vfest tidbits

posting from fancy fone

the festival got off to rough start as the bus took 3 hours to arrive at plimco…

missed out seeing the new pornos & rjd2 and realized it would have a hoot to hear wolfmother on the huge system

the racontuers teether on the brink of wankdom but managed to stay upright

I wonder if all the kids knew they were pumping their fists to a song sonny wrote for cher "bang bang"

up next gnarles barkley

I go to Birchmere for the food.

was going to go, but didn't get tickets at the last minute since they changed the chance of rain from 20% to 60%..although it still hasn't rained here in highlandtown

found gb underwhelming too much filler for a festival… a 30 min set would have suited nicely

they came on strong but faded fasted even crazy was lackluster…. nice attempt at a greenhornes cover that went over like a lead balloon

now grooving to brazilian girls on second stage much better soul and vibe here

the thievery corp continued the featival groove on the second stage….

however my inner mod was drawn to the end for the who… while voices maybe shot roger and pete sure have lots of drive and passions for a pair of old farts

its official I'm not cut out for events involving so many "friends"
thumpy tents always in the background
but the lips are fun to watch in the back of the field…. the human hamster ball was fun too…

Sounds like a disappointment.

I just got back. I though Kasabian was very good.
Wolflmother kicked ass. Ranconteurs had some highs and lows.
Gnarls Barkley is not my cup of tea so I won't comment.
Not a Killers fan but their fandom (and there were plenty of them) seemed to like them.
The Who were great-I'm a big Who fan.
RHCP were not that good in my opinion. We left a little early to beat the parking lot traffic.
Didn't catch any of the second stage or DJ tent.

all in all I really enjoyed the festival and hope they bring it back next year. Everything seemed to run fairly smoothly and sets for the most part went on time (except RHCP who came on about 15-20 minutes late)

Originally posted by jeffml:
Didn't catch any of the second stage or DJ tent. [/QB]

I guess you weren't there for the music then…

Could anyone give reviews of DBT and the New Pornos?

i am glad there were only 40,000 people and not 60,000. lollapolloza only had 60,000 per day in a much larger location.

Quick review because i'm tired and i just got home from the show. My favorites from the day were thievery corporation, gnarles barkley, and RJD2.

Flaming Lips although short, was the best part of the day. The Who were great and Gnarls was about 70% good. I got a VIP ticket, from where I work, but I don't know how it was any different than regular tickets. If I had paid the extra money for it, I'd a been pissed. The only thing "special" was access to buy Crab Cakes I think… yee haw.

bottom line for is that the V fest was a success for me, setting aside somethings that didn't work out as planned… but such is life.

The Who were the definite highlight! glad to have gotten to see them live as i would likely pass on them otherwise.

the second stage was great with the better vibe, sound and space to more around without tripping over others

the thing is that the three bands i wanted to see most of the mainstage, i would have rather seen in venues where i wasn't trippin over people to get a good vantage point and sound. just two many people crammed into an area. and the sound was a anemic away from the front.

my biggest complaint was with the dance tents as they were situated between the two stages and one couldn't escape the constant thump thump that bleed from them. getting to take a break from the sonic overload is nice between bands

guess i'll always prefer a festival at merriweather, or something smaller as what was arrange for the second stage.

Originally posted by thingsfallapart:

Originally posted by jeffml:
Didn't catch any of the second stage or DJ tent.

I guess you weren't there for the music then… [/QB]

Really…who would have you seen if you were there. Oh wait you weren't there were you jackass?

I can't believe you were posting from your phone at the concert. All I was staring at was ass all day. I didn't even use my phone once there. I don't want people bothering me at a concert.

Traffic was a pain in the ass. Parking sucked. I thought Jack White was better when I saw him open up for pavement. Chili Peppers were better at tibetan but John has gotten a lot better. Very impressed with the guitar. The killers drummer was effin up. Theivery Corp were good. I think they should have played more marley between sets. Good times though.

