Feastival 2002 Report(Zwan,Coldplay,Good Charlotte and more)

[FirestormXIII]

Well, last night I went to my first concert. It was the Y-100 Feastival, held at the First Union Center in Philadelphia.
I must say that it was lots of fun, and the whole night was filled with good music. Most of the concert was what I expected it to be like, but there were a few things that I didn't expect.

For one thing, people seemed to be into one or two of the bands more than any of the others on the lineup. Now, I suppose you could account this to the diverse lineup of bands that were playing, which were (in order from first playing to last up) Seether, Queens of the Stone Age, New Found Glory, Zwan, Good Charlotte, and Coldplay. But while the diversity might be a part of it, I think it had more to do with the crowd of 12 year old girls-wishing-they-were-sluts-trying-to-be-punk, who's daddies bought them tickets and brought them to the concert. The *only* bands that group was interested in were Good Charlotte and New Found Glory. Not that there's anything wrong with either of those bands, in fact, they both had great sets. But the problem is with the whole rush of people who want to (suddenly, I might add) be punk (nevermind the fact that punk has no real definition or image to follow, although *coincidentally* 90% of the punk-sluts looked like Avril Lavigne knock-offs. Who'da thunk it? =/ ) because it's an 'in' thing to do. But whatever, they were all gone by 10:30 anyway, probably past their bed times.

I unfortunately missed Seether, because we got to the concert a bit late. It was unfortunate, because I wanted to see Seether live and hear some of their other songs, but it was no huge loss, I'll just have to pick up their debut CD when I get the chance.

The second band to play was marked as the worst one by my friend/god brother and his older sister, who got the tickets. And they actually ended up being better than average after they finished, which boded well for the rest of the night. The band was Queens of the Stone Age, and if you're a fan of stoner rock then you would have been in heaven. This was the absolute worst band to have to get my ears used to the venue with first, because they were just knock down, drag out power rock and tear-your-ears-off-and-stomp-them-into-the-floor loud. But they were still good, especially after my ears got used to the volume. They were a little bit on the slow starting side, but they really got going after their first song, and their last song was a great, hard-rocking tune that I thoroughly enjoyed. And on top of that they sounded better live than they do on the radio.

The next band was where the crowd really started getting into things, and that band was New Found Glory. These guys had *energy x10* and were the first ones to get the crowd on their feet and jumping around. They were really good, they were all about having fun while they were up there. I feel sorry for the camera guys that werre on stage though, because NFG's lead singer loved to mess with them. At one point after one of their songs he said "Yo these cameras are really cool to play with. Hey, camera guy, get over here." When the camera guy finally came over the singer gave the camera the bird and said "Fuuuck you, camera guy." But after that he said he was just kidding and gave the camera guy a hug. Musically the band was really together, and they really connected to the audience. Just lots of fun with this band, and good music from opening to finish.

Now the fourth band to play gets the 'Musical Surprise of the Night Award' for coming out of absolutely nowhere and playing extremely well. To be honest I had never heard of Zwan before last night, and even when I heard about them I didn't have an inkling about who they were.. Turns out the front man for Zwan is none other than Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins. After I found that out I was a bit more interested about how the band would sound, but at best I figured they'd play a couple of their songs, and would then turn into the Smashing Pumpkins revisited for the rest of the set. Oh how wrong I was. Zwan, who is comprised of Billy Corgan (gtr & vocals, Pumpkins), Jimmy Chamberlain (drums, Pumpkins), Matt Sweney (gtr, Chavez), David Pajo (gtr, Slint), and Paz Lenchantin (bass, A perfect Circle) is a band just bristling with talent that stands on its own two feet without leaning on the Smashing Pumpkins at all, aside from two members of the band being in this band. Not a Pumpkins song was heard through their whole set, solidifying my notion that this band is its own entity. The high point of their set in my opinion was the last song they played. It was a musical tour-de-force that was topped off by a crazy guitar solo by Corgan that lasted like 10-15 mintues and went through several tempo and style changes ranging from straight rock to alternative some really free progressive rock and then some, and then back again. A lot of people in the crowd were of the four minute max attention span generation though, so a lot of them didn't really understand anything except 'this band has played a song that's lasted more than five minutes, I'm bored now'. They had no idea what they were missing. I thought it was fuckin' dynamite. Of course I'm kind of a throw back as far as attention span goes because jazz songs tend into the 6-10 minute range and longer depending on solos, and if you don't have the attention span then you miss a lot. If their performance was any indication I see good things in the works for Zwan. I'm defintely picking up their first album when it comes out in January.

