Because some anonymous commenter wants to know my take on the whole Decibel thing . . .
I think last year set the bar too high. (See here.)
I was not blown away by anyone's set. There wasn't a night that I had to be pried off the dance floor. Call it old age, but truthfully I felt that the acts were sub-par, and the whole festival could have been a lot tighter.
Thursday night, I waited in line for 20 minutes after going to the front to see if it was will call or to purchase, apparently it was both. So when I got to the front, I gave the ticket girl my name and she asked if I was on the TicketsWest list or the club list. "I don't know," I told her, "I bought a festival pass."
"Oh," she said, "You'll have to go to the Artificial Limb Company. That's where you get your festival wristband." Super. Six blocks away and I was already missing some of Simian Mobile Disco's set. So all the adrenaline and anticipation that had been building in the cab ride and waiting in line hearing the fat bass escape from the club quickly turned to irritation.
Have you ever noticed when you're excited about something, and then something else postpones the payoff, that your irritation is amplified? Yeah. Well, at least my anger propelled me up the street quicklier.
As I left the Artificial Limb Company with my bracelet, I ran into Donte and Svetlana. Their presence reinvigorated my adrenaline. So I arrived to hear the last half hour or so of Simian Mobile Disco's set--although they did play one of my least favorite songs to hear out, Laid Back's "Ride the White Horse." Their set was fun and party oriented. I danced a ton. I got really, really sweaty.
By the time Switch took the stage, I had already resigned myself to heading in to work. So I stood by the sidelines and enjoyed what he was playing. It wasn't nearly as ass-heavy as Simian Mobile Disco, and from what I could tell, the tracks were all his own, but it was decent.
Friday night I camped at Chop Suey for Jacob London and DJ Heather. I thought both sets were good. Jacob London took a techier approach than I was expecting and Heather brought her well-branded sound.
Saturday was Jerry Abstract, Robert Babicz, 3 Channels and Speedy J. We left before Speedy J even took the stage. Babicz set was mind numbing. He rode the effects processor like a hippie--a hippe in a Venom t-shirt. 3 Channels had not one, but two technical difficulties that stopped the party dead in its tracks. After two other nights of dancing, I just couldn't hang for Speedy J.
My other issue was with the "VIP" room for Neumo's. Where is it? Upstairs? In Moe's bar? These are the sorts of things that I paid for with my 4 day pass, but I didn't even get an email to tell me where things were or how to access them. I would really liked to have heard Jeff Samuel's set, but I didn't know how to find him.
I will tell you that next year I won't be buying a pass. I'll be cherry picking the acts I want to see and I won't make myself exhausted. I hope next year they bring some better acts.
Sean Horton, the guy who runs DecFest, is bringing Trentemoller here on October 8th. I'm sure his show will be far and away better than all the acts at this year's Decibel Fest.
I think last year set the bar too high. (See here.)
I was not blown away by anyone's set. There wasn't a night that I had to be pried off the dance floor. Call it old age, but truthfully I felt that the acts were sub-par, and the whole festival could have been a lot tighter.
Thursday night, I waited in line for 20 minutes after going to the front to see if it was will call or to purchase, apparently it was both. So when I got to the front, I gave the ticket girl my name and she asked if I was on the TicketsWest list or the club list. "I don't know," I told her, "I bought a festival pass."
"Oh," she said, "You'll have to go to the Artificial Limb Company. That's where you get your festival wristband." Super. Six blocks away and I was already missing some of Simian Mobile Disco's set. So all the adrenaline and anticipation that had been building in the cab ride and waiting in line hearing the fat bass escape from the club quickly turned to irritation.
Have you ever noticed when you're excited about something, and then something else postpones the payoff, that your irritation is amplified? Yeah. Well, at least my anger propelled me up the street quicklier.
As I left the Artificial Limb Company with my bracelet, I ran into Donte and Svetlana. Their presence reinvigorated my adrenaline. So I arrived to hear the last half hour or so of Simian Mobile Disco's set--although they did play one of my least favorite songs to hear out, Laid Back's "Ride the White Horse." Their set was fun and party oriented. I danced a ton. I got really, really sweaty.
By the time Switch took the stage, I had already resigned myself to heading in to work. So I stood by the sidelines and enjoyed what he was playing. It wasn't nearly as ass-heavy as Simian Mobile Disco, and from what I could tell, the tracks were all his own, but it was decent.
Friday night I camped at Chop Suey for Jacob London and DJ Heather. I thought both sets were good. Jacob London took a techier approach than I was expecting and Heather brought her well-branded sound.
Saturday was Jerry Abstract, Robert Babicz, 3 Channels and Speedy J. We left before Speedy J even took the stage. Babicz set was mind numbing. He rode the effects processor like a hippie--a hippe in a Venom t-shirt. 3 Channels had not one, but two technical difficulties that stopped the party dead in its tracks. After two other nights of dancing, I just couldn't hang for Speedy J.
My other issue was with the "VIP" room for Neumo's. Where is it? Upstairs? In Moe's bar? These are the sorts of things that I paid for with my 4 day pass, but I didn't even get an email to tell me where things were or how to access them. I would really liked to have heard Jeff Samuel's set, but I didn't know how to find him.
I will tell you that next year I won't be buying a pass. I'll be cherry picking the acts I want to see and I won't make myself exhausted. I hope next year they bring some better acts.
Sean Horton, the guy who runs DecFest, is bringing Trentemoller here on October 8th. I'm sure his show will be far and away better than all the acts at this year's Decibel Fest.
1 comment:
that's exactly how i felt this year! everything was disorganized and it was like they weren't trying this year. sad. very very sad. it's all we have here.
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