Area: One Festival

The drive to Shoreline seemed like an eternity last Tuesday morning, but awaiting at the journey's end was Moby's experiment, a mix of rock, hip-hop and techno, all in one traveling festival.
The festival was split by a huge chasm, which undoubtedly caused many of the concert-goers some grief. The amphitheatre housed most of the organic bands, while the DJs and electronic groups performed in a separate, giant, air-conditioned tent. Since there were two different stages, in many instances the guests were forced to choose between seeing one performer over another. I was forced to run back and forth between the two stages all fucking day in order to see at least some of every performer.
The first performers were Rinocerose, an experimental electronic group in the amphitheatre, and in the tent, Derrick May, the notorious Detroit based, Industrial style DJ, who was followed by Timo Maas, the unbelievably intense German trance DJ. The Roots, a Philly-based hip-hop group with an obviously enormous following, were playing outside at that point. Timo got people migrating to the tent area and even got many onlookers — many who probably had never experienced a "rave-like" atmosphere — dancing to the pulse beat and synth-y buzzes of his style. Meanwhile, The Roots' entirely organic hip-hop performance was getting people all riled up.
About an hour and a half later, The Orb in the tent stage, and New Order played at the bowl. The Orb played a live, extremely experimental set full of complex and mind-numbing soundscapes, with the sole intention of tripping everyone out. Psychedelic visuals were projected all over the walls of the tent, causing most of the intoxicated listeners to just sit and stare in disbelief. Unfortunately, New Order started playing about 20 minutes into The Orb's set, causing many of the tent's attendees to migrate back over to the amphitheatre to see the seminal British band's reunion performance. A special addition to New Order's line-up on guitar was former Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan.
The hardest choices for the guests at Area One was between seeing the hip-hop superfreaks Outkast, or the world's most popular and excessively worshipped dance DJ, Paul Oakenfold. Both stages seemed to be more crowded than ever for these two acts, since many of the guests who had spent their entire day at the temporary bars (drinking $7 beers) decided, finally, to watch some music. The sounds of loud dance beats lured many to the tent, which inevitably became too crowded to hold the eager crowd. Oakenfold's set was really nothing too spectacular, and adding to the frustration was the fact that dancing became impossible since a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd had formed in and around the pitifully undersized tent. I found myself fighting through the crowd to watch the last half of Outkast, who played some pretty creative and catchy stuff.
Moby was the last artist to perform, and was the only performer to have the whole of Area One's attendees' attention. He ran back and forth on stage in the amphitheater, showcasing his many talents. He played bongos, guitar and synthesizer, proving to all that he was not only a studio musician. As expected, he threw in a couple controversial statements between songs (one of which encouraged everyone to buy bootleg CDs because they're cheaper).
– words and photos by Jason Hicks

Bookmark:

Comments down for maintenance.