they were PERFECT

CSS killed it and girl talk was a total shitshow in the best sense of the word. friday was worth the ferry/ticket monies through and through

Radiohead was excellent, except the set was a bit too heavy on "In Rainbows," I wasn't down with the inclusion of "Cymbal Rush," and closing with "Everything in Its Right Place" was probably a poor decision.

But excellent, as always.

fyi path is $1.50 each way, and light rail is 3.80 round trip, however the light rail leaves you way out there with a long ass walk which puts into question whether its really worth it to spend that 3.80 or whatever (you dont have to actually buy a ticket, but then you run a small risk of getting a fine), because it only shortens your walk in half.

also I think the organizers anticipated long lines to the light rail on way back so they posted signs on how to walk back to Jersey City (actually, across that little bridge that someone here pointed out is visible only on google satellite map). So with a quick walk, it took me 30 minutes to get to Path station.

I got there just as Underworld was starting (very mediocre w/ cheesy sets, imo) and was able to get just behind the people on the rail, so it wasnt that crowded. tomorrow will probably be a different story.

Also as far as Radiohead itself, I thought it was a very uneven show, at least half the set sounded to me like filler material, and the crowd was dead on it's feet. You had one song that would really get the crowd going, then another slow tempo song, that no one would recognize or know, and that would just kill any momentum they had built up. and it wasn't nearly as good as the Bonnaroo show 2 years ago. kill me for this if you want, but I think Midsummer Party at the yard, MGMT, Black Lips/King Khan, Liars, at the Pool, all those shows were superior to what we got last night. Radiohead were better than Breeders, but thats about it.

Also- a very different crowd from a brooklyn crowd, totally different scene, and very few regulars that I would normally see at McCarren, practically none of the photo pit regulars were there.

may i please ask friday people advice for saturday people on vantage points and how early to set up for radiohead.

Friday was great. CSS to Underworld to Girl Talk to Radiohead. Awesomeness.

Favorite moment? Seeeing the tough security guards diggin on Girltalk.

Everyone was really chill and maybe this can be attributed to that beer rule. The commute home wasn't that bad either.

Glad the haters stayed home.

boo0000000 this proto fascist fest. too bad i want to go for chromeo tomorrow. and its going to be even worse, i can already tell.

the show as great. Grizzly Bear was excellent, totally jealous of ticket holders for their Music Hall set coming up. Radiohead was amazing as always, as for the comments about the comparison to their bonnaroo set, well, thats a given. They were better at bonnaroo (but that was in front of 80,000 people for a one night set). Mates of state were fun as usual as was the Go Team earlier and later CSS was okay. Definitely worth the trip.

"boo0000000 this proto fascist fest. too bad i want to go for chromeo tomorrow. and its going to be even worse, i can already tell. "

crackhead says what?

it now makes sense why grizzly bear is on tour with radiohead.

they were the best of the day (other than radiohead)

girl talk was fun in a frat party kind of way

I had such low expectations I was almost dreading it but I thought the whole experience was pretty great. Ferry (taken around 3:15)had a big line but it moved really quick and it was maybe 30 minutes from getting in line at pier 11 to getting off at lib isle.

sound was great for almost all the artists and enjoyed the sets I saw though Duffy was on the cheesy side. Radiohead were amazing, and really know how to do the giant festival thing with class. what an amazing light show.

my advice for anyone going saturday or sunday: bring a hoodie.

colombia guy was kind of a deusch bag. "And by the way I have this great book I wrote" huh? Also the whole "all chinese people love tibet" thing was pretty stupid. There are plenty of Chinese people that are the quite patriotic in that sense and would disagree with professor know-it-all.

Does anyone remember the name of the Columbia University Professor that spoke about Tibet before Radionhead went on?

This was my first RA D IOHEA_D show and I thought they were brilliant. I've got video ( a minute here, a minute there of their set) and I'll post it later.

Thanks.

it kills me when people say radiohead plays too much in rainbows...they're touring in support of that album. you might want to adjust your expectations. yeah not the best radiohead set ever but they set the bar so high.

thought the festival overall was great except for the beer rule & i didnt end up minding it as much as i thought i would (tomorrow may be another story with a weaker lineup)
first time seeing underworld and thought they were fantastic. grizzly bear too (set was short tho)

anybody see rosanna arquette?

omg i just came a little

mates of state: above average
duffy: terrible
grizzley bear: bueno
CSS; surprisingly good
GIRL TALK: orgasmic
RADIOHEAD: epic

RH def put on a good show, a little in rainbows heavy. but what do you want them to do, play kid a completely?

how was the commute back via ferry and train ? long lines/annoying?

no line at all taking the light rail. just the aformentioned long walk

video'd the entire radiohead set, but sound came out shitty so probably won't post anything. however, make a note= the security up front threated to take peoples cameras, so be careful...

