All Points West 2009, Day 3: Mud, Long Waits and Coldplay

The third day of the All Points West Music and Arts Festival got off to a slow start.

Rain and lightening threatened to shut things down, attendees were rerouted and housed in the Liberty Island train station and doors to the event did not open until 4:00pm, 4 hours behind schedule. Bands like Streel Train, the trio Kitty, Daisy & Lewis were forced to cancel their performances since they were slated to go on by or prior to 3:00pm. Acts like Silversun Pickups, We Are Scientists, The Black Keys and Coldplay got their moment to shine and went on as scheduled.

But the journey to Sunday’s show was nowhere near pleasant. Aside from the cold and wet commute and the wait inside of the train station there was an additional hour of waiting outdoors for no apparent reason. Once word got out that the show would go on the crowd began to turn on the outnumbered law enforcements who barricaded ticket holders outside of the venue despite organizers radioing in that the crowd should be granted admittance. Our media passes which granted us access backstage to the press area were ignored and we were told by one officer, “that won’t get you in, nice try.” By the time we were allowed in it was 5:00pm.

Ankle deep puddles of mud covered most of the generally grassy lawn and the smell of manure permeated the air.

The kind people of Twix handed out free frozen samples of the delicious chocolaty treat making the trek in the mud a little bearable. But undoubtedly what was on everyone’s mind was whether or not Coldplay would perform that night. “They better go on or I’ma get a freakin’ heart attack,” stated a young girl in a Viva La Vida t-shirt. Fortunately for her and many other attendees who half-jokingly stated they’d go ape shit if the British band did not make an appearance Coldplay did show up and what an amazing show it was!