APW Fest: Day 1, Friday Tickets Honored for Saturday & Sunday, Yeah Yeah & Ra Ra

Erika of Heartless Bastards

The colossal indie rock, comedy circus of the summer, All Points West, greeted fans for its second year at Jersey City’s Liberty State Park. The weather managed to hold up for longer than was expected. The forecast predicted rain around noon, but it didn’t start until about 3:40pm when Fleet Foxes was performing. It was just enough rain where it wasn’t annoying and it was actually quite beautiful to see the band on the big screen with the Jersey City skyline right behind me seeing couples embrace, friends chatting, and the crowd enjoying the ‘foxes set. While the rain caused people to buy $5 ponchos and mess up their shoes, it prompted the festival team to welcome concert-goers back to the park saying: "Due to today’s stormy weather, we'd like to invite Friday ticket holders to be our guests at the festival on Saturday or Sunday. Simply bring your Friday ticket or Friday ticket stub for entry into your choice of Saturday or Sunday." But let me back up.

Upon entering the park I was given an All Points West passport, complete with a map and schedules for the three day festival-definitely a cool souvenir. It took a little longer to get to the park, so I had to run to see Heartless Bastards set. I was able to catch about 25 minutes of their wonderful set. Erika's voice was great, similar to Janis Joplin in some respects. The band had a blues-groove rock feel to them and I couldn’t help but think killer an addition they would’ve been to the Dead Weather/Screaming Females tour.

Next, it was time for some laughs with Bo Burnham who delivered his comedy via song. He played on keyboard and guitar providing a catchy set of tunes with a funny twist to them.

Eugene Mirman went on stage right after Burnham came off, but he seemed to make mostly black jokes. I tend to enjoy a variety of jokes. So, I wandered away to check out the craft fair, the food stands, and the art displays before seeing some of Seaside Steve who had a country/rock feel to him. I caught Telepathe as I passing by their stage but they quickly turned me off with their poor drum machine beats and inaudible vocals.

Next was Ra Ra Riot who I believe played everything off their latest and first album, The Rhumb Line. The singer said he thought only 5 people would be watching them due to the rain but that he’s grateful so many people saw the band. “Ghost Under Rocks,” into “Too Too Fast,” and “Dying is Fine,” were great to finish up with. They also announced that they will be heading to upstate New York to work on their second album.

A few songs into Fleet Foxes it started raining but this didn’t seem to bother the crowd, who was really getting into the band’s performance. Carolina Liar had the misfortune of playing when Vampire Weekend was going on but the modest crowd size responded well to the Liar's set. They rocked and got the crowd excited.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs put on one of the best big show live performances I’ve seen. There was a huge on the stage which drew your attention and one by one members of the band made their way on stage. Singer Karen O. strutting her stuff and jumping around to the band’s latest “Heads will roll.” Karen O. moved around, used her mic, shouted, and spoke to the crowd, showing her great stage presence. The band rolled through catchy song, after catchy song and a lighter one as well. One of the catchiest and sweetest parts of the set was the introduction to "Maps." She said "we'd like to sing you a summer love song...so we like to dedicate this song to Yeah Yeah Yeahs family and Yeah Yeah Yeahs loved ones...we like to dedicate this song to MCA and the Beastie Boys...and most importantly we like to dedicate this song to all you lovers in the crowd tonight braving the storm."

"Wait...they don't love you like I love you."

Highlights: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ra Ra Riot, Heartless Bastards, Fleet Foxes, Carolina Liar.