Everything In It's Right Place (Ending Walk Off)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glhg0zcgTig

i just cant imagine where those extra 10 thousand people are gonna fit tomorrow, it felt pretty full, the area by main stage is sort of squshed, not nearly as spacious like at Bonnaroo or Lolla, ok maybe comparable to second main stage at Lolla, but 35 thousand people all trying to get close, could get uncomfortable...

I biked back to the PATH. It wasn't crowded, but I was hurrying to get out so I could beat the crush. It worked for me.

Oh and FYI, even though they promised bike racks at the last minute, there weren't any. Everyone chained their bikes to trees and the chain link fence.

Grizzly Bear were indeed great.
CSS came out strong with all guns blazing but a few songs in lost the momentum and vibe for me and became very 1 dimensional without the amazing songs to transcend the sameness.
Underworld totally disappointing and verging on cheesy. Not the kind of music (or act) for a broad daylight show.
Andrew Bird was tight, charming and fun. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea but he really is a very talented multi instrumentalist who, though somewhat niche, has carved out a nice career path for himself.
Girl Talk...I just don't understand the hype? The guy is a glorified mash up dj at best. He hunches over his laptop (which is most likely playing "pre mashed" mixes) doing virtually nothing except allowing 1/3 of the crowd to join him and dance onstage amongst him. Yes, it can be fun once or twice w/that party/circus atmosphere he brings to the stage but the mixes for the most part are obvious/cliche crowd pleasers with a curveball thrown in every now and then to give him the appearance of creativity. Where oh where are the Avalanches when you need em???
Radiohead, enough has been said about em but they were great overall.

Robert Thurman spoke. He's Uma's dad.

the avalanches were really amazing.

I must say I'm really impressed you guys got this up so quickly.

We were on a 5:30pm ferry - no line whatsoever and it took less than 25 mins from Pier 11 to entering the front gate. We left with two songs to go and again, no line whatsoever. People just kept moving. They must have had five ferries shuttling people back and forth. Went WAY better than expected.

The beer areas were small and very crowded. So weird being told you can't buy more than five beers - what if you got there at noon? One beer every two plus hours. Yikes.

Funniest thing....long ass lines where there were like four port-a-potties when only 150 yards away there was a sea of underused toilets. For the Saturday crowd...middle stage, stage right....

I thought Underworld was great...but without a hit of x, they probably seemed a bit much to most.

Radiohead sounded great. Visuals were fantastic. Setlist...holy shit it was like being on roller coaster. We started joking that they'd play a slow tempo tune and we'd have to wait just for the redemption song. It really did putter out at the end but overall very good.

It really is a perfect place for a show - however, rain and it would have sucked. 90 degrees and humid and it would have sucked. Damn, it got chilly over there last night but the sky was crystal clear.

Have fun on Saturday!

An exciting blog, good article.
Nice to see the blog.

Randy Jackson was there too.

I suspect a a huge spike in sales for black hoodies.

fantastic photos bao. wow. afters seeing these, kyle's shots from the audience look extremely uninspired.

grizzly bear = boooooooooooooooooooooooring

There There
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rxDBKqKCvA

travel to and from APW wasn't so bad. pretty smooth. here's to more of that and superb weather.
radiohead was excellent as ever! can't wait for a 2nd helping today.
andrew bird always knocks it out of the ballpark. genius! anonamimal was fantastic. can't wait for the new album.
grizzly bear rocked it. while you wait for the others blew me away. why can't they play music hall of williamsburg on sunday instead of today?!

"more variety of photos"? Honestly, I think the photos are great on BV, but THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM. Less is more guys.

How was security? Do they go through backpacks? If so, how closely? Thanks for any info.

I wanted to bash this festival, but yesterday was actually a pretty great day.

Saw a bit of The Go! Team, which was energentic and fun but the vocals sounded awful. So my friends and I moved on to The Duke Spirit, and that chick can sing. Never heard 'em before but really liked what I saw. After that, we headed over to the main stage for Spearhead, say what you will about Franti, but the guy gets the crowd moving. All the dreadlockers and neo-hippies were there having a great time, gotta a couple of pokes on a joint from one of 'em. All good! Killed some beers in the garden, checked out a bit the Pornos, sorry but sans Neko they have little appeal to me, so walked over to Grizzly Bear. One word: Amazing! I can't believe how tight these guys are. Their albums don't do them justice. Back to the beer garden, then over to the main stage for Underworld. I could only take about 15 minutes of them, not that they're bad, but their music is NOT suited for a daytime performance. On to the middle stage for Girl Talk, just what we needed before RH. Listening to the mashes and watching all the people dance on stage was infectious. Then Radiohead,and while their setlist wasn't one I would have chose, they still killed it. Highlights for me were Idioteque, Paranoid Android, How to Disappear, and Everything In its Right Place. All things aside, like the beer rationing, the price of the ticket, and what some call a weak lineup, it was hard not to feel complete bliss watching the light show and then turning around to see the glorious Manhattan skyline.

