All Points West recap

So, I just got back yesterday from All Points West in Jersey City. Great shows by Radiohead both nights but the second night was, as I had predicted, absolutely phenomenal. I was lucky enough to stay in NYC with some awesome people from At Ease and we partied and had a great time for three days straight. Many thanks to them for making the experience so awesome. It was great having other hardcore fans to share the experience with before and after both shows. Here's a little recap of my trip.

Thursday
Get up and get stuff together. I had to drive to Allentown to catch the Bieber Bus to NY. I always take the Beiber because it's a super short ride, you can return whenever you want and it's never crowded. For $42 it's the best thing going for getting from Harrisburg to New York. Listened to Never Not Funny episode 321 with guest Patton Oswalt. It definitely made the ride enjoyable.
I get into New York and the girl who's putting together the meetup and whose name the room at the hostel is in is delayed in Chicago. I wander around 7th avenue, hit Starbucks and then go to the Molly Wee pub at 8th and 30th for some rum and cokes. I then leave to go and meet Romesh who is coming into Penn Station at 4:30. He was really cool and we got to know each other a bit as we again headed to Starbucks. We then get a call from another kid named Orlando who had travelled with his friend Charlie from Puerto Rico. These guys were cool as hell, and I could write a whole blog about how funny they were. Awesome dudes.
So then we go down into the depths of Penn Station to meet everyone else. We met up with four other people in there, Andrea, Larry, Oleg and Gina, who organized our trip. We got on the 1 train and headed uptown to our hostel. Check in went smoothly and once we had our stuff all situated, we headed out into the streets seeking food and spirits. We went to this diner and got dinner then made the first of our two trips to the liquor store for Malibu rum, a bottle of which I'm still enjoying. We probably go to sleep around 1:30 having all gotten to know each other and telling stories from our Radiohead related travels. The level of all of these people's dedication to catching the band live was amazing. It was nice to be with people who share my high opinion of Radiohead being the greatest band on Earth. It was also cool to put names to faces of people from At Ease as we've all shared in very spirited exchanges in the past.

Friday
We all get up around 10 or 11 and get ready to go. We wait for Jordan, who had just gotten off the plane from Los Angeles to arrive at the hostel then we take off. He had sold a pair of tickets to the Hollywood Bowl show on ebay for a bit of profit (it's a necessary evil) and is now able to go to many more shows. I'll see him in Camden tomorrow. Anyway, we take the subway to PATH and then get on the light rail in Hoboken to head to Liberty State Park. We get there and it's not crowded at all. We all get spots on the rail and we wait for the fun to begin. I was excited to be able to have a spot at the absolute front row, but I would have to wait there in huge stints for about the next eight hours before Radiohead would take the stage. I leave to get some beer and give my dad a call to see what he's up to. We talk for a few minutes and I'm enjoying a beautiful sunny day with mild temps and a nice breeze off the Hudson.
The show starts around 1:30 with the Go! Team. They had a great energetic set and I really liked their high energy performance. They played a lot of songs that I was happy to hear. Next up was Michael Franti and Spearhead. All of a sudden all these 40 year old hippies come rushing to the front and they were getting wild as hell. There was this beautiful girl right beside me for his set who I recognized from either TV or print advertisements, but I don't know who she was. She was rocking out to Franti. Everyone in my group thought he was laughable but I like his upbeat vibe and inspiring lyrics about peace and unity. After his set all the hippies left like they had never even been there at all.
Then came New Pornographers who had the beautiful Kathryn Calder on keyboards and accordion. She also sung great and is on my list of women I'd marry. She was so awesome as was A.C.. I took many pics of their set. They ended with a rocking cover of ELO's Don't Bring Me Down after playing great songs from Challengers and Twin Cinema.
Next, right before Radiohead, Underworld came on and I thought they were just OK. I'm not really into club music, so I thought it was just alright. The entire set to my untrained, nonfan ears sounded like the same song pretty much.

After about 45 minutes of getting the stage set up, Radiohead finally came out the thunderous applause of slightly less than 40,000 people. I gave up my rail spot to a girl behind me who was about 4 ft. tall and met another kid from Vermont. He and I made sport of guessing which song was next based on the instrument changes. We were correct most of the time. They opened with 15 Step and played much of In Rainbows, Faust Arp being the only song not played. Highlights were Morning Bell, You and Whose Army, Just, Dollars and Cents, and Cymbal Rush from Thom Yorke's stellar solo album, The Eraser.
Here's a video of Cymbal Rush, shot by someone else.





I was never the biggest fan of the song, but it really struck a chord with me this night. I would have loved to hear Super Collider, but this was a nice surprise and I think the first time Thom has played the song in America. I might be wrong.

I must mention that I only kept my spot at the front for a little while, maybe ten songs, because I was unhappy with the sound. About ten songs in I, along with the small girl in front of me moved back about twenty five feet to escape the insane bass coming from the speakers directly over our heads. That made a world of difference and the whole experience was greatly improved, as if it were possible. After the show many of my hostel buddies got setlists and Gina got a pick. We then headed, thanks to Chris from At Ease who was not staying with us, to Rosie's Pizza in Penn Station for pizza, beers and good times. We were all buzzing with excitement and stayed up until about 3, even though we knew we had to get up early the next day as well.



Saturday

Everyone I was with was going to be on the rail again all day, but I was meeting Ryan and Jess so I just chilled and waited for them, knowing that I'd get good and close before Radiohead took the stage. Had some beers, met up with those two at about five and we just hung out. Saw Chromeo, who I thought sucked. Metric, Animal Collective and Kings Of Leon were all pretty decent but I was mostly just talking with Ryan and Jess and not really paying attention. I went to the bathroom and lost Ryan and Jess but was able to run into the crowd and get a really good spot by the time Radiohead came on.

They opened with Reckoner and from there it was just an all out assault as their second night in New York always is. Highlights were Kid A, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Bangers 'n' Mash, Pyramid Song, Airbag, The Bends and Planet Telex. An amazing set all around. Ryan was very happy that it more focused on their more rocking stuff rather than the more technoish sounds of Kid A or Amnesiac. I was just super happy to hear Airbag and The Bends sounded better than I've ever heard it. Also, it seemed like the mix had been greatly improved from the first night. Everything sounded really clean and not as muddy and bass heavy.

After the show we went around behind the stage to see if we could meet the band. However, there was a party going on in the backstage area, so they never came out. Saw Liv Tyler and Patricia Arquette at side stage throughout the set, so there's no telling who else was in attendance.

Photos and some more videos to follow soon as well as bootlegs, when I get a hold of them.

Sunday
I said goodbye to my homies from the hostel and headed downtown with Andrea and Romesh, who had to catch a train. I walked around midtown for a little while considering whether or not I should go down to the LES, but just ended up getting on the bus back to PA around 1 o'clock. All in all a great trip. I hope we have another meetup like that in NYC again next tour. It was truly magical.