Music Festival 101

PCarlson2010

It is that time of year again - music festival season. It is when the lineups are announced and festivals compete for our attendance. So, if you've never been before, here is my music festival guide for all you Bonnarookies, Jam virgins, and first time Coachellans.

Chose wisely
There are a lot of music festivals out there, so how do you choose? First, look at how far you have to travel. Also think about whether or not you like to camp and are okay with battling the elements. Remember, it rains at Mountain Jam and it's hot in Tennessee.

 

Go with friends
This will guarantee you a great time. If you hit the festival solo, you're in a lottery with your fellow campers. Camping with friends allows you to not only enjoy an awesome time together, but avoid what could potentially be awkwardness if you don't have great vibes with your fellow campers. Also, if you're not into the full on festival camping experience, you can always look at options "off campus". Look at local camp grounds, hotels (they can get pricey) or rentals. Also, RV's can be the way to go.

 

 

Plan ahead
This is key. Remember, most stores close to the festival will be sold out or will jack up prices. If you're going with friends, divide and conquer. Maybe one of you has an awesome stove and someone else has a nice outdoor camping shower. Divide up your shopping list, making sure you know what you can and can't have in the campsite. Bring food, beverages, and water. This will cost you a lot once you're in the festival. Save the money for souvenirs or a nice hotel post festival. Don't forget to plan for the weather.

 

PCarlson 2010

Don't anticipate much sleep
Seriously - don't. Most music festivals go 24 hours a day. Again, this involves planning. All music festivals will have a lineup via app so you can choose wisely who you need to see. Some of the best moments happen in the wee hours of the morning when you aren't expecting it. But, for safety, you should try and get some sleep, especially if you have a long drive home, or you get incredibly annoying if you're sleep deprived.

 

Fucking Hydrate
Yes, I said that and I cannot stress it enough!!  It is a long weekend usually in the hot sun. You don't want to be the one wimping out on Saturday or ending up at the medical clinic. Drink water at your campsite and during the festival. Most festivals allow you to bring in unopened bottles of water. Do yourself and your friends a favor - hydrate.

Don't YouTube and Instagram  the entire event...let the professionals do that
I've stopped going to as many shows because I don't want to deal with watching you tape a show. It's cool to snap a picture or take a five second clip, but after that you annoy me. There are people paid to film the show. Most of the time you can see your favorite moments captured on the live stream, Instagram, or from awesome concert photographers like Danny Clinch. I get it, you want to share that moment, but realize you're limiting other's enjoyment.

Choosing bands- possibly the toughest decision of your young life
Flaming Lips or Daryl Hall, Alabama Shakes or Mumford and Sons. It just ain't fair. Those responsible for the lineups are playing God and they know it. Sometimes you have to chose. It's important to have these decisions worked out with your friends as well. You don't want that argument to happen and you miss a super jam between Jimmy Page, Flea, Eugene Hutz, and Nicole Atkins (wouldn't that be amazeballs). Also, make sure to check out bands you've never heard of. It could be your next favorite band of all time.

 

PCarlson2013

 

Prepare for the most insane music moments
You never see it coming. That music moment that is forever seared in your soul. It's a mix of things that make it "that moment." It could be the song that never stops in the middle of a monsoon, the amalgam of the atmosphere, the moment, and the crowd, or it's the song itself that just drives home to ever single cell in your body.

I've had several of these moments and it definitely alters something inside of you. Thousands of people connecting with the international language of music to one moment in time is something you have to experience.

Here is one of my favorite moments. It was from Bonnaroo 2oo8. It was Pearl Jam's first festival since a tragedy in Europe that had killed several festival goers. It was hot that night and they were well over an hour into the set. I was walking with a drummer friend at the back of the crowd and when this song began, everyone had their lighters and cell phones lit and I commented it looked like a constellation. Everyone was singing along and it was if the world only existed on the farm in Tennessee at that moment. It was a moment I will forever cherish.

So go forth and conquer your first festival and make some new memories with new and old friends.

 

The Ultimate Gypsy Punk Experience - Gogol Bordello

You've heard me mention them a few times: Gogol Bordello. Just what the hell is Gogol Bordello anyway? Well, I am here to set you straight.

 

While backstage at Bonnaroo in 2008, I was thrown into the world of Gypsy Punk.

 

 

Saturday was a day of new bands and performers I had never seen play live. I was able to see Little Feat and Levon Helm in The Other Tent. In the band lounge with Dino, I kept on asking who was playing outside on the Which Stage. I didn't know who Gogol Bordello was but I was determined to find out. I was not prepared for insane time that would follow. Gogol Bordello are a gypsy punk band with members from everywhere. They play, what my friend has deemed, hard rock polka. Their jams are contagious. Fiddles, girls in red spandex banging drums and cymbals, a lead singer straight from the Ukraine via the lower east side, accordions (this was like the year of accordions, I swear). I began to dance with a kid from Manchester Michigan. It felt like we were flying as we attempted to keep up with the music. At one point, he looked at his watch and proclaimed: I think we broke time. My watch isn't working. I went back stage as soon as they were done to share with Billy and Dino my new favorite band. Dino (the drummer)was in an all out Guitar Hero dual and Billy was talking to a writer for High Times Magazine. I wanted to move to Bonnaroo!

I have never looked back since. But WHO are Gogol Bordello? Their named derived from famed Ukrainian author Nikolai Gogol and a word that means brothel, Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy Punk band from New York City's Lower East Side. Formed in 1999, it's current and past members are as diverse as their songs.