If you're planning on going today,you should probably bring a couple of small bottles of liquor to add to a refreshing smoothie or a soda. The backpack check was hardly thorough and it's well worth the risk. Also, a couple of packets of the alcohol wipes from a first aid kit will take the marker off your hand and you'll be able to get another braclet with ease.

So as not to appear to negative on APW, I will say this...the sound is stellar. Every act's sound was great, even if they themselves weren't (Duffy...I'm looking at you). I was fairly up front for both Underworld and Radiohead and the high and low ends were clear, crisp and wonderful, especially for outdoor festival sound. Even when the crowd got to me and I retreated behind it towards the end of Radiohead, I could hear the band loud and clear all the way back by those rip-off "V.I.P." bleachers.

@Anon9:27 - I didn't have a bag but the security seemed fairly lax. I think any intelligent level of ingenuity is going to get you a long way.

Thanks, blackhat. That's kinda what I figured. Peace...

How far away are the two main stages? Meaning, how long will it take me to leave one and get to the other? And did Radiohead start pretty much exactly at 8:30? Thanks for any info!

Path was super easy to get there and back (took an hour and a half to get back to the city, including the long walk from the Radiohead stage to the light rail).

Bag check was almost non-existent. Bring a hoodie and a flask or plastic thermos (to sneak beer out of the garden). 420 was also a non-issue.

Radiohead were stellar. Really dug the slower-paced set. I imagine we'll hear more of the anthems (Karma, Plastic Trees, Bends) tonight. Bring it on.

The stages are fairly close so it's not too big of a deal to walk from one to the other, and you can probably get from the 1st to the 3rd stage in a 3-5 minute walk. And surprisingly as someone else mentioned the sound was stellar at every point and on every stage. And while the walk from the light rail to the park was way too long the whole thing was soooo much more organized and well run than I could have imagined. Every act started anywhere from exactly on time to the minute, to maybe 5 minutes late at the most. Radiohead went on around 8:35 according to my watch. I'm old, curmodgeonly, and borderline agoraphobic and I enjoyed this fest quite a bit, which is a testament to how well set up and run it is/was. Enjoyed the whole thing way more than I expected to.

the stages are not so far apart. you can make a mad dash cautiously around folks and art pieces to switch between stages. between the main stage for radiohead or blue comet (what names) to the queen of the valley it is a few minutes depending on how fast you walk or run. the middle stage (bullet) is really close to both other stages. radiohead went on about 8:30p.m. i think. didn't really check the time.

What did you guys expect from the folks who organize Coachella?

I dont understand why all the haters were expecting some debacle.

anyone see the New Pornographers? What was the lineup like?

I think the main quibble the so-called "haters" have with APW is the absolute shit of a lineup that's been put together.

no national anthem? i'm holding out for it tonight !!!

i can listen to any RH, but I'm bringin a friend who only knows 'rainbows' and maybe some radio/ snl bits

I saw New Pornographers. They were pretty good. Decent outdoor, summer poppy sound. I'm not an overly knowledgable fan or anything but the only recognizable person was Carl Newman. No Neko Case or Dan Bejar or anything like that. Some female keyboardist/singer though. Didn't recognize her.

Anyone take the ferry back on Friday night? Massive lines? Easy as pie? Would the train be better for returning?

I caught part of Mates of State and CSS(they were both pretty good). Grizzly Bear was excellent in their mellow-ish way. I loved Droste's voice. Andrew Bird was definitely charming and he put on a great show. I caught most of Radiohead's set. The show was great, I loved the spectacular lighting effects.
Bag check was pretty uneven. The guy who checked my bag was an ass. There were people in the fest with umbrellas and 420...so I guess you can try to slip them by. But bringing a hoodie is a good move.
I took the ferry roundtrip from NYC and I think that it was definitely worth it. Crowd control/lines for the ferry were good. There was ample space to sit/rest after standing for most of the day.
Overall, I thought the APW show on Friday was great for my first festival.

The lines for the ferry were long, and appear awful when first approached, but they did move fast. At the end of the night you can imagine what it looks like having 10,000 people lining up for a ferry, but looking back on it the morning after the ferry experience flew by rather fast.

Bag check- the security seemed preety tight to me - I saw a few people who brought medium-sized bags being told they could not bring them in - use caution. The bag checks were pretty through, but I did get there early, maybe later in the afternoon the crowds and fatigue wear on security...

Best place to see Radiohead on the Blue Comet stage - walk to the left hand side facing the stage. The medium is blocked off in the middle, but if you walk back and around the crowd was much thinner there. Of course, leaving afterwards will take longer - but you're there for the concert experience, right?

Friday was a good time.

