On The Scene at Langerado
As Widespread Panic referenced New York City during last night’s Bust It Big, I got a little sad that Langerado had come and gone. For the second year in a row it was a flawless weekend at the little festival that could.
And I was so impressed with Widespread’s headlining set, I flashed them as they left the venue behind a Sunrise Police cruiser. I’m sure Schools appreciated that.
There were only two complaints I heard all weekend, one of which is a fair criticism, and the other is just another case of jamband fan idiocy. A few days before the festival an e-mail update went out that mentioned a second exit out of the park that would relieve traffic congestion. Let me know if anyone found that supplementary egress, because I spent all weekend searching for it.
But the other criticism is ludicrous: the people complaining about the lack of an encore from Widespread. Panic walked off stage at 10 pm after playing a 150-minute, greatest hits blockbuster set that maybe contained two minutes of downtime. A large group in the crowd audibly booed when Annabel Lukins came out to announce the show was indeed over when the crowd didn’t leave. She must have been psyched to get that plum assignment.
Langerado has a strict 10 pm curfew. My hotel was three miles from the main stage and you could hear the music clearly from the festival, so I can understand how the organizers weren’t looking to blow through the curfew on a Sunday night. Panic consciously decided that instead of wasting five minutes leaving the stage and coming back for an encore they would just play until the curfew. People should be applauding that decision. We actually got extra music, dumbasses.
Anyway, with the brief lecture over, let’s take a look at some more of my favorite things seen and overheard around the Langerado festival this year…
- Matisyahu in reference to his apparently impromptu Disco Biscuits sit-in: “My friends and I walked over to the Disco Biscuits set and I just felt the fire. The music sounded so good I just wanted to rock it. I made my way up to the front and asked to sit-in. It was a magical moment, the band was on fire and I was on fire. It was super cool.”
- Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and Taj Mahal pointing at each other when asked what band they most wanted to see
- A guy was trying to motivate a group of his friends to see Explosions In The Sky. His friends just weren’t having it: “Oh, you are gonna see Panic? Sweet, I’m sure you’ve never seen them before. God forbid you actually see a new band.”
- Two girls were walking by the balcony of a nearby hotel when they spotted a guy and his girl drinking beers on the second floor. The girls asked if they could come up and have a beer, to which the kind couple obliged. Then one of the girls asked the couple “You aren’t gonna rape us are you?” It was pretty weird to see one woman tell another, “No it’s cool, we aren’t gonna rape you.” Langerado: No rape!
- O.A.R. after finishing its set: “Thanks guys, and we’ll see you over at Panic’s set.”
- “Oh, you missed their set? Just go to OINK and download their album, they suck live anyways.”
- Chris Harford of Band of Changes strolling the grounds
- Biscuits’ bassist Marc Brownstein getting lots of smiles and high fives as he rode around the park on a golf cart
- Taj Mahal watching the Toots and the Maytals set
- Trevor Garrod of Tea Leaf Green with a permagrin at the Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks show (Ace had one, too)
- “Don’t ever hit a bowl someone passes you at a Biscuits show”
- Jeff Lloyd of the Heavy Pets making the most of his opportunity by seeing multiple bands throughout the day on Sunday
- Jeff Coffin discussing the Flecktones recent Grammy win: “Being able to do what we do for a living is enough, but getting that kind of recognition is icing on the cake.”
As Ace mentioned, we still have plenty of stories, reviews, and interviews to come from our weekend at Langerado. Hopefully you saw our kickass T-shirts at the festie. Thanks to our friend Ginz for our new tag line: “My Band Can Beat Up Your Band.” If you saw the shirt, you saw us. We saw you.
A guy was trying to motivate a group of his friends to see Explosions In The Sky. His friends just weren’t having it: “Oh, you are gonna see Panic? Sweet, I’m sure you’ve never seen them before. God forbid you actually see a new band.”
Love that comment…
Michael Franti riding the grounds in a golf cart dressed in drag was a pretty far out site.
Michael Franti in drag? He musta looked like Lisa Leslie.
how about seeing that kid projecticle puke all over the sound board and sound board recorder at the STS9 late night show at Revolution
We did manage to find the “secret exit” on Friday. It was at the opposite end of the parking lot as the usual entrance. We went right by the camp grounds and all of the related parking onto some back road that ended up spitting us out somewhere near the highway.
I didn’t want to tell Scotty, but we found the other exit on Friday as well…we got into the car, saw the line to get out was about an hour long and a cop just starts yelling about the “other exit.” Pennies from heaven, a Godsend. Nas headache and all…
Nice shirts fellas, where’s my HT merch section? HT patchouli oil anyone?
Poor Annabel Lukins got absolutely pelted with glowsticks. I understand why she was there, but did she really need to yell so much and so loud?
“but we found the other exit on Friday as well…”
Thanks for the heads up JERK!
You never asked!
[...] As the clock approached 9:30, the band showed no sign of relenting. George and I kept on thinking they were playing their last song and then all of the sudden they would start a new tune. One hundred-fifty minutes after they began the set, the Panic boys finally called it a night without playing a traditional encore. As I mentioned in a previous column, people were complaining about the lack of the encore, which is fucking retarded. I’d rather get five extra minutes of music instead of watching a band leave the stage and come right back. But I guess people will complain about anything and everything. [...]