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Day One
Jun 3, 2017 9:18:28 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by cincinnatisound on Jun 3, 2017 9:18:28 GMT -5
Day one thoughts?
Crowd was smaller than I'm used to. Easy to get around. I didn't wait in long lines for food, beer, or restrooms. Not using that cashless system helped, but it also felt like fewer people helped more.
July Talk, Mutemath, and DCFC were awesome. The Shins were kind of boring and Civil Twilight were really really boring. They had an hour set and played 45. July Talk should have had at least 45. They were extremely entertaining.
I caught parts of Flor and The Upset Victory. I didn't catch any of the rap artists.
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Day One
Jun 3, 2017 10:03:42 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by kbach on Jun 3, 2017 10:03:42 GMT -5
Day one thoughts? Crowd was smaller than I'm used to. Easy to get around. I didn't wait in long lines for food, beer, or restrooms. Not using that cashless system helped, but it also felt like fewer people helped more. July Talk, Mutemath, and DCFC were awesome. The Shins were kind of boring and Civil Twilight were really really boring. They had an hour set and played 45. July Talk should have had at least 45. They were extremely entertaining. I caught parts of Flor and The Upset Victory. I didn't catch any of the rap artists. Smallest crowd I can remember. Got there at 2:45. No line at all to get in, or for beers or bathrooms all day. July Talk was fantastic. Civil Twilight put me to sleep. The Shins first half was boring, I agree, but the second half was great. The Phantom Limb, Simple Song, New Slang, Sleeping Lessons with a bit of Tom Petty was fantastic. I saw the Shins in 2014 and did think they were better then. DCFC was fantastic. I also did not catch any of the rap, but I could hear the bass from far away. I left after DCFC and went to Fountain Square and saw about 45 minutes of Swear and Shake. They are fantastic, and I highly recommend checking them out. I will be there today after the Reds game. I'm not a big EDM guy, did not enjoy deadmau5 last year, but we'll see. Excited for tomorrow though. |
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Day One
Jun 3, 2017 10:37:26 GMT -5
Post by GUEST on Jun 3, 2017 10:37:26 GMT -5
Day one thoughts? Crowd was smaller than I'm used to. Easy to get around. I didn't wait in long lines for food, beer, or restrooms. Not using that cashless system helped, but it also felt like fewer people helped more. July Talk, Mutemath, and DCFC were awesome. The Shins were kind of boring and Civil Twilight were really really boring. They had an hour set and played 45. July Talk should have had at least 45. They were extremely entertaining. I caught parts of Flor and The Upset Victory. I didn't catch any of the rap artists. Yep. It actually turned out a lot better than I thought. Really easy day, Death Cab was so much better live than a lot of people led me to believe. So glad I got to see them. Bummed that I missed Mutemath. The Shins were a bit boring, but still glad I had a chance to see them. I guess it was worth the ticket to see a couple of bands I had been wanting to see, and not have to fight crowds to see them. A very different experience than 2015, but I enjoyed myself. The question is, will Promowest see this as a success? Will this be the future of the festival, or will we have this festival next year? |
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Day One
Jun 5, 2017 12:01:08 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by akronbunbarian on Jun 5, 2017 12:01:08 GMT -5
It's over now, but I'll put my 2 cents in.
Flying Underground was a great opener. July Talk was incredible and should have had more time. I liked Civil Twilight. Love Letters from the Sky and Immigrant Song killed. Skipped Shins for Mutemath and they were way better in this setting than when they opened for TOP. Death Cab was really good. Never a huge fan but they impressed. Kinda like 30 Seconds to Mars was for me on Sun. Skipped Wiz. Sounded horrible to me as I walked by.
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Day One
Jun 5, 2017 15:47:53 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by kbach on Jun 5, 2017 15:47:53 GMT -5
I guess it's time for my full review. I hated Saturday. Only bands I wanted to see overlapped, San Fermin and VHS Collection. I went to the Reds game instead, suite life so free beer, left about 8:15 and got in at 8:30. Watched Pretty Lights for about 15 minutes and bailed. EDM is not my thing.