My 15th time seeing Radiohead. I've never seen a crowd so dead. And all the band played on as true pros I bet you anything they were like "what's up with these people".
Problem is too many tickets sold which dilutes the die hards. I mean this crowd looked like it wasn't even familiar with most of the material, which was really surprising. The venue was horrific. A burrito with rice beans hummus salsa falafel tahini and carrots. Are you fuckin kidding me?

I think that it is the broke hipsters who are jealous of the trust fund hipsters that they can afford a ticket for APW. Dont give me that "it is too much" crap. A night outside with Radiohead is worth the stretch. But if you are shacked up in a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 other people spending your waiter tips on getting your small american apparel black tee-shirt tailored and finding dollar PBR nights in east williamsburg, of course you are pissed and attribute your own ineptitude of scratching out a living to "Shit Line Up"

The ID line, drink prices and sectioned-off drinking areas were beyond ridiculous. You can understand wanting to maintain a fair amount of control and reducing injuries. But can you understand being prevented from sipping a drink while watching the bands you paid $90 to see?

The high profile security all around the grounds and the train area - while probably a good deterrent against outright assholes, and actually helpful at the light rail – still felt pretty fascist.

Great location. 2001 was set up better, and setlists were superior, but still, fantastic show. Sound and visual systems were superb. I thought "Dollars & Cents" and "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" were unexpected standouts. Again, the agency that developed the video and light show created what borders on a moving work of art at times.

Despite other comments, Underworld were absolutely in top form, but they could have used less daylight. Their set should have been longer.

Thanks for the photos and set list!!

Radiohead were amazing. Screw what everyone has to say about APW. If you're going to see Radiohead, it will be epic.

Radiohead were awesome last night. They are quality. Bring something to wash the mark on your had off if you plan on drinking more then 5 beers. Then get another wrist band.

No Clusterfuck, it was an awesome day and yes, RADIOHEAD was well worth it!! The other bands were great too! We enjoyed Mates of State, Go Team!, Grizzly Bear and Forro in the Dark were pretty cool too. We unfortunately had to miss Andrew Bird in order to assure a decent spot on the lawn for Radiohead, but..that's the way it goes.
It rained for 15 minutes or so and they ran out of ponchos for $5, that was stupid!! But, we realized we should have realized to bring our own. They say not to bring in umbrellas, pro cameras, etc...we say plenty of people with all those things. We think the girl with the stuffed animal won that at the little street fair booth (dumb). The food was decent actually, however, YES, PRICEY! You can bring empty bottles and fill them with the water spouts, the main one is warm, yuk! But ice is accessible.
Our bodies are wrecked but it was FUN!!! And RADIOHEAD was EPIC as usual!! They played longer than posted!!

Oh! And Obviously, Radiohead asked Robert Thurman to show up and speak on behalf of Tibet and the remind people of the creepy Chinese Gov. A bunch of people were not only completely clueless but said they didn't want to hear this crap. One dick gave him the finger when he mentioned the Bush Gov and all the money put into the invasion in Iraq. Bob explained that the song Underworld just sang where they say "you've been lied to" was about THAT! DUH!!! OY!!! WHY? Why do these people even come to see these bands? They should go listen to David Allen Coe and stay away from Music that is ALL about Bands such as Radiohead, who care deeply about Human Rights! Also, I wish asshole people wouldn't push their way up through the crowd and smoke cigarettes though!! I HATE YOU PEOPLE WHO DO THAT! Its YOU shmucks who are the real Haters, I detest ASSHOLES LIKE YOU!
Have fun at the Festival!

The ferry back was perfect - just sprint past the thousands of people who will be slowly walking back to the dock and you'll get out before midnight!

Radiohead was epic - this was my first time seeing them and they did not disappoint. If you don't care about being right up front, I would camp out right in front of the sound booth thing - where they have those metal barriers. Then at least you have something to lean on while you're in one spot for hours and hours.

Grizzly Bear was excellent as always. The new songs are great and I can't wait for the new album.

Girl Talk was an insane mess. In a good way. The crowd on stage was entertaining enough to make up for the fact that its just a dude with a laptop.

Go Team, CSS were both cool as well. I only saw a tiny part of The New Pornographers and Underworld. Really there were no bad performances.

The stages were really easy to get between so you could skip between bands. I wish every stage had at least one big screen though.

Really people need to stop bitching about little things when it comes to these large shows - this was an unbelievable amount of fun and actually ended up being worth the 130 bucks for ferry+ticket.

Check out the LittleBigPlanet (or whatever its called) booth early in the day, too. The game is pretty cool.

I'm not even a Radiohead superfan and their set alone was worth the $100. So the fact that for that price I also got 5 or 6 other good bands, a nice day out, a good set up and an overall enjoyable day made it that much more worth it.
I still think that Girl Talk is the worst thing to happen to music in the history of music. Seriously, I'm sorry if that ruins any hipster credentials I may have even thought about having, but it's the truth.

