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10 Definitive Moments From All Points West 2009

Posted 8/3/09 6:06 pm EST by in Concerts, Music


By Jett Wells & Corey Celt

The All Points West Music Festival was a hot mess in more ways that one, but it was also filled with special musical moments. It was a long weekend, but we came out of the festival feeling wiser now that we know what it takes to survive during an action-packed summer music festival. Between the unforgettable sets and the strange sightings, here are the 10 things that will stick with us.

Coldplay
Even though All Points West was packed with top-shelf talent, more than one of the weekend's largest bands failed to live up to expectations. Coldplay, on the other hand, played with swagger and unquestionable passion. They get a lot of heat for being middle-of-the-road, but when it came to delivering the big rock moment with a healthy dose of spectacle — witness the giant balloons rolling over the crowd during "Yellow" — nobody else came close.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Keeping the attention of a festival crowd can be tough, but from the moment Karen O walked on stage to kick off her band's set with "Heads Will Roll," she had everybody eating out of the palm of her hand. And why not? She swerved like a reptilian temptress and waved her microphone like magical wand — clearly, she knows how to cast a spell.
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All Points West's Nine Best Breakout Bands

Posted 7/29/09 2:41 pm EST by in Music


By Jett Wells

The headliners at this weekend's All Points West Music Festival in Liberty Park, New Jersey are are all must-see artists who tend to turn in exceptional performances, including Jay-Z, Tool, Coldplay and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But beyond the top-billed groups, there is an abundance of great bands, each of whom could steal the show early. If you want to be on top of the performances that everybody will be talking about when Monday morning rolls around, be sure to arrive early and check out the following sets.

Day 1

The Knux
(1:15 p.m.-2:00 p.m. at Blue Comet Stage)
The New Orleans hip-hop duo brings old-school rhymes and inventive instrumentation to the stage. Their buoyant single "Cappuccino," a catchy rap song with funny lyrics and electronic beats, was featured in "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay."
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Kings Of Leon, Animal Collective Light Up All Points West Festival

Posted 8/11/08 5:06 pm EST by in Festivals, Music


Getting to cover summer music festivals can sometimes be a mixed blessing. Unless you have an especially large crew (as we did two weeks ago at Lollapalooza), you end up spending a lot of time shooting interviews and writing or shooting standup segments, and not a lot of time actually seeing live music. Such was the case this past weekend New York's All Points West festival. (check out some of the bands we talked with right here). I did, however, manage to catch sets by two of my favorite bands, neither of which is playing many U.S. dates this summer.

Kings of Leon are the sort of dependable rock band that almost effortlessly delivers a good show — and while a colleague of mine thought they could have used a little more effort in Saturday's set, I thought they delivered solid renditions of fuzzed-out, whiskey-soaked songs that just do not get old: "Taper Jean Girl," "The Bucket" and "On Call" and definitely got the late-afternoon crowd going. Every time I see the Kings live I'm reminded of just how many great hooks and melodies these guys they've crammed into three albums — which makes it all the more amazing they're bigger in this country (they're massive in England). On Saturday, we were also treated to "Sex on Fire" — the first single (and one of the more hard-charging songs) from Only By the Night, the band's fourth LP, set for release September 23.
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Sobriety Police Out In Force At All Points West

Posted 8/11/08 12:15 pm EST by in Festivals, Music, Television


The All Points West festival in New Jersey's Liberty State Park had a lot going for it — mostly beautiful weather, a decent (if not through-the-roof) lineup, a fine setting, a cool way to get there — a ferry ride — and a daylong view of the greatest skyline on Earth. What more could you ask for?

Oh, I don't know. How about, enjoying a beer while watching the concert? Here's the deal: You arrive at APW and soon discover that in order to drink, you must get your ID checked, then pass into a closed-off, fenced-in area — from which you cannot see the stage — to pay $7 for a Bud or Bud Light. You get a yellow plastic bracelet on which there are five tabs, one for each beer you are allowed. Each time you order, a tab is removed. And to indicate that you have been issued a bracelet (they're one step ahead of you, these beer police) they put a big Sharpie "X" on your hand. Read More...

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