11th
All Points West Music Festival (Day 3)
Day 3 was a great day for music. Jeff met me at my apartment, we grabbed some sandwiches and took off on the 3 rail journey. We arrived about an hour earlier than we had planned for, so we hit the beer garden to kill some time. It was a dark, gray day out and the crowd was much smaller than the day before.
At 3:15, we headed over to the main stage to catch Rodrigo y Gabriela. A bunch of my friends saw them in the city a few months ago and have been raving about them ever since. Well, they totally blew me away. They are a brother and sister duo who both play the guitar. And the drums. Sort of. You see, they both bang on their guitars like they are bongos. It sounds amazing and must truly be seen to be believed. Their hands move so fast, as they strum the strings while banging the wood. Crazy! It started raining during their set and I swear as they banged on their instruments harder, it rained harder.
After the set ended, we had about 3 hours until Trey came on. Jeff proposed we go play some games. They had these carnival games there but I avoided them as I only wanted to spend money on food and beer. Well the joke was on me all weekend, since all the games were free! We played for a while (I won on the football toss with a sick shovel pass) and then went and grabbed some food.
After killing some more time at the beer garden, Trey finally came on at 7:30. He opened with Sand. Jeff commented how he has pared his group down to him, a bassist, a drummer and a pianist. For those keeping score, that’s Phish’s setup. The second Sand came on, my body forgot that it was hurting like a mo-fo and I started dancing. I don’t know what it is, but Trey’s guitar just forces me to dance. Around 8:10, Jeff called it quits and took off for the ferry. I tried to convince him to stay for Jack Johnson, but I knew that if it was Radiohead again tonight I was so out of there.
At 8:30, Trey ended and I walked over to Jack Johnson. He came on 4 minutes later. The set was very mellow and he played a bunch of songs off of all his albums. I can’t complain about the selection although there was a few songs off his new album that I wanted to hear that he didn’t play. I knew that Jack would invite a bunch of guests on to the stage since he always does and Matt Costa and Ben Harper both played that day. But what a total shock when he brought up Trey. They jammed to Mudfootball with Trey wailing on his guitar as Jack sang. Oh man was it awesome! I pretty much never thought I would see these 2 playing together. That was worth the (steep) price of admission right there.
So there it is - All Points West wrapped up. I definitely had a great 3 days. It was tiring and at times painful, but the music more than made up for it. I had many moments of critical thinking about my job. I think that I have one of the best jobs I could ever ask for. I work on music players all day that are seen by million of people. But at a music festival like this, it really hits you how much it is truly ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC. Music is the universal language that brings everyone together. Watching it in a forum like this just makes you realize that even more. I thought about a bunch of things this weekend that I know will influence my work. I was truly excited when I woke up this morning.