The second to last band, Good Charlotte, was much like NFG as far as being able to get the crowd on their feet and just having a good time. But if NFG was *energy x10* then Good Charlotte was *energy x10^2*. And everyone was into it. Crowd surfing was at an all time high during their performance, and more than one mosh pit developed down on the floor. The first, and only, technical problem of the night reared its head when the band first came on and the lead singer's mic wasn't working. It didn't matter at all though, because everyone in the crowd already knew the words, and was singing to make up for any technical problems that were going down. By the time the chorus rolled around in the first song all was well with the mic again, and everything was in full swing. Good Charlotte talked more than any other band while they were onstage and really worked the crowd. They fit quite a few songs into their hour set, and I never realized how many songs I've heard/know that were played by them. It's going to be absolutely nuts when GC and NFG come back to Philly in the Spring along with (I believe) H2O.

Now at this point after Good Charlotte ended a good amount of people (see paragraph about 12 year old slut-punk hybrids for more details =P) started leaving, since they could have cared less about the last band, which while popular, wasn't punk. But no complaints, as their leaving left the crowd (true punks and non-punks alike) that cared about *all* the good music that was being played, for the last band and headliners for the Feastival, Coldplay.

Now as far as bands go in the lineup, Coldplay was probably the most different from the other bands. They can rock, but it's a different kind of rock than the other bands, and not quite as hard. But that didn't matter at all, because they were good. And keeping everyone's attention with their style of music after following up Good Charlotte is no easy task, but they managed to do it. Coldplay's frontman was really charismatic, and knew how to talk to a crowd, and musically the band was really tight. The lead singer/frontman also mixed in some choruses from Christmas songs in some of their songs, which got the crowd all excited. And he won 'The Absolute Funniest Moment of the Night Award' when he broke into a chorus of 'Hot in Here' (aka 'It's gettin' hot in here, so take off all your clothes...') at the end of one of their songs. Everyone was cheering and cracking up all at the same time. I fell out of my seat laughing, because it was the most unexpected thing that happened all night. Nobody even really noticed the switch until he said 'So take off all your clothes, I'm gonna take my clothes off too' because he made the transition so seamlessly. Truly hilarious stuff, those guys are just damn good musicians. They wrapped their set up with 'Yellow', only they rocked it harder than what you'd hear on the radio, which was a nice ending to the whole concert. They did do an encore song, which by its end transitioned into another Christmas song, complete with red and green lights shining down on the band. Nice ending to a great concert.

Well, that's my first concert/Feastival report. Oh wait, there was one other thing.

The rawktacity last night at the concert: I was one of all of three black guys at the concert. m/>_<m/ Rock forever, baby!

[kthulhu]

Well, if you had fun, that's the most important thing.

I'm probably going to go see <a href="http://www.blistering.com/news/newsdet. ... 3926">"The Art Of Noise Tour"</a> when it hits my town.

[SSJ Zero]

Sounds like fun was had by all.

We had a similar show (The Point Ho Ho Show) here but at a smaller venue.

With:
-Unchained (Local band, sounds like early Pearl Jam, they were ok.)
-Ok GO (Even with the lead singer having a broken leg and having to play on a stool, they still put on one hell of a show.)
-Sugarcult (Eh, the instruments were louder than the singing.)
-Breaking Benjamin (Very good, energy filled show.)
-New Found Glory (Oi, still one of my favorite bands, even with the 12 year old girls-wishing-they-were-sluts-trying-to-be-punk with their parents hanging in the back, maybe it's just because I'm a 12 year old girl-wishing-I-was-a-slut-trying-to-be-punk , haha.....no)
-Jimmy Eat World (Rawk. Simply Rawk.)

Well, that was my little spheel. Fun times were had by all here as well and I don't regret spending 40 bucks on it.

[BigshotSpike]

Goddamn you! You saw Zwan!
By the way, Zwan has a single out now called Honestly. It fucking rocks!
What?! Their album comes out in January? I'm putting it on my wish list right away.
Hopefully they'll come to Seattle.

[VegettoEX]

Firestorm, you realize you're going to be my best friend next semester, right? Play DDR, going to punk rock shows, make music videos... you'll fit in well, here :P

Anyway... when I see mentions of New Found Glory, obviously, I have to stick my head it.

Especially if I can make fun of Good Charlotte while I'm at it!

I've been into New Found Glory since they released "Nothing Gold Can Stay" on Drive-Thru. That's.. uhh.. four or five years of absolute fandom, now. They've gotten A LOT more popular in that time, and I've seen them grow up (both literally and musically) during this time (hell, Chad's the same age as me). I've seen them at venues ranging from a small club, all the way up to the Asbury Park Surf 'n Skate Fest (three day punk-rock festival goodness).

