All Points West: Day 1: Exclusive Photos of RADIOHEAD, CSS, Girltalk, Andrew Bird, Grizzly Bear, oh my!

Posted about 1 year ago

Artist:
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Radiohead
Album:
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- QUEUE
In Rainbows
Track:
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All I Need

ALL POINTS WEST DAY 1:

GRIZZLY BEAR

Brooklyn-based Grizzly Bear was a treat onstage. All members contribute vocals (which is a rarity these days) to craft ethereal rock grooves- light, atmospheric, and harmony-friendly.

Ed Droste lead singer of Grizzly Bear during a tender moment

Chris Taylor riffing

Daniel Rossen introspective

ANDREW BIRD

Andrew Bird brought two other musicians to help him with his one-man show. Regardless, all eyes were on him and his crazy methods for layering musical instruments over eachother into wonderous fok-based ballads (including the violin, whistling, guitar, mandolin & glockenspiel).

Andrew Bird on Violin

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum: A bassist and Guitarist Add Texture To Andrew Bird's Set

His Custom-built Horn Speaker. (It deserves it's own shot).

Cansei De Ser Sexy: CSS

You always know when the Brazilian crew CSS comes to town, they come ready to party. Granted, their music is much more show than about musical proficiency. But if you should know that already from song titles "Let's Make Love and Listen To Death From Above" and "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex." Regardless, LoveFoxxx resembled a clown on acid or a tri-colored piñata (hey- at least she didn't strip) while the day-glo crowd went wild, teen girls screamed at the front, balloons flew into the sky, and the rest of the band just strummed and chilled back.

LoveFoxx's clown attire

GIRLTALK

Gregg Gillis (i.e. DJ Girltalk) was at it again this weekend making a ruckus onstage. This time he brought with him blow up beach balls, blow-up animals, and 50 new onstage characters including a drag queen and a chick in a really revealing purple retro leotard. As the sunset over Manhattan, he played mash-ups of 80s hits and 90s old-school rap- from his ceran wrapped Panasonic computer (evidently in case people threw water) as people partied on and off stage.

(see Lollapalooza post for more details on last week's performance.)

Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis

Confetti And Life-savers.

The guy in the front didn't know he was being humped by two men from behind.

A civilized View.

A Noveaux Peace sign?

Radiohead

With the help of a thousand watts of thousand dollar LED lights, Radiohead graced the stage for their first New York-area show in more than two years..........and lived up to every exectation. Thom Yorke seemed particularily energetic during the opener, at one point just dancing and writhing around onstage as though lost in trance. Mr Yorke drifted delicately from microphone, to guitar, to keyboard, and back, as the backdrop frenetically flashed slit-frame images of the band. Since this festival with 30,000 people max- (although yesterday was not sold-out), APW felt a bit like a garden BBQ in comparison to some of Radiohead's other live sets, such as Lollapalooza where they performed to a packed-to-the-rim crowd in Grant Park. While the handful of bandmates onstage seemed larger than life, the performance itself seemed strangely intimate. And as one viewed Manhattan glimmering like a mirage in the background, as Yorke's voice beamed over our heads, it had a bit of a fairytale, empyreal quality.