As for Sunday, I loved it. Dreamers were a great first band of the day. Flogging Molly (never got into them) were so much fun. Moon Taxi was fantastic. Really good performance. Took a little break before John Bellion. Watched a bit of him, left soon after. Checked out The Reverend, he was great. I was not impressed with 30 Seconds. Leto was way too focused on the crowd cheering and singing. 1975 were good and Muse was incredible. Hearing Knights of Cydonia after the 11 PM ordinance was great.
Overall, loved Friday and Sunday. Hated Saturday. 8/10 for me. I'll definitely be back next year.
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Post by E-Train on Jun 6, 2017 17:36:09 GMT -5
Overall, I had a lot of fun. Can't say it was worth the price of VIP at all though. Friday was a total wash for me - Eden was the artist I was looking forward to the most, and it was an incredibly boring, uninspired live set. Mutemath was alot of fun, easily the best of the day for me, but I ended up towards the back and couldn't see too well since the river stage got moved. DCFC was what I expected from seeing them before, that is, they played their songs and seemed sort of checked out, but their catalog is so deep it's still fun to listen to. Had some really rude drunk girls talking so loud in front of us for half of it. Wiz I just didn't get at all.
Saturday picked up a bit - I was very pleasantly surprised by Frenship. I thought their recorded stuff was just ok, but their live show, level of commitment, and mostly just how much fun they were having really won me over. Dram was pretty fun, and he and his band were impressive musically more than you would know from the album. I couldn't get into PL or Bassnectar at all. It was so boring to me. I mentioned I didn't like it on reddit and got attacked by a bunch of bassheads saying I was "fucking ignorant' so that was cool.
Sunday was my favorite day. We came right at opening to secure a good spot for Watsky since there was no VIP at the river stage, and that ended up paying off in the form of the Arkells. WOW. Easily the heroes of the weekend for me. What an incredible show, so much love and energy, so responsive to the crowd and engaged. I became a fan immediately. Watsky was great as usual, really wish he had more than 45 minutes. I ran righ from there to Jon Bellion over at Sawyer but even with an hour to go before, the rail and second row were filled with people who had camped out all day for 1975. This to me is an indicator that they're selling too many VIP tickets. Jon was supposed to play an hour, but technical issues had him start about 15 minutes late and he had to modify his set alot - it was actually really cool to see how he and his band were able to recreate the songs on the fly without his sampler, keyboard or monitors working! Very impressive, but it also meant that his vocals had to be turned down a bit and his set shortened which was a shame.
Overall, I am thinking next yer is time to try my money at forecastle or somewhere else that has great reviews from this year. Just didn't feel like a special enough experience for the money.
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Post by akronbunbarian on Jun 7, 2017 7:25:58 GMT -5
Overall, I'm still glad I went, despite Sat having the worst lineup imaginable for me. The heat and sun really put a damper on things Sat and Sun in the afternoon. We mostly stuck to shade and the local acts on the acoustic stage Sat. I would have liked to have been on the rail for San Fermin, but I couldn't stand the heat. My balding scalp was already burned from Fri. I caught Tech N9ne from the VIP and liked it. We watched a little of Pretty Lights and Bassnectar, but ended up leaving early as expected.
White Reaper we watched from afar on Sun. Arkells sounded good but we were eating in the VIP. I watched about 2/3 of Flogging Molly's set from up close. They were fantastic. Had to bail due to sun eventually though. Moon Taxi I heard but never got close for the same reason. We got into position at the main stage VIP during AFI. I thought they were terrible...same thing over and over. We both enjoyed 30STM a lot. We didn't have a lot of expectations going in, but thought Leto put on a great performance. Seeing Muse at Bunbury was surreal for me. They were incredible and Matt was maybe 30 feet from us.
As far as the future, it is unknown for us. We will not be buying VIP before the lineup comes out again, that's for sure. If there is as much rap and EDM next year, we almost certainly will choose Laurelive or Firefly. Hopefully Promo West will step their game up and make it a predominantly indie festival again next year. If so, I'll likely buy VIP again.
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