Lead singer and pied piper Eugene Hutz is the son of Ukrainian musician and half Roma mother. The gypsy behind the punk, Eugene champions the plight of the gypsies.

 

 

Back Up Singer / Percussionist Chinese - Scottish Bad Ass Elizabeth Sun is the only girl in the band but she packs a punch. She sings and plays the cymbals ... and the first I saw her she was wearing red spandex.

 

Sergey Ryabtsev is a Russian bear of  power and the brawn behind the violin that gives us the Ennio Morricone-esque backbone of these songs.

 

Pedro Erazo hails from Ecuador and is a lively guy, known to crowd surf on his drum while rapping. He recently broke and arm doing said crowd surfing. And that is me down there in the crowd at Webster Hall.

 

Tommy T is an Ethipoian wonder on the bass. This is the bass that hold everything together - the accordion, the violin, the crazy dancing.

 

Oliver Charles (drums) and Michael Ward (guitar) are both USA natives and carry the band through some quick paced, jump worthy solos.

 

And last but certainly not least, the accordion players (and I love accordion players). Yuri Lemeshev was the original accordion player for Gogol and was recently replaced by Pasha Newmer. Growing up in a polka loving, Slovak family, the love for the accordion player is akin to my love for the bass player. It's what makes the gypsy punk, gypsy.

 

They have seven albums under their belt since 1999. Heavy on the violin, drum and accordion, their songs deal with the serious - nationalism and hate; to the funny and inane - think WEARING PURPLE.

 

Their albums in order of release:

Voi-La Intruder 

Multi Kontra Culti vs. Irony

Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike

Super Taranta!

Live from Axis Mundi

Trans-Continental Hustle

Pura Vida Conspiracy

Pura Vida has to be their most comprehensive album to date. While I love all of their albums, songs such as Not a Crime, Ultimate, and Hats Off to Kolpakoff, their songs on Pura Vida (or Pure Life) are progressive gypsy punk. And again the songs are not only upbeat in tempo, but also in message. Songs like Dig Deep Enough, and It is the Way You Name Your Ship are empowing songs about moving along on your own journey, even if it doesn't take you exactly where you want to be at first. Malandrino is a typical happy Gogol song on the album.

 

Why do I think it's the best album yet? Each song is different. It's got a different vibe and message. The album feels like Eugene is at a apoint in his life where he is stopping to review where he has been and charting a course for the future journey.

 

And I love Gogol Bordello much that I have not only travelled to see them, but I have spent numerous New Year's Eve celebrations with them. Their live shows are nothing but energy. Warning to you first timers: if you go front row, be prepared to dance, mosh, be swept up in a wave of people, and possibly wear red wine. It's a global music celebration. 

 

Gypsies, Golden Hair Rock Gods and the Belle of St. Marks

Robert Plant Prospect Park

 

I have to surmise that it seems that my music adventures come in tsunamis. No, I cannot simply go to see a show. My behavior is quite obsessive when it comes to music, I openly admit. I had a perfect close to July this year, seeing a legend. one of my favorite bands multiple times, and an 80's icon.

 

When you are a rock and roll fan, you would travel far and wide to see legend, Robert Plant. Although some are mad at him that he won't do a Zeppelin reunion - I get it. He's moved on and in true artist style, he isn't in that vibe anymore. He has embraced southern blues and he has done so with his entire being.

 

I've seen him in Tennessee and twice in New York, but when I heard he was playing in Brooklyn, it was an opportunity not to be missed.

 There was quite the mix of audience members from four year- olds to probable 1970's groupies. And we were all there for the same reason. I knew the show would be good, but when he opened with Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You, I just knew the night would be fantastic. He didn't disappoint. He continued with varied versions of In the Mood, Black Dog, Goin' to California, Four Sticks, Friends, a soulful cover of Fixin' to Die, What is and What Should Never Be, Rock and Roll and a few others. For someone not in the Zeppelin mood - he was that night. The songs would all start out mysterious, bluesy, tribal, and then WHAM, pure rock and roll Led Zeppelin. What everyone is Prospect Park received that night was a gift. Robert Plant is not only a legend but he is a talented musician who continues to learn about the job he loves so very much.

 

 

Moving right along. Back in 2008, I witnessed the beginning of my love affair with this Gypsy Punk band from New York City's Lower East Side: Gogol Bordello. Maybe it is my Slovak background and the numerous Sunday's spent listening to polkas, but I fell in love immediately. With the  release of their latest album Pura Vida Conspiracy, I had the opportunity to see them three obsessive times in one week. 

Pasha and Elizabeth

Every time I see Gogol Bordello, there seems to be more energy, more synergy and more mosh pits. Eugene exudes nothing but positive energy, Sergey is a Russian violin god and, I do miss Yuri, but he chose well with the new accordion player, Pasha. If you get the opportunity - do not miss them. Warning though, if you stand up front, be prepared to dance, fit pump, jump up and down and crowd surf.

  

 

 

Just when I thought my musical adventure had come to an end, a co-worker told me that none other than Sheila E was performing for free at BAM's Metrotech lunch series. You must check out their summer calendar folks. I saw Richie Havens a few years back - and it's free!

 

So I trekked down to Metrotech in the rain and made it just in time to hear the first cheers from the crowd. And there she was - the drummer for Prince,  Sheila E. Highlight of the lunch hour show? Hearing the classic Belle of St. Marks live

  

 

So there you have it, my end of July music extravaganza. I never, ever pass up the opportunity to see music if it is possible. If you love music as much as I do, surround yourself with musicians that do the same. You want to walk away from a show knowing they gave their all for you and enjoyed every minute of it!