go back and get another wrist band. The man-​lady who marked our hands ever-​so-​kindly told us «It’s surgical marker so don’t even try wiping it off.» Turns out it does come off with a little spit, sunscreen, and elbow grease, but when you chug all 7 beers within 30 minutes after not having eaten all day, you don’t really need another band. Besides at $ 7-​$ 9 a piece for beer, I was out of cash by drink number 5. $ 7 is INSANE for 14 oz. of bud light. And Longhammer IPA is delicious, but $ 9!?! Plus you had to drink the beer corralled off in the beer tent, meaning you had to watch some of the bands quarantined off to the side with the other alchy’s.
NO WATER — I saw one water fountain the entire time, which of course had a line to Timbuktu. APW — please set up water stations so your guests don’t pass out from dehydration. Bottled water was $ 2 which isn’t too unreasonable, but free water is essential at a hot, all-​day festivals.
APW is a young festival (this was only the second year) so hopefully they’ll learn and improve over time. The weather also threw a lot of kinks into the weekend, which no one can control. But for my money ($ 180 for a 3-​day pass), I’d rather go to Lolla or another festival with more bands, more additional tents/​vendor booths/​side entertainment, cheaper less restricted beer, and more organization. Oh well, live and learn.

I liked last year’s (2008) festival a great deal. I’m not a big festival guy and through a friend obtained some passes but I did wind up seeing Radiohead and Kings of Leon who were the headliner (s) of the Saturday evening show. If you don’t like festivals, being outside all day, being in big crowds — probably not for you unless you know someone who can take you to the VIP areas. I would give this a 5 star rating but I’m just too jaded to want to stand around and watch more than 2 – 3 hours of music per day– it’s a younger man’s pleasure methinks.
OH! And take the bus in case the ferry’s haven’t been scheduled better — apparently there were issues with the tide last year that made scheduling nightmarish for that many passengers.
I am pretty psyched about this years line up (below). I’m looking forward to Tool, My Bloody Valentine, the Ra Ra Riot, Beastie Boys and Echo & The Bunnymen…
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1
Tool
My Bloody Valentine * Gogol Bordello
Arctic Monkeys * Neko Case * The Ting Tings
Yelle * Crystal Castles * St. Vincent
Tokyo Police Club * The Cool Kids * Kool Keith
Cage the Elephant * Chairlift * White Rabbits * Electric Touch The Postelles * Black Gold * CollegeHumor Live
Time & Eric * Judah Friedlander * Jim Jeffries
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2
Coldplay
Echo & the Bunnymen * MGMT * the Black Keys
Elbow * Silversun Pickups * Mogwai
We Are Scientists * Ghostland Observatory
The Gaslight Anthem * Etienne De Crecy * Lykke Li
Akron/​Family * Steel Train * Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
CollegeHumor Live * Janeane Garofalo
Michael Showalter * Todd Barry

I am having a hard time figuring out how to review this. I absolutely HATE NJ, but I would travel to the armpit of America for Radiohead! I’ll start with Friday, because that was the good day. The lines were much shorter, the bathrooms (and by bathroom I mean port-​o-​potty) were cleaner, and the crowd was mature (to say the least). I preferred the array of bands on Saturday, but Friday was a much easier day to get through.
Beer was a bitch to purchase. You had to wait in a separate line to get a wristband, which had only 5 tabs on it to purchase beer (yes that’s right folks, they limited us as though we were driving home). The Nazi’s running the ID line were slick too. They knew if you had been in line before by using a swipe machine for your drivers licenses. Then, to top it off, they stuck us in chicken coops until we finished the beer. So, basically we missed out on some amazing music, which we traveled to JERSEY for, only to be forced to pay $ 10 for a warm beer which we had to drink while bring mushed between a bunch of strangers!
I hope they rethink this years setup, because the price points went up!
Let’s talk about Saturday. THE LINES ON SATURDAY WERE INSANE! The entry, bathroom, lemonade, wristband, beer, food, soda, water, ferry, exit, and the subway. All of the lines BLEW! I know it had to do with the fact that there were 2 – 3 times the amount of people at the venue than had been the day before, but you would think they would prepare for this.
I am in love with the lineup this year, but if it is anything like last year, i might have to pass on the full 3 days.
One final note: try to bring your own alcohol with you if you can find a way to stash it. The alcohol situation won’t change, and it was the worst part of last year! I would rate it higher because the music was amazing (and that SHOULD be all that matters) but it wasn’t.

Not a lot of douchebags and I credit the 5-​beer limit for that.
Ferry ride to the park was relatively quick but had to wait about 30 minutes in line on the way back.
The weather, scenery, people, bands = A+.

