I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 1, 2023] All Things Go [Day 2]

Sometime in April, my daughter asked if we could go to the All Things Go Festival.  I had never heard of this Festival and assumed the answer was no.  But then I saw that it was at the Merriweather Post Pavilion which is exactly three hours away from us.  So when tickets went on sale, I managed to get two pre-sale tickets for Sunday.  And then when they went on proper sale, I managed to score two more for Saturday.

Sunday was  the far more important day for music.  I mean, the whoel reason she wanted to go was to see boygenius (and Lana Del Rey).  But this was a great day of music to be sure.

Like yesterday, there were two early bands I wanted to see and then the day was hers.

I wanted to see Vundabar and Meet Me @ the Altar.  We arrived with what I thought was plenty of time, but we rain into a parking snarl (and a jackass cop) that slowed things down.  But, with our fast pass entry, we made it in plenty of time for Vundabar.

In fact we made it in plenty of time for Juliana Madrid who I gather went on a little late.  I only knew Vundabar because of her, so she watched them with me (we got a spot in the shade but could still see the stage).  I had tickets a while back for Meet Me @ the Altar, but I blew off the show feeling that made the music skewed too young for me.  But they played a great set and I hope to see them again.

In between they played Tommy Lefroy on the screen and I really enjoyed their set as well.  We maybe saw 20 minutes.

Then we went for food–yesterday the Veggie lo mein had sold out, so we wanted to get there early.  It was in high demand again–I’m surprised there wasn’t more vegetarian options, to be honest.  We missed Ella Jane.

Our plan was to arrive at the main stage early (around 3:30, get a seat in the middle, and park there all day for boygenius (since yesterday there were plenty of seats open for most of the day) [We had gotten GA+PAvillion which allowed us access to any seats (except VIP) and was vastly suprior to the lawn seats that were the cheapest level].  But when we walked by the Main stage, the seats were almost all full!

My daughter had wanted to help out the local causes who were making care packages for at risk youth. So we helped out there for a few minutes and then despaired over the seating options.  We didn’t want to sit in the far seats (bad angle and sun!) so we wound up sitting in the way back.  Not bad seats at all, but not as close as it seemed.  We kept an eye out for seats opening up, but between acts the aisles were crammed worth people hoping to get closer seats.

So we realized we were in for the long haul.  But with two of us it meant that we could come and go if one person kept our seats.

We saw Leith Ross.  We saw about five minutes of Samia on the screen and then Ethel Cain came on.  I hadn’t heard of her before this festival, but holy crap, the crows was insane for her.  Everyone stood for her entire set. I felt a little bad for Arlo Parks, who came on after and whom virtually no one stood for.

We had hoped to see Alvvays (I’ve seen them twice already), but we couldn’t leave our seats.  Happily, they were broadcast on the big screen for about 30 minutes.  My daughter really wanted to see Alex G. (I had seen him before), but honestly I was surprised anyone was at his stage since he was on just before boygenius.  They played about half of his set (which he ended early).  My daughter was happy because they played the three songs she liked whole he was on the video screen.

Then came boygenius.  Initially, beabadoobie was supposed  to play, but she had to cancel.  And because of that boygenius was given an extra half hour.  But they wound up coming on 15 minutes late!  And they didn’t end their set any later than they were scheduled.  Where was our extra half an hour?

Muna and boygenius have a huge amount of crossover. Muna was supposed to go on at 8, but fan requests pushed their set back to 8:10 so people could get to see them.  We enjoyed watching them on the screen and when hey played “Silk Chiffon,” the crowd in our pavilion danced as if they band was there.

Then came the big moment.  Lana Del Rey would be on at 9:30.  But she pulled a boygenius and was 15 minutes late.  Which I don’t understand as her stage was fully set and she had an entire 90 minutes since boygenius went off.  What was the hold up?  And it only punished the fans because the curfew’s hard cut off meant her set was short, too.

I was personally punished because my battery died during boygenius and I couldn’t document Lana at all.

My daughter really enjoyed Lana, but offered for us to leave a little early so that we could be the rush.  I’m not usually a leave early kinda guy, but I saw the wisdom of this.  With my battery dead we had to use her phone to get to the hotel.  Who knew there were two Hampton Inn’s in Columbia MD? We got home another 12 minutes later and there were people at the Gas Station/Snack shop who were clearly at the Festival.  Maybe they ubered home.

It was exhausting and fun and we woke up the next morning and had our complementary breakfast and then hit the road at 9:36 and got her back by 12:30 to run home, grab our stuff and get her to chemistry class by 1.

Phew.

I looked into getting boygenius tickets at Madison Square Garden because I knew the show would be great. But they were so expensive, that I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  Of course I was asleep by ten, so I’m pretty happy we didn’t try to go.

 

WALKED IN DURING:
Free Range–who I had just seen open for Ratboys last week.  They sounded bigger and better here.

SAW
Juliana Madrid–I hadn’t heard of her and didn’t think we’d see her.  It sounded like she went on late and we caught most of her set.  She was great and I enjoyed her indie rock sound–which proved to be much heavier than her records.
Vundabar–will get their own post
Tommy Lefroy (on screen)–will get their own post
Meet Me @ the Altar-will get their own post.

MISSED:
Ella Jane-sings intimate indie pop.  I liked her before the show but we missed her entirely.
No Vacation-is an American dream pop band.  I enjoyed the first song I’d heard by them, but not the rest. We were heading to the main stage so didn’t really see much of them.
Samia-was on the small stage while we were at the big stage and there wasn’t much overlap time for her to be on the screen.  She looked in full command of the crowd though.

SAW:
Leith Ross–she’ll get her own post
Ethel Cain–will get her own post
Alvvays (on screen)–will get their own post
Arlo Parks–will get her own post
Alex G. (on screen)–will get his own post
boygenius–will get their own post
MUNA–will get their own post
Lana Del Rey–will get her own post.

So Saturday proved to be more about exploring the Festival and Sunday was all about the music.  We had a lot of fun.  I’d consider going back again next year depending on who was playing.