Got there around 4pm so traffic was minimal. Parked in the neighborhood across the street so we were a block from the main entrance… nice!
Main stage being as you walked in kept people up front so lines were long for food/drink. Vendors in the center & in back were a much better bet to get what you wanted & back to a stage.
Sound at the main stage was sadly lacking if in the back & it was too crowded to get up front so I found it hard to really get into anyone there which was disappointing. A second pair of speakers behind where the sound board was maybe would have helped that. The stage in the back was fine… more open & less people so sound was good.
The Freak Lounge was virtually empty when I went by there although the DJs playing were good. The DJ/dance tent had a decent amount of people in it but I wasn't feeling a vibe during Digweed's set at all.. just saw people wander in & out dance a bit then stumble on to the next thing. Saw a lot of stumbling there btw.. by 8pm people were laying all over the place which were hard to see with little lighting so walking around was a bit tricky at times. By 9pm EMTs were driving people out on cots so I guess they had a long day. Back to the DJ tent.. Carl Cox on the other hand tore it up! He was def the highlight of my time there. My only problem by that time was my head was so stuffed up from the grass/hay/manure that I could barely breathe so I couldn't stay in the tent (where the "aroma" was heaviest) itself which was kind of beat but I totally enjoyed what I heard of his set!
I do have 2 suggestions though.. trash cans (I hate throwing trash on the ground even if people are being paid to pick up after me) and portapotties with toilet paper & sinks in them. Probably 2 of the most common complaints I've ever heard about any festival but I understand why.. I couldn't wait to just go wash my hands!
I am glad I went, saw some great acts I probably wouldn't other wise & met some people that I probably wouldn't have anywhere else. Overall it was an interesting & fun experience.

Fantastic day. A successful event all around and I thank all involve for making it happen. Glad the rain stayed away. 24 oz Red Hooks for $9 weren't a bad deal and I was happy not to be drinking Bud Light all day.

I'd never been to Pimlico before. It was a pretty good space for this sort of thing. It was crowded, obviously, but not so packed that you couldn't move around or find a place to lay around. Very tough to get near the mainstage after about 3pm though I think that's to be expected.

Getting in and out wasn't bad. We drove to the owings mills metro and took the shuttle bus from Rogers station to get there by 11:45. Walking back to the metro afterward was a little dicey but we were happy to not deal with any traffic.

Here was my lineup:
Kasabian
New Pornographers
Racontours
James Holden
Brazilian Girls
Thievery Corp / Who
Scissor Sisters (while napping in the grass)
Flaming Lips

The highlights were definitely Racontours and the Brazilian Girls. Great sets. My first time to see Jack White live and I thought he was great. Good chemistry with Benson. Brazilian Girls are just a jam. Between them and Thievery, you didn't need to hit the DJ tent to get good dance music.

Kasabian was ok. It's tough to kick things off when they don't have the sound turned up enough yet. I like them better inside.

Would have liked to see Wolfmother again, but I had never seen the New Pornos. Pretty good. Nothing to write home about really but good songs and nice vocals.

I only saw a few songs from the Who. We walked up after they started and didn't have a good spot at all. From that distance, it's hard to get into it. Cool to see Baba O Riley though.

I had to make a tradeoff with the Flaming Lips. They were great, but I had just seen perhaps the exact set a month ago at the Osheaga Festival in Montreal and had never seen RHCP. At that point though, I knew there was no way I was getting near the stage and I didn't want to fight the crowd on the way in or out.

So, good times.

I got to Vfest towards the end of the Wolfmother set and walked around, checking out everything the festival had to offer. I thought it was a really nice set up, lots of different options for food.

The Raconteurs were great, it was my first time seeing Jack White as well, and he definitly lived up to my expectations.

I checked out the DJ tent for about 20 minutes with James Holden and was quite entertained, he was pretty good.

Gnarls Barkley was a disappointment. I expected a lot more energy, but they just seemed to fall flat. Terrible flow, Cee-lo talked way to much.

The Killers exceeded my expectations, great stage presence and a nice set list.

At the end of there performance, my friends and I decided to start moving our way up front, which meant we would not be able to see the Flaming Lips, but I think it was well worth it.

The Who were incredible. We were maybe 10 rows back to the right and the crowd was way in to it. They went from hit to hit seemlessly, with little chatter in between. They definitly still have it.

To be able to see a full set from The Who and then from the RHCP alone was worth the price of admission for me. RHCP did not dissapoint, amazing show, very entertaining. They did play a little to much of the new cd and it would have been nice to see a few more of there hits, but it was not that big of a deal to me. Tiny Dancer for the encore was a nice.

Great event overall and I would love for it to return to Pimlico again next year!