For me, APW was baby’s first Radiohead show. And of course Radiohead practically blew my mind; how was that not expected? I went without preconceptions. I went with a sizeable hang over. Few would have thought I’d be standing for seven hours twenty-​five people in from the stage waiting for the revelation that is Radiohead live, but I was & it was worth it.
The festival was an echo from the hippy heyday with its eco-​friendly theme and colorful characters, despite its 11 o clock curfew. Particularly at the DoLab slash mist area, one could find hipster hippy-​descendents groovin away to music from Scratch DJ Academy artists.
It offered limited parking to encourage public transportation and a recycling store where recyclable goods could be ‘spent’ on nifty items. «FREE WATER» could be found in the form of five or so faucets underneath a tent, and while the festival FAQs only say nalgenes are acceptable to bring from outside you can certainly bring any old empty bottle. If that isn’t enough environmental awareness for you, there were some sweet loosely-​eco-​inspired sculptures scattered around the grounds. And after all that effort, one wonders why the trash recepticles were made of cardboard, susceptible to rain (which it did) and soggy recycling rather than traditional reuse. Guess no one wanted to clean a metal can?
Corn dogs were terrible, and the other food options (cheesesteaks, burritos, gyros, batter-​dipped veggies, etc) sounded like good festival fare but I never found out. After Radiohead, people working the food stands quickly decided not to serve people anymore. The chicken finger line lost my $ 10 purchase after a fifteen minute wait and they will never get it back. Just wait til APW next year and see.
But everything went smoothly for the most part. The website for APW was thorough and very helpful with transportation info. It would have helped if info along the way from the festival had been as clear. Mild confusion took over at the light rail station to leave, and getting back the Bronx was a three and a half hour endeavor. Thank god metro cards work for the PATH.

I did lines all weekend…
Bathroom lines
Entry lines
Pretzel lines
ID lines
Bathroom lines
Wristband lines
VIP id lines
Beer lines
Bathroom lines
Beer lines
Bathroom lines
Hot dog lines
(vomit behind bushes)
Beer lines
Exit lines
Light Rail lines
Path Lines
Subway lines
Fu*&# that! i am really not a Festival person to begin with but this was the worst thing i have experienced. Not only where the tickets $ 135 and on top of that we had VIP (read: Very Importuned Person) tickets, but the «VIP» section was
A) the farthest point from the entrance
B) full of people
C) full of line that where no shorter than anywhere else
D) full of crap
The «VIP» section was so bad that even the likes of Lisa Bonnet and Zoe Kravits where seated outside on the lawn next to us instead of being in the empty/​crappy tents.
The beer system was draconian — line — ID — line — -mark — -line — wristband — line — –beer AND you where only allowed UP to 5 for the entire day but the lines made even THAT and impossible feat.
I understand wanting to limit over-​drinking, but this just makes people do drugs/​get PISSED before.
Our Tix where FREE for both Saturday and Sunday and after Saturday… we just let the tix for Sunday rot
LAME

I think I’ve mentioned from time to time that I am a music nut. My favorite band in the world is Radiohead, and I would go pretty much anywhere in the Tri-​State area to see them. So when I heard that they were going to headline the All Points West Festival, I knew I had to go. But when it was announced that it was going to be held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, my head just about exploded. I was born and raised in Jersey City, so having something as major as a three-​day music festival in, literally, my backyard made me do cartwheels.
The organizers of All Points West are the same people who are responsible for Coachella in California. They wanted to aim for something similar to Coachella but on the East Coast. The term «all points west» refers to immigrants who came from Europe and sailed west, to Ellis Island, to come to America.
The setting itself was quite beautiful. You had three different stage areas: Queen of the Valley, Bullet and Blue Comet. The up-​and-​coming bands were featured at the queen of the valley stage. The Bullet Stage was for acts who are just becoming established. The Blue Comet was where all the headlining acts, such as Radiohead played. And of course, you have astounding views of Ellis Island, the Manhattan skyline and best of all the Statue of Liberty.
Not only did Radiohead play, but look at the other acts that were there:
— Underworld
— New Pornographers
— The Roots
— Ben Harper
— Cat Power
— Girl Talk (who pretty much RIPPED IT — the show of the day, by far)
— andrew bird
— CSS
— Duffy (who kept saying «good to be in New York»)
— Michael Franti and Spearhead
— Metric
— Nicole Atkins and the Sea
Interspersed throughout the grounds were alot of food stands, art installations, free games like they have at state fairs, and even a mist tent (which wasn’t needed since it got cold at night). Yes, the food was a bit on the expensive side, but what else would you expect at a festival like this?
granted, since I live in JC i didn’t have a problem getting home. I heard from alot of people that the light rail was a pain in the arse due to overcrowding, and that ferry service was extremely overcrowded too. And it was a hike and a half to get to the ferry and the light rail. Hopefully, the organizers can take the experience from this first year and make it even better next year and in years to come. I already know I’m coming, regardless of who’s playing.
I can honestly say that after this weekend, I have never been more proud to be from Jersey City.