Bled Fest 2010

[natedorough]

Cmon you slackers, where's that review?!?!

My review will obviously be based more on the overall flow of the show, because I didn't get to watch very many bands! I was especially bummed to have missed Native, This Town Needs Guns, and Castevet, the 3 bands I was most excited to see probably. Just too much to do.

Anyway, here's how it went on our end. I want to hear how it looked from your perspective!

ATTENDANCE:
The biggest Bled Fest ever. 1874 paid. 150-200 on the guestlist. Over 300 band members. 50 staff. It was packed.

PRODUCTION:
I thought the layout was the best yet. I kind of liked what we did with Stage D, made both of those stages better. Opening up the back of Stage A/B area to that other set of doors made the flow SO much better. The stage on A and B helped so much with crowd control, but it was still super intimate and intense. Just kept kids from climbing onto the stage and getting in the way (except during La Dispute, holy crap).

CROWD:
WAY better this year. Except for two incidents (ceiling tiles/clock during Ambush and broken window during Misery Signals), this crowd was so much nicer, more respectful, and just generally a better group of human beings. Taking the metal kids out of the mix just made it that much better. There were a few tools, but they were surrounded by so many more good people just having a great time, they didn't have a chance to be tools.

STAFF:
Having the Crofoot security team helped so, so much. My staff was as good as it had ever been. What a great group of people to be involved with, we're so lucky to have everyone.

BANDS:
Here's what impressed me.

Best set of the day: La Dispute
They owned everyone.

Bands in a class of their own: The Bled, The Swellers, Misery Signals, Brothers

Bands I liked and knew I'd like: Robots in the Garden, So Save Me, Amarna Reign, Your Best Friend, The Felix Culpa, Strike Anywhere

Bands that surprised the crap out of me: Act As One, Before Their Eyes
Both owned the big stages, sounded awesome, had great sets.

Touring bands I missed that I wish I would have caught some of:
Polar Bear Club, This Town Needs Guns, Native, Castevet, Trash Talk

Local bands I missed that I wish I would have caught some of:
Pretty much everyone.

I guess that covers it! Thanks for being a part of this! I wanna know what you thought!

Thanks,
Nate

Bands I'm proud of:
Tiger Tiger, Apathetic Critic, Koji, Your Best Friend, La Dispute

[Hunter Thomison]

I am so unhappy that I missed it. I caught the flu on Thursday and there was absolutely no way I could attend a 12+ hour mayhem in my condition. This ruins my 2 year consecutive attendance and probably one of the best times I could've had throughout the summer. I'm glad it was such a great success and that everyone had such a great time.

Cheers to all of the bands and folks who helped out! Out of curiousness Nate, what is the legal max capacity on the HPAC?

[James Radick]

I didn't really catch too many sets this year, but I saw some very good ones.

I really like sosaveme, and I hope we can work more with them.

Audrey sounded really great. Ev's guitar playing is getting really solid, and their sound hasn't taken a hit since losing John. And I love that Corey is doing some harmonies.

Apathetic Critic killed it like they always do. Such a good band.

Tiger! Tiger! sounded really great. The samples and stuff are starting to work out SO nicely.

Brothers had the biggest crowd for any non-main stage band, and sounded great. And obviously the crowd was insane, as evidenced by poor Wes' nose.

This Town Needs Guns was my favorite set of the night. They sounded SO good, despite their singer being sick.

Caught a little bit of La Dispute after we played. Their crowd was NUTS.

And Failed Attempt 52 was so fun. Too bad they're gone.

Wish I could have caught a lot more, but I'm not too bummed! Great day, all and all.

[Terri]

I walked in on the last 3 songs of ender's set, they sounded really full with a second guitarist and it was good to see them again but this is when the band issues between stage c and d started. some metal band couldn't wait till they were done to check jun juns.

I saw your best friend next and it sounded kind of murky but I was in a bad spot. Not sure if I like the new singer, he tried way too hard to steal the show, and their bass player (who has the best voice out of all of them, imo) barely sang at all. New song was good, really catchy.

it was great to see Tiger Tiger again, they've matured as artists so much it's crazy. Their set flowed really well, each song seemed to compliment the next. I'd really like to see these guys again and this time not stand right next to the monitor.

