Day Two of Langerado unfortunately started off a little bit later than I had originally planned. But after spending close to three hours in traffic, I finally made it into the show just as Thievery Corporation took the stage. Unlike the previous day's heat wave, a front pushed through in the middle of the night (with tornado warnings and massive thunderstorms). This caused perfect festival temperatures during the day hovering around 70 degrees. But once that sunset, the wind kicked up and the temp dropped faster than one of Mix Master Mike’s beats. With wind gusts between 10 and 20 mph, it felt like it was close to 45 degrees. When you can see your breath and your wearing shorts (as I was) you knew you were in trouble.
But with some luck I lasted late into the night. Here are my highlights from the night.
Biggest Surprise: REM busting out eight songs from their new album Accelerate. Simply put, fricking brilliant. This is one of their best albums since Automatic For The People, but has an edgier, quicker pace. Most songs topped out a little under three minutes. I preordered their album as soon as I woke up on Sunday morning. Do the same, I promise you won’t regret it.
Biggest Disappointment: Tie between traffic and time slot for Thievery Corporation. After two straight days of two-hour delays, you think by the third day it could have been solved. The funny thing was that it seemed like attendance was down from Friday. Also, whose bright idea was it to put an amazing techno and house group on the stage at 6pm? Thievery could have put on a killer late night set. What happened here?
Headliner: REM kicked the crap out of the Everglades and took names. I haven’t seen REM since ’95 on their Monster Tour, and boy did I miss them. Between Stipe’s playful banter with the crowd, hearing great new songs, and hitting solid classics, this turned out to be the highlight of the evening. Whether he was asking the crowd if they were cold, suggesting we populate the Everglades, or recommending we cuddle up to one or two or three people, I haven’t seen a more amicable front-man since Chris Martin’s self-deprecating and charming self. Even though they cut off their set at around 11:05, 25 minutes prior to their scheduled finish, as you can tell by the setlist below, they played a strong lineup mixing classics with new. Anyone sleeping in their tents prepping for late nights missed out on the best set of the evening hands down. I will leave you with the words Stipe left the crowd, “We are REM, and this is what we do”.
1) What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
2) A new song from the album Accelerate. I have a feeling this will be their 2nd single.
3) Bad Day
4) Drive
5) Fall on Me
6) Hollow Man (off the new album Accelerate)
7) Southern Central Rain
8) Orange Crush
9) Accelerate (off the new album Accelerate)
10) Imitation of Life
11) Man-Sized Wreath (off the new album Accelerate)
12) Begin the Begin
13) Electrolite
14) Houston (off the new album Accelerate)
15) Losing My Religion
16) Horse to Water (off the new album Accelerate)
17) Walk Unafraid
18) The One I Love
ENCORE
19) Supernatural Superserious (off the new album Accelerate)
20) Auctioneer
21) I'm Gonna DJ (off the new album Accelerate)
22) Man on the Moon
Set list put together from my memory and REM and Langerado discussion boards.
Final thoughts for the evening: I caught the first 45 minutes of Matisyahu, and came away mildly impressed. He put on a solid show and kept the crowd dancing on this cold night. Late night performances were rearranged because of REM leaving early. I caught part of Pelican and Dan Deacon’s show. Pelican, an instrumental band that reminded me of Metallica without James Hetfield. Not really my cup of tea. Also, Dan Deacon was flat-out weird. You could easily tell who was sober at this show because they were the ones looking around at the audience asking themselves, “Are you really enjoying this crap?”
Here are a few more photos from the evening's festivities:
By
whitperson
Although he was unfortunately unable to stay for the entirety of the Langerado festival, our man Drew Gerlach gave us a nice rundown of the first night's festivities. He also caught some solid sets during his second night of Langerado, and sent us a bunch more photos. Check it out.
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