Last Saturday was Endfest at White River. We (my brother Drew and my buddy Greg and of course me) pulled into the lot around 12:45 pm and quickly got through the VIP gate. I really did not have big expectations for this year’s show. Last year had many more bands that had had more songs played on the radio, or CDs owned by me. I was actually looking forward to the Seattle stage and those were bands that I can see any time.
I took photos all day. I have one photo album that has all of the bands and one that has just the Lashes photos. I took a bunch of photos from the Lashes set because this guy I know is really close to the band.
We wondered over to the Seattle stage and checked out things on the midway. I stopped off of the MSN Spaces booth to see if I could blog at the show but they were having problems with their machines, they were taking a very, very long time to bring up any web page. I am sure this has nothing to do with anything but a slow connection. Greg got one of the tattoos they were issuing and in theory he was eligible to meet the bands backstage or something like that. Over near the Seattle stage they had big beanbag like chairs where people could just chill-out, I think the brand was something like Lovesac – later on in the day I did notice a lot of people getting friendly on them so it seemed like an appropriate name. There was a tent that was full of people playing at poker tables. Since it did not look like you could play for money we passed – the Muckleshoot casino is just a few miles down the road where we could play for real. There was a least one place where you could just play Xbox games. There was a tent that was showing movies. I popped my head in and they were playing the doc on the Seattle music scene but it was more like a makeout tent. They had one place that was giving away chewing tobacco – shame on them for doing so. There was also a tent where you could play drums or guitar and then get lessons. It was really loud and could be heard from many parts of the main stage area. At the Seattle stage we saw RazRaz which is a band I have never seen nor heard of. I really do not remember anything interesting from their set. Next we popped over to the “What’s Next” stage to see Kasabain. They were alright and ended with their big hit song. I had moved my way almost all the way up to the front on the left hand side (stage right) but I actually moved back a bit as the song was very loud, a lot louder than the Seattle stage. Moving back to the Seattle stage I saw Mountain Con. They were already underway by the time I got there and their set seemed a lot like when I saw them back in December. I thought they had more people in their band the last time I saw them but I could be wrong. We hit the beer garden next to the “What’s next” stage for The Caesar’s set. They were kind of boring to me so I headed over to my VIP box to watch the Sterophonics set on the main stage. They were fairly good and polished. Next up was Aqueduct which were the band that I really wanted to see that day. They were really fun. They even went as far to state that they were having more fun than they did the week before playing as part of the Sasquatch festival in the Gorge. I need to go get their new album. My now the sun was out and it was getting warm. I was regretting not wearing shorts but I survived. I went into the VIP club and looked around from people from KNDD since they had their own tent set up in the club. I really wanted to meet Jennifer White. She seems like a really cool person and I wanted to meet her and buy her a drink or something but all I ever saw were Entercom marketing people. From the club you could look over the fence and watch the acts on the “What’s Next” stage. I watch a bit of Tegan & Sara. I first saw them at White River last year during the Farm Aid concert and then the last time I saw them was opening for the Killers a few months ago. I am not sure if they were paying the crowd a complement or not when the said to the crowd that the Seattle crowds were always the most polite and stayed quite between songs – I think they were trying to get people the yell between songs but that was not really happening. Back to the Seattle stage to see The Lashes. I felt really bad for them. First they had amp problems for the keyboard and then twice during their set they lost all power to the stage. It is kind of hard to perform when this is the case but they tried to make the best of it. They were in big promotion mode for the “Get It” CD that comes out in September, I think. They had people hold up signs in front of the stage and then had signs in the crowd. They also tossed out tee-shirts and buttons. I stopped by my box and watched the end of the Hot Hot Heat set including hearing them play the song that is currently on the radio. Back to the VIP club to watch Ash play. By now the “What’s next” stage was really behind their scheduled start times so instead of seeing the end of their set I saw the beginning. I went to join friends in the beer garden near the Seattle stage to watch Vendetta Red or in our case just listen as we did not get a table within view. They sounded good and played some stuff off of the CD that comes out in a couple of weeks. I walked by my box and watched MxPx for a song or two on the main stage. I have never been a big, big fan but they were at the part of their set where they do covers including “Summer of 69” by Brian Adams, which is one of my favorite songs from the early 80’s. While I was in line for dinner in the VIP club the Kaiser Chiefs were playing next store. The crowd was fairly crazy around the stage. It was so packed in the area that it was hard to move. They did a good job in their set. I rushed back to the box to watch Social Distortion. A lot of people were excited to see their set and I was not sure what to expect. It turns out that I know a lot of Social D songs, many more than some of the people I talked to who were excited to see them. I will have to use some of my free download credits to get a few of their songs as I do not think I have any of their CDs. I ran over to watch a few songs from Pretty Girls Make Graves on the Seattle stage. They are another band that have been around for awhile that I had not seen before. I have listen to their stuff but I really was not feeling it in their set. I went back to the club to watch the Bravery set. They were OK but again they like most of the “What’s next” stage was not blowing me away. Interpol was next up on the main stage. I almost feel asleep. They really have never been a band that I have gotten into. I think the biggest problem with Interpol is that their lead singer sounds the same on every song. No real voice inflection or anything. I am sure other people could name bands that I really like that the same can be said of but that is just how I feel. Queens of the Stone Age were up next. While it was not even 9 pm they had already shut down alcohol sales, even though the signs said they were going to sell until 9:20 pm. This was a big bummer. Josh told security to let everyone from the cheep seats to come on down to the pit area so all of these people came down from the 200 level area and grass storming through the VIP boxes. I am surprised by the number of people who did and the fact that they went over the nine foot drop off of the front of the boxes. QotSA did not disappoint. While I have their new CD I actually have not listen to it but I think there were only two songs from their set I did not know. I felt if anything their set was a little short. United State of Electronica were last up on the main stage. Many people took off and I felt they lost even more of the crowd in that took a long time to set up for their set. I wanted to really watch their set. I read in a blog “it’s been said, [USE] rock a stadium like a club and rock a club like a stadium”. We watched about 20 minutes of their set but the mixing of the audio was a little bit rough to listen to. Also it was getting cold so I am sorry to say we left before their set was over.
All and all it was a fun day. I think I had more fun on the Seattle stage than any place else. I also had more fun at Endfest last year but it was still a fun day.
A digital recording of my life 