^fuck yeah!!!!

to answer some questions:

scheduled times were on point friday, i would plan on all bands starting on time.

the beer gardens/5 beer policy was annoying but at the end of the day...i can't complain that much. drink on the trip in.

they did search bags and pat you down.

i was waiting in line for the ferry to the concert for about 1/2 hour (i was there at 3PM).

The concert letting out was a different story. i decided to take the light rail, which was a long, crowded walk. i got there pretty early on after the show let out but it looked like there were thousands of people behind us, all cramming into a tiny train station. PATH at Exchange wasn't too bad. left the concert around 11, got to WTC station around 1215.

very curious to know how the ferry was going back.

radiohead was amazing. lots of people (who looked young enough to be missing their curfews) were puking and passing out in my vicinity!?

"Robert Thurman spoke. He's Uma's dad."

it all makes sense now

i was there yesterday, but todays actually sold out..so more people. anybody know approximately how many more people will be there today?

Street Spirit (Fade Out)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjHr5rglKQ0

from concert to light rail is a 15 minute walk. on the way you pass a sign that says walk this way to Jersey City, you cross that little foot bridge, these was a cop there to give directions, and after you cross the bridge there was another cop giving directions, basically you walk up 2 or 3 blocks, turn right and walk all the way to the station. very easy if you have any sense of directions, mayne not so easy if you are drunk off your ass. I did see a few people who seemed to be lost or didnt know how to use the train (you have to buy a ticket in one of those booths and use it at one of the turnstiles). Jersey City is a ghost town at night but very nice and clean fyi, might be creepy if you are a girl alone, though...

le sigh, the beer gardens sucked ass. I missed Duffy, a bit of Underworld and never even had the chance to catch Andrew Bird. Girl Talk and Radiohead totally made the evening worthwhile though.

Lots of good comments here, but I'll add my 2 cents. Started out seeing Duke Spirit: excellent - one of the highlights of the day, and it was early so at the start we were able to get right up in front of the stage. Then saw Mates of State - eh, not thrilled. Then off to New Pornographers at the main stage - good but not great, no Neko (I loved their ELO cover though!). Since we had good spots (near front, left of center), decided to hunker down for Underworld. I'd never heard them before but they were AWESOME in every respect!! I am an instant fan. Almost (but not quite) as good as Radiohead. I've heard, from multiple reliable sources, that Girl Talk were great too - it's a shame these 2 bands (+ Andrew Bird) played concurrently!

As for Radiohead, I agree with most of the posters that the choice of songs was disappointing, to say the least. I love in Rainbows and have no problem with them leaning heavily on that. But no National Anthem? no Airbag? no Packd Like Sardines? I do agree they did too many slow numbers, so the show never really got going. I was lucky to have seen them in Summer 2001 (also at Liberty Park) and this show was just not as good - so I guess I had high expectations & was a little disappointed. Still, there were some real high points, most notably Idioteque, as well as Paranoid Android & Everything in its Right Place, and honestly a lot of the stuff from In Rainbows, such as the opener & Bodysnatchers & House of Cards. And, though I'm not a huge fan of Bends, JUST was awesome.

Unfortunately for those going today (Saturday), Underworld & Duke Spirit will not be there. But hopefully making up for that, Radiohead will do a better set selection.

Well here it is on Saturday morning at about noon. I'm 48 years old and a big Radiohead fan. I came in from Connecticut so I decided to drive in to one of the remote parking lots and take the light rail into the fest. Traffic was a breeze and I took the Holland Tunnel to the Newport Centre Mall and parked in Lot A. Parking for the day was steep at $22 dollars!! The light rail cost 3 people $11.00 which in the end nobody even looked at our tickets so that was a waste but we didn't know any better. Coming into the venue was easy by light rail but you can imagine the lines of people after the concert to catch the train back. We walked around the entire line on the street and then cut in and made it out fast. I walked into my home in Connecticut at 2:30am in the morning after leaving Liberty Part after RadioHead at 11:00pm.

I asked the security people and they said they sold 20,000 tickets for Friday and 30,000 for Saturday. We arrived at around 12:30pm which was a perfect time to come. No lines and the security checks at the gate were light. They padded me down for guns and weapons and basically let me in. The toliet situation was easy and they had lots of porta pottys on hand so there was never a wait.

The layout was great and relaxed for the most part. For every act you could bascially get up close except for Radiohead which I stood on the left side approx. 20 rows back if there were seats. Not bad considering how popular the band is to see.. The bands I saw were:

1. Love Save the Day- Wonderfull Great band but they played like at 1:00pm and nobody was there to hear them. A must see or download!
2. Mates of State- Great two piece band. A White Stripes happy go lucky fun music band
3. Duffy- Better than I thought. She needs to connect a little more with the audience however
4. New Pornagraphers- Pretty good but bad stage cloths. The redheaded dude lead singer looked fruity in my opinion.
5.CSS- Surprisingly good. Fun music with clown makeup on.
6. Underworld- Sucked...Techno music which Garage Band on your Mac could sound better
7. Radiohead- Great Great Great!! Long set and Thome Yorke was in rare form. I saw RH two years ago and Thome looked wasted...Last night he was sober and sang wonderfully.

