2002-08-05 - 23:21

Long road to glory

The New York trip was an awesome time. We took off early Friday morning and made it to our hotel on Long Island by late afternoon. We missed some of Area 2, taking our seats in time to see the end of the Blue Man Group's performance. That was rather freaky. The blue men were backed by a nine-piece band that included four full drum kits. If you like percussion, you were all set; and I do, so I was.

Busta Rhymes was fairly fun, although the crowd response was under what I would have expected. At the very least, he reinforced my opinion that he is the most shameless self-promoter in music today. Heheh.

The later bands at Area 2 had to compete with a thunderstorm; but the music ultimately won. I really enjoyed Bowie (he was rather funny), although the lightning seemed to shorten his set slightly. Much like last year's tour, Moby set himself up with a hard act to follow; but he came through with another great set. His performance was definitely my favourite portion of the festival.

On the day off, Aaron and I hit New York City. We did the harbour cruise, checked out some of Central Park, went up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, and walked a significant length of Manhattan. I was definitely tired by the end of that day, but content with how we spent our spare time.

Both concerts were held at the Jones Beach Amphitheater. On Sunday, we took advantage of the beach itself, heading down early enough to get in a few hours of swimming before the show. The beach was fantastic. Even though it was crowded near shore, very few people went more than twenty feet into the water, so there was always room to swim. Of course, the beach was also good for its sights (some people are not shy). Most importantly, it was an escape from the ridiculous heat. When it wasn't thundering from the heavens this weekend, New York was insanely hot.

By 5:00, we took our seats for the second festival date, Smokin' Grooves. Cee-Lo got things started. I didn't know much about him going in; but he put on a very rocking show with the opening spot on the bill. Next up was Truth Hurts. That wasn't exactly my thing, but I still respected the delivery and vocal talent.

Jurassic 5 had the middle position on the bill. Out of both festivals, they were the band that I was most looking forward to seeing; and they lived up to my high hopes. I'll do a better recap when I write my real reviews (tomorrow, perhaps); but suffice it to say that J5 was flawless. I'm really looking forward to the new album, especially after hearing the killer set-closer, "What's Golden?"

It was cool having such close seats, since sometimes it seemed like the J5 guys were able to look right at me. Then again, there were only a few people really getting into their performance enough to hop around; and, as usual, few people out-goon me at a show. (I hopped and bopped quite well for Moby, too, although I'll admit to being a notch below my A game for the conclusion of Smokin' Grooves.)

Next up, Lauryn Hill took her train wreck act to the stage. It's interesting to watch her since she went crazy. Although, since every song had all the paranoia, angst, screaming vocals, and repetitiveness of a nu-metal band, channeled through an acoustic guitar, it's just as well that she had a relatively short stage time.

The Roots were as strong as they had been in Ottawa two years ago, although with less time for jamming. I thought that things slowed down a bit with the long stay of the female vocalist; and the band definitely let Rahzel steal the show at the end. Overall, though, I really appreciated seeing them again.

As for Outkast, they were every bit as energetic as when I saw them at Area 1 last year. There were few new tricks, but their hard work and excellent crowd response ended the night on a high note.

Today, we hit the highway at 5:30 AM. I dozed off and on through that trip; but I woke up enough when I got home to give Aaron and Loralei a hand in moving. They helped me out in turn, bringing the patio furniture and a dresser to my house. I also tagged along on their Ikea trip and snagged four more CD towers that might be assembled tomorrow.

After moving and getting my house set up last week, I was tired before I left for New York; and now I'm really zonked. It was certainly worth it, though. Both concerts were a lot of fun and it was cool to see somewhere new.

Whenever I'm feeling ambitious (not tonight), I'll do a better job of reviewing those shows and I'll slap some pictures on my web site.

Now I just need to remember if I know the muffin man . . .

J.