I caught the last two songs of castevet and they were in my top two for the night. incredible dynamics and fluidity throughout their songs, it was super super impressive but..

wilson? i think their name was decided it'd be cool to start their set 10 minutes early while castevet was still playing. I didn't care who wilson was before bled fest, and I definitely don't now. It's one thing to start your set 10 minutes early but they also ended 10 minutes late and honestly, I don't think anyone needed that much southern metal by numbers, but that's just me.

This Town Needs Guns stole the show, I don't even know where to start. I have had their album since last year and I thought it was good but hearing them live is a whole new experience. Just looking at their guitarist's pedal board makes me feel like a bad musician. I've never heard such huge bass tones before, it sounded like he had 3 other dudes backing him. Excellent set, I'm sold on them. Making it a plan to go see them any time they come around here. This was my favorite band of the night.

Polar Bear Club had some moments. The breakdown at the end of the bug parade was awesome, that was the one song I really wanted to hear too. All in all though I couldn't get too into it. I get that it's probably really difficult to put such strain on your vocal chords but I was getting "album only" type vibes from some of their vocal parts. They definitely got wiped out after the first couple songs and I think it showed, at least from where I was standing.

This was the first show I've been to in over a year. I had a lot of fun at bled fest this year, I want to start going to shows more. It was good seeing all of you dudes who I haven't seen in forever

[Josh Talo]

Giraffe Attack - First band band besides mine that I saw. They're so much fun. Easily my favorite local ban
Your Best Friend - Saw the last two and a half songs. Not as impressed as I normally am.
Bike Tuff - Saw the last song and a half. They're sweet.
Koji - That was awesome. i got my cousin turned on to him and she came out to see him. He's a beautiful person.
Failed Attempt 52 - Fun. It amazes me that they had more circle pits and crowd movement than STRIKE ANYWHERE.
The Swellers - Saw the first two songs, then went back to my door post that I abandoned. (Sorry Nate!)
Strike Anywhere - They're so good, but the crowd was not there at all. Probably the least energetic crowd they've ever played too.
Polar Bear Club- Another band that is so good. Very much in the Small Brown Bike vein, but different enough.

Tons of fun. I was going on three hours of sleep, so I was on autopilot for most of the day. The first guy who showed up with a banana suit was my brother.

[boheraldchris]

Tall Ships kicked ass.

[Scott Nelson]

I caught a lot of partial sets. Wish I could've seen some more of a lot of the bands, but what can you do. Here's who I caught:

Fight Fair - These guys are terrible. They're a bunch of bros that want to be the Beach Boys with breakdowns. Nothing memorable and the two songs that I saw sounded exactly the same.

Audrey - Only caught a little bit of them, but it's the best that I have heard them since Ev started playing guitar. The new song where it's just him playing guitar and singing at the start was bone chillingly good.

Ender - Thinking about this band makes me so sad. They are not only some of my best friends, but some of the best musicians in Michigan. They write insanely good and catchy pop songs. They've been at it for so long and just have never caught a break. I know that they are on their last leg and it's really sad to see because they are so good. It was good to hear them play Ladybug. I'm pretty sure it's been about a year since they had played it.

Apathetic Critic - Solid and fun set. Nothing extremely memorable, but they sounded great like usual.

Ambush! - I wish this band was on a different stage. The sound was just so empty on the tone killing stage D. I enjoy this band a lot and just couldn't get into them at all.

Your Best Friend - This was I think the first time ever that I saw them not looking overtly confident. All three up front seemed to be a little shaken up at one point or another. Still played a great set and Setting Sail is a fucking killer new song. Wayyyyyyyy more mature in the writing style.

Koji - Caught a little bit of him. Had a gigantic crowd waiting for him to play way before he even started.

Continuance - So glad that they had two guitarists again. It was so good to hear them live how they are supposed to sound. Extremely passionate band that love what they do.

The Felix Culpa - Only saw a couple songs, but holy shit. This band has it together. I can't even string together words to describe their sound, but it blew me away.

Castevet - I actually only listened to these guys from our merch table around the corner, but they sounded awesome. Hoping that we can hook up another time and play with them again. Also, in total agreement about fucking Wilson.