All in all a very well run fest. My 16 year old son had fun collecting recyling bottles to earn points for prizes. He came home with a lot of tee shirts and stuff from his efforts.

Costs:

Gas $25.00
Parking $22.00
Lite Rail $11.00 (3 people)
Food- Pricy..burgers $7.00 and Soft Drinks $4.00
Tolls on the Roads $20.00 from Connecticut
White Castles Hamburgers after the show- Priceless! (They have a location in Jersey City!)
Gas prices in Jersey City $3.55 per gallon!

"I still think that Girl Talk is the worst thing to happen to music in the history of music. Seriously, I'm sorry if that ruins any hipster credentials I may have even thought about having, but it's the truth."

Agreed. Seeing a sea of thousands of people freak out to "Whoop There It Is" like it was the greatest song of all time makes me sad.

10000

Thanks for the tips everyone.

Can you bring in sealed bottles of water?

scale of 1 to 10? a solid 8.

took the ferry there. line was HUGE like 4 blocks long. but only took half hour to move to front. overall, from getting in line to getting to the gates at festival - just over an hour. totally worth the 20 bucks.

caught NPs for the first few songs, thought they were mediocre (no neko = no good).

then hit the beer line. i was pretty pissed at first about the whole 5 beer thing but we all quickly figured out how to get around that rule. but at the end of the day i had about 8 beers over 5 hours (mainly due to the fact that you cant bring beer out to stages) so i was evenly buzzed through the day but never wasted... just bring lots of weed. bag check is near non existent. friend brought in full bottle of rum.

radiohead were superb. the crowd was kind of dead. a few drunken bros shouting were annoying but to look around you could see the true fans and lock eyes during sick songs and just smile like you were one of the few who knew just how good you had it while others texted and chatted the experience away.

ferry back... i was dreading this. i actually left halfway during "everything" to find my friends who left even earlier to hit the port o potties (which is my one MAJOR complaint. PUT 2 SETS OF BATHROOMS IN!!!! why only one all the fucking way by the entrance?) took about half hour to find everyone in the venue, then walked to ferry figuring we'd be up shits creek. well it seemed that way at first with about 3000 people ahead of us but the line kept moving and we were at south street probably around midnight. and what a refreshing way to come down after the sick show... midnight under the skyline on a ferry. people just chilled and enjoyed the breeze and silence. again. totally worth the money.

that radiohead set was one of the best i've ever seen.

it was In Rainbows heavy but In Rainbows is an amazing fucking record.

grizzly bear also knocked me the fuck out.

does anyone know why they had the audience facing NJ instead of the beautiful view of the harbor?

instead of staring at a giant black trash bag behind the bands we should have been looking at ellis island, the statue and the skyline. weak.

it was WELL worth my $100 though. also, the cheapest/easiest way to get there is the PATH to Grove St. and walk. its a 20 minute walk and NO lines, NO congestion.

Oh yeah, practical info on transport: the walk from light rail is LONG so be prepared for some exercise. Other than that, it's not bad at all. ON the way home, if you don't feel like waiting behind 2,000+ other people to get on the lightrail, you can branch off to the right and actually WALK to the PATH (Grove Street) - it's a good 20-25 minute walk but we figured it'd be the same in terms of time, and it probably was - it's probably about 1.5 miles. I'm sure the ferry is easier (and nicer) but the idea of paying $90 for 3 people . . . it was just a matter of principle! Hope that's helpful.

Uh...Anon 12:03, there were 2 set of bathrooms. The ones closer to the entrance on the side closer to the river, and then over on the left there was a massive field of porta potties. Never had to wait even a minute to use one of those. The thing was that they had pretty much duplicates of everythig (beer garden, bathrooms, food stands, etc. at both the front and the back of the park, but since most people thought otherwise the front ones were always crowded and had long lines while those towards the other end never did.

Anybody else think that the 5 beer limit was a good idea? At first, I thought that it was lame that I had to be fenced in to enjoy a beer, but having been to other festivals, I quickly understood the benefits. No trash on the ground. No drunkards stepping on my toes. No people pissing on the side of the Mr. Johns. No vomit.

FYI on the Bathrooms--There are 2 sets of bathrooms, one right up near the entrance and there's a 2nd set that's more hidden. It's behind the middle beer garden in between the 2 main stages (Bullet/Blue comet) - You don't have to walk all the way to the entrance if you're camped out at the main stage.

i don't understand a few things about the festival.

the limiting beer to 5 purchases per customer thing just makes no sense to me

other festivals allow people to drink as much beer as they want, and the size of this one isn't that daunting, so really why restrict that?

