tiny islands made of ashes

gigantar-version Modest Mouse jam it up

Promoting is an often risky and thankless task-speaking as someone who's done my share of misses in that game I can attest. SO before the ranting, kudos to emerge and RMS for making another go on a site that just may not totally work for shows like this.

Getting on the island took forever, but we were warned well in advance of this, and in the end somewhat foolishly thought 45 min would be enough-not even close, and we missed the first 3 acts including the much-debated Most Serene Republic. ah vell.

Was surprised to see the stage on *that* end of the field, but more so disappointed in this layout:


rather sparse turnout no? note violating VIP tent on right

the combination opaque mix desk and giant-ly empty VIP area on the right took up WAY too much space and ruined sightlines for a site KNOWN for its great sightlines.

that said, all the acts we caught-from do make say think to modest mouse were solid in each and their own ways. especially good was the full on BSS with Haines!/Milan!/Feist! all onstage at one point-ah, remember the old days? modest mouse came onto to almost chilly reception given the long lag time in between sets, but the early 1-2 hit of float on and the especially brilliant tiny cities made of ashes quickly worked the crowd over.

an extra local opener and tighter changeovers would have made the experience more pleasant as well, as 30-40 min between acts is just plain unacceptable. I understand costs were very high with this show but I'm sure more fine local talent could have been inserted with minimal fuss.

the reality is that a lot of people were holding out for more, and the field was clearly undersold with perhaps 5-7,000 people present through the day-and I would peg that as an optimistic guess.


The *full* BSS, very far away

whether the promoters that be will give another try next year is up in the air-I guess anything can happen lineup permitting.

in the end, a great day in the sun with friends, but we will be even more reluctant to indulge next time without improvements.