Strike Anywhere - Lame crowd. Awesome tunes. Wish that the bazillion kids that watched La Dispute would have stuck around. Super shitty to see that. Oh well. The band just absolutely kills it.

This Town Needs Guns - I didn't get to watch a whole lot, but what I did hear blew my mind. Kind of regretting not watching more of their set now.

Trash Talk - Fucking killer band. I was called about by the singer for not moving closer when he told people to. Crowd was insane and it reminded me of something that should've been happening in the 80's.

Polar Bear Club - This band knows how to play live. Their tones and levels are incredible. I had been waiting forever to see them and was definitely not disappointed one bit. The breakdown at the end of Bug Parade was killer. I wished they could've played longer.

All in all this was probably my favorite Bled Fest to date. Can't wait for next year.

[natedorough]

How long did PBC end up playing? They had a 45 minute set time.

I'm going to go to some longer sets next year, I think. Calm down the number of bands just a bit.

[boheraldchris]

A twenty minute set felt surprisingly long, even though we could only fit three songs in.

[dhf2393]

Alright so here goes my review of Bledfest. First off I'd like to say though that it was a great time and a real plus for our music community. We gotta keep this thing going.

This goes in the order of bands I saw..

1.) Leviathan

Alright sounding, the "moshing" was pretty ridiculous
though so I booked as fast as I could.

2.) Robots in the Garden.

Honestly wasn't expecting much, but these guys were SO good. Great vocal harmonies, killer sounding guitar and just a really fun band to watch. The guys were super friendly too when I picked up their CD. Check them out if you haven't heard them.

3.) A Big Crash

Listened for maybe 5 minutes. Played really, really fast but it looked like they were having fun.

4.) Ender

I saw these guys for the first time at the T!T! CD support show, and a little at the T!T! release show, but this was by far their best set. They started off with Kalamazoo and did a great job playing Unbroken Line. These guys should be huge.

5.) Apathetic Critic

High energy, played stuff mostly off of Finding Home, did an awesome job. They really just keep getting better.

6.) Your Best Friend

They sounded exactly like they do on their album (which is great), even with a screwy PA. New song was really good. I'm looking forward to upcoming stuff.

7.) The Swellers

This band is one of my top 10 favorites of all time, and to see them live for the first time put a huge grin on my face. I moved in closer to the sing alongs for 2009 and Fire Away and it really ended the set well. Can't wait to see these guys again.

8.) Claremont (my band)

We played pretty well and had a decent amount of people. Thanks to Avery from AC for letting me borrow his guitar when I broke a string.

All in all it was a great day. Kinda bummed I missed La Dispute, but there was a 7 foot ginger that smelled faintly of tuna standing in front of me so I just left. Can't wait for next year!

[natedorough]

So we might as well have this conversation here. Constructive criticisms, anyone? I know we need to improve the following things:

1. Food selection (some sort of veg/vegan option)
2. Maybe do a little bit longer sets
3. Make the VIP ticket a better buy (the meet and greet thing didn't work)

Any other ideas? I thought this was definitely the best show yet, but I want to know anything that annoyed you, etc.

Thanks!

[boheraldchris]

May 31, 2010 10:30:19 GMT -5 natedorough said:

So we might as well have this conversation here. Constructive criticisms, anyone? I know we need to improve the following things:

1. Food selection (some sort of veg/vegan option)
2. Maybe do a little bit longer sets
3. Make the VIP ticket a better buy (the meet and greet thing didn't work)

Any other ideas? I thought this was definitely the best show yet, but I want to know anything that annoyed you, etc.

Thanks!

Chairs at the merch tables. I hardly sat at all that day so my feet were killing me. And I agree with longer sets. Perhaps some industrial fans in various places?

[Scott Nelson]

Polar Bear Club played for 45 minutes. I just would loved to have seen them play for even longer. That was all that I was getting at. I personally would love to see a vegan/vegetarian option for food. That'd be killer. I kinda like the shorter set times and massive number of bands. As long as bands stick to those set times everything goes fine. I honestly would love to see this grow into even more bands instead of condensing it. Maybe an outdoor stage next year? I know that's really dependent on the weather, but I think it could be really cool.

[James Radick]

Acoustic stage in the auditorium?

[Terri]

I disliked not being allowed to bring in my cup of water, especially considering I need water to live