I also don't understand why they didn't realize that the ferry would be understaffed and long lines would come about

seems like a no brainer.

all in all I enjoyed it. the grounds were pretty, the shows were good and I had a relaxing fun time

I think the general consensus on here is that grizzly bear and radiohead were the best of day, and I'd have to agree

also, no smoking in an open field?!?

Oh, one last thing . . . to Shenanigans Padunkadunk: EXCELLENT POST!!!!

You can bring in an empty refillable water bottle but it has to be empty. Security made me spill it out. I would head to the bathrooms right about 7:30 and start grabbing your place on the lawn for Radiohead. People were pissing me off with putting these hugh beach blankets down on the lawn to reserve their place. I thought these were banned? I also saw plenty of umbrellas too which pissed me off. The key is to walk to the left of the stage (Facing the stage) and wrap yourself into the crowd that way. It seemed like everyone was on the right side (Facing the stage). Also the light show, stage setup with the hanging poles which reflected the evironmentally friendly low voltage lights were great! Radiohead also used both side flat panels plus one in the center of the stage to reflect a montage of band. Unlike other bands they had like 20 different camera angles on each member. They even had an overhead on Thom Yorke which was very cool to watch. Thye must have mounted the camera in one of the hanging poles. They also had one facing him while he played the piano which was a great view. For almost the entire show they would have six different images of the band on the big screens. Very different than how the other bands used the cameras. Like for New Pornographers they had one large continuous shot of the band with multi cameras going. Very cool

All in all a great experience.. RADIOHEAD was 'superlative' .I love 'In Rainbows', so I may be biassed, and they played it flawlessly .. highlighted by a version of 'VIDEOTAPE' which left me believing that 'today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen..'

I've been to too many festivals and concerts over the years(I'm old as shit ,as proof I went to the original Woodstock) and from my perspective the APW festival on Friday night was a great experience; nice crowd, organized without being oppressive, best outdoor sound system I have ever heard. and with the backdrop of NYC on a crystals clear August night. ?...it doesn't get better then this !

If anybody thinks Rock is dead ... they have just been looking in the wrong places...it was alive and well last night...a reaffirmation for me.

Thanks.

"the limiting beer to 5 purchases per customer thing just makes no sense to me"

"also, no smoking in an open field?!?"

"all in all I enjoyed it. the grounds were pretty, the shows were good and I had a relaxing fun time"

You complain about the lack of drunks/vomit on the premises and the cleanliness (no one blowing smoke in your face, leaving cigarette butts all over the grass in your seating/standing area), then you say it was pretty and relaxing.

you make no sense

you can have a relaxing time while being drunk and smoking--- so shhhh.

"you can have a relaxing time while being drunk and smoking--- so shhhh."

If you're alone in your living room i suppose. You see, it's not YOU, it's everyone else.

You can bring in an empty refillable water bottle but it has to be empty. Security made me spill it out. I would head to the bathrooms right about 7:30 and start grabbing your place on the lawn for Radiohead. People were pissing me off with putting these hugh beach blankets down on the lawn to reserve their place. I thought these were banned? I also saw plenty of umbrellas too which pissed me off. The key is to walk to the left of the stage (Facing the stage) and wrap yourself into the crowd that way. It seemed like everyone was on the right side (Facing the stage). Also the light show, stage setup with the hanging poles which reflected the evironmentally friendly low voltage lights were great! Radiohead also used both side flat panels plus one in the center of the stage to reflect a montage of band. Unlike other bands they had like 20 different camera angles on each member. They even had an overhead on Thom Yorke which was very cool to watch. Thye must have mounted the camera in one of the hanging poles. They also had one facing him while he played the piano which was a great view. For almost the entire show they would have six different images of the band on the big screens. Very different than how the other bands used the cameras. Like for New Pornographers they had one large continuous shot of the band with multi cameras going. Very cool

I gotta say, the problem with these and most other american festivals is that they end up by 10 pm, maybe a little later. We can learn from the europeans, specifically the spanish and the amazing primavera festival, which doesn't even start until 6 pm! Not only that, the last band goes on around 2, 230, and can play for over an hour. this is way shit needs to be done

word, for that experience go to bonnaroo, shit ends at 4:00 am except for final night.

12:55 --

Is the last band playing for over an hour some sort of luxury?

yeah well the problem with having it go any later is that we don't have 24/7 public transport like the Europeans--after waiting for the light rail and the PATH, my crew barely made it to Newark Penn in time to catch the second-to-last train of the night. Unless you're going to allow camping, the last trains out of NY are about 1:30 am...