The "children" (specifically, yes, the Avril Lavigne-wanna be skanky girls) tend to ruin a lot of the fun. They're rude, they smell, wear FAR too much make-up (especially for their age... good god, you should be in your basement asking "What boy do you have a crush on?! Tee-hee!"). However, once NFG gets going, I forget all about the kids that are there, and remember just how much of a fan I am. They always get it going on, and the fact that kids tend to avoid the pits makes for a much better experience :).

Good Charlotte.

Meh.

I first heard about them, actually, when I saw the video for "Festival Song" on CTN (College Television Network... it's a cable channel we and many other universities get that plays a WIDE range of music videos and news). I noticed that Ian (bassist; NFG) was in the video, and they had Mest stickers, etc. OK, so they're into the same kind of music I am. OK, the lyrics to the song are pretty damn care-free, not worrying about things, and taking it as it comes. That's cool, I can "dig" that. I listened to a little bit of their first album. Alright stuff.

So they were doing a tour with Mest and Midtown (Midtown being one of my favorite bands, of course). Alright, we'll go to Philly and check out the show.

This was probably my WORST exposure to the "little girls" EVER. Plus, I was actually pretty sick that night. Heh. The girls ruined it. Like I mentioned, they're rude. REALLY rude. Most of the older guys and gals at the shows that are obviously FANS of the genre are REALLY cool, always nice, etc... the little girls are not. They'll push you out of the way and make derogatory comments... dammit, girl, I'm at least seven years older than you... >.<

Add to this the fact that Joel and Benji (yes, the two retards that host the Rock Show on MTV.. can't do an interview to save their lives) PLAY to these girls like there's no tomorrow. Always ripping off shirts, talking ONLY to the girls, bringing them on-stage, etc. It started getting on my nerves.

Then while I'm at the show, I start listening to their lyrics. EVERYTHING was about being treated shitty in high school, no-one likes them, blah blah blah. Oh, come on. Even NFG sings about things other than girls every so often.

I really don't care for Good Charlotte as a band, now. I still like a few individual songs, but given the chance, I would *not* go see them had I no other reason for going to one of their shows.

Midtown rocked the house that night, of course, though.

The most fun I've ever had at a show was when Senses Fail and The Starting Line played here a few months back. Students-only over in the Busch student center. Real fans, older fans like us, etc. etc. etc. It was fantastic. They played more songs than they did the previous night at Birch Hill, which was technically their last show of the current tour with Reel Big Fish.

Then again, seeing Kenny sing "Sellout" was nothing to be missed.

I totally forgot what the point I was getting at was. I don't think I had one other than to bash Good Charlotte.

[Cardinal.jpg]

Man that sounds like an alright night. I can't wait to see QOTS next year I've missed the opportunity before and wont make that mistake twice.

Also congrats on your first festival, I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful realtionship between you and live music.

[moooooo]

I've been into New Found Glory since they released "Nothing Gold Can Stay" on Drive-Thru. That's.. uhh.. four or five years of absolute fandom, now. They've gotten A LOT more popular in that time, and I've seen them grow up (both literally and musically) during this time (hell, Chad's the same age as me). I've seen them at venues ranging from a small club, all the way up to the Asbury Park Surf 'n Skate Fest (three day punk-rock festival goodness).

I haven't really been into NFG, but I'm pretty sure I'm the same age as Chad too. I just remember back in the early 90's when I used to go to hardcore shows with my friend's older brothers, Chad sang in this band Shai Hulud. It was fucking amazing. I only got to see them once or twice at the time, but still I was only a little kid then in middle school, and there was this other little kid, but he growled and screamed better than tons of people at that time. The lyrics were a bit on the cheesy side, but hell I miss the Hulud. It's never been the same since Chad left.

[starwire]

Sounds like a good show. Much better than the radio festival tour that we had here (Chicago) last week. It was the Q101 "Twisted Christmas" show, or to make it short and snappy (for the ADD generation - no offense to any of you that have it), Twisted 9, as we've had 'em 9 years in a row. The lineup?

Sugarcult
The Vines
Public Enemy (they never get played on the radio, so I have no idea why they were invited)
Local H (filled in for Moby, whose absense may or may not have had anything to do with his beat-down last week)
Jimmy Eat World
Box Car Racer
3 Doors Down
Disturbed

Funny how this show was in Chicago, and yet you got to see Zwan! Sounded like a cool show. Can't wait for the new album in January.

[AKH257]

i was there too