Could not bring filled water bottles inside. Bags checked, but not too thoroughly. Lots of weed inside, though none for me, alas. (Please folks, if you have any extra to share or sell tonight, make it known!) Port-a-potties not too gross, plenty of TP and hand sanitizer was a nice touch. Selection of food better than I expected (overpriced of course, but you know that). Sound was extremely good for an outdoor venue.

Worst thing was that they did not appear to have put a single extra light rail or PATH train on duty last night. Getting outta there was a nightmare. I live 60 miles away and it took me FOUR FUCKING HOURS to get home, I walked in my door at 2:45 am (Radiohead finished at 10:45). Fuck my carbon footprint, I'm driving tonight. Until America gets it act together with public transport, there's just no other option.

Optimistic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2KovFiBCaw

"we don't have 24/7 public transport like the Europeans"

You think there's 24/7 public transport all over Europe? Wrong wrong wrong.

wow this radiohead show is looking to be daft punk 07 in it's praise and approval.

i reaaaaally hope the new pornographers do me a favor and put on a big new york show separate of this festival with dan and neko and everyone. i love neko and dan's voices, i don't want to see NP without them.

Totally agree with many of the comments here. The ferry definitely had long lines, but both lasted no longer than 30 min and the ride is great.

I thought the beer system was definitely little much, maybe it was because of the state park rules? I've never seen such an elaborate system just to get a $7 Bud Light.

As far as the bands, I caught:

Forro in the Dark: Awesome, great way to start the day.

Mates of State: Excellent vocal harmonies, although maybe a little too poppy for my liking sometimes.

Grizzly Bear: Can definitely see how people prefer them in a smaller indoor venue. Overheard several people say "they are not a festival band." That said, they definitely had the crowd listening and delivered a solid performance.

CSS: They seemed big on the "show/spectacle" aspect, but I wasn't really impressed with their tunes. Lots of jumping and excitement on stage, but if the tunes don't do anything, I don't care.

Andrew Bird: Awesome later afternoon bliss.

Girl Talk: Ok, so it's a dude on a laptop. Maybe not always my thing, but people were going nuts during this set and I couldn't help but smile from a get the dance party going a bit from my spot in the beer pen.

Radiohead: I agree with some of the earlier comments that the crowd seemed dead, but the band was spot on and everyone around me was being pretty polite (read: quiet) during a lot of the tunes, so if people are listening and enjoying, that's fine by me.

I arrived at the show during Underworlds set via ferry and there were lots of people leaving before radiohead!!

only advice is to leave immediately after radiohead if you don't want to wait for the boat. the ride is only 10 min but the wait will be very long if you dont get out of there fast.

1 and 2 trains from wall street were not working for uptown so you have to take the 4 (behind the construction)

anybody know when/where to find audio of this?

Bagcheck was a snap, the guy actually said to me "okay, you and I are gonna go off the honor system." I was able to bring in an umbrella and blanket and other essentials.
Leaving after radiohead wasn't as hectic as I thought it would be, but I left after their first encore to avoid it.

All in all it was a really good day, everyone was really friendly and it was clean and the weather was mostly nice.

re: beer limit.

why would anyone want to drink more than five bud lights in the first place? i think they set the limit to do you a favor.

radiohead are always grate! can't wait for tuesday!!

Sounds great. What happened to Michael Franti & the Spearheads?

1:16- i dont think so, most bands get an hour, it just shows that a band can play past 4am in a populated city without hell freezing over. shouldn't be surprised though, Giuliani ruined fun in NYC

I thought I heard a pretty big rhythmic fuck-up by Radiohead at the end of Idioteque. They were off from the recorded track at the very end. Did anyone else notice that?

Lots of slow songs too but otherwise they were sweet and worth the money.

In regards to security checks and bag searches- it was just a superficial pat-down for obvious shit. They're not looking to confiscate everyone's weed. I'm pretty sure everyone was stoned outta their minds for Radiohead. The collective "OOHHHUUHHHHHH..." when Street Spirit (fade out) started was *hysterical*

fan bootleg from last night-
check it out here

www.shortwaverockin.blogspot.com

last night was just amazing as always. i feel something special for tonite though. let's hope for airbag, the bends, my iron lung, national anthem, & fake plastic treesto be included. and i'm guessing all of those will be...

The crowd at Radiohead seemed absolutely fine to me. I don't get the complaints; people like that everyone was quiet during the slower songs but then say the crowd was dead. Hmmmm, can't have it both ways. It WAS a very mellow set. The fans seemed to enjoy it and respect the band. Anyhoo, I'd have to guess that tonight will be significantly more uptempo. Can't wait.

How To Disappear Completely
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSXsd1HWm_k

fuck the ferry -- take the WATER TAXI.. its $7 each way, goes from basically the same areas as the expensive ferry, but theres hardly anyone on it, we didnt even pay on the way back to manhattan. it was the cheapest the best kept secret.
look up ny water taxi on line