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| Friday: all sunshine and clear skies |
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| Saturday: different story... |
While I had a super fun time on Friday and Saturday, it's a huge bummer that the Sunday installment of Googa Mooga got canceled last-minute. I can only imagine how much food all those vendors had bought / how much money they're out now. Luckily for me, my tickets were just for Friday and Saturday, so I got my full Googa Mooga experience and was able to eat a bunch of stuff from places I had never patronized around NYC. The bands were amazing, and the drizzle didn't seem to be having a large effect on people's willingness to eat lots of food and sit outside.
Foods!
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| Falafel from Seersucker & Wings from Kasadela |
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| Coffin Bao Fried Chicken sandwich from Baohaus |
- I shared some Tebasaki wings from Kasadela with my friend Casey. Delicious!
- Black Eyed Pea Falafel from Seersucker (which is down the street from me, but I've somehow never been there)
- Car Bomb Parfait from Robicelli's = Guinness stout brownie, Bailey's ricotta creme, Jameson whiskey chocolate sauce, beer nut praline = holy cow. As rich and amazing as it sounds.
- Summer of Riesling!!
- Egg Begley Jr from Northern Spy Food Co.
- Truffle burger from Umami Burger (I split one with Ana, but I kind of wish I had eaten a whole one...)
- Maple cotton candy on a pretzel stick from Liddabits - perfectly mapley!
- Coffin bao fried chicken sandwich from Baohaus - so good. Spicy, sweet, crunchy, soft. I loved it.
Bands!
We were a bit more focused on eating than being active audience members on Friday during The Darkness and The Flaming Lips. I miss the days when Wayne Coyne used the enormous bubble. It was still light / the middle of the afternoon during both of their sets, which seemed like they would be better suited to, well, darkness.
This was my first time seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and even with the (uf, tall people) crowds and annoying girls behind me talking about things to do in Hoboken (what?), it was an amazing experience. Karen O is just the greatest performer and has a great sense of showmanship. I loved all her costume changes and theatrics.
On Saturday, I made sure to get there early enough to get an egg sandwich and position myself well for Sharon Van Etten. Her set was still pretty early in the lineup, so we found ourselves in the front row for her (yet again). She was hopped up on coffee from the Third Rail booth and had some charming (and only slightly loopy) banter between songs. Once again she was evocative and possesses a quiet type of slightly sad magic.
The rest of the day was spent much further back on the lawn, amongst the crowds of picnic blankets. I really enjoyed Father John Misty's set and getting to hear him live (Fear Fun is so great). He had some good natured chiding about the artisanal food offerings and the festival set up, and overall had a stage presence that charmed and translated to those of us who weren't close up to the stage.
Matt and Kim headlined the whole thing, which seems crazy when I think about the first time I saw them play in a dining hall at Cornell with maybe 50 people standing in a circle around them. Their enthusiasm was as contagious as ever, and somehow manages to be so big and crazy as to fill an entire park. I didn't realize they were together until the week leading up to the show, which seems to be a fact they're really promoting these days. Kim spent most of the time between songs talking about their sex life, which was maybe a little TMI. They also had some interstitial hip hop dance throwdowns, which we really enjoyed.
I do think that the organizers managed to fix a lot of the issues from last year in terms of the functionality and lines. The weather ruined Sunday, and I hope that they're able to help out the food vendors who clearly invested a lot into participating in this event and had to eat a huge loss not having customers that last day. I wish I could have eaten more on Friday and Saturday!
Bands!
We were a bit more focused on eating than being active audience members on Friday during The Darkness and The Flaming Lips. I miss the days when Wayne Coyne used the enormous bubble. It was still light / the middle of the afternoon during both of their sets, which seemed like they would be better suited to, well, darkness.
This was my first time seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and even with the (uf, tall people) crowds and annoying girls behind me talking about things to do in Hoboken (what?), it was an amazing experience. Karen O is just the greatest performer and has a great sense of showmanship. I loved all her costume changes and theatrics.
On Saturday, I made sure to get there early enough to get an egg sandwich and position myself well for Sharon Van Etten. Her set was still pretty early in the lineup, so we found ourselves in the front row for her (yet again). She was hopped up on coffee from the Third Rail booth and had some charming (and only slightly loopy) banter between songs. Once again she was evocative and possesses a quiet type of slightly sad magic.
The rest of the day was spent much further back on the lawn, amongst the crowds of picnic blankets. I really enjoyed Father John Misty's set and getting to hear him live (Fear Fun is so great). He had some good natured chiding about the artisanal food offerings and the festival set up, and overall had a stage presence that charmed and translated to those of us who weren't close up to the stage.
Matt and Kim headlined the whole thing, which seems crazy when I think about the first time I saw them play in a dining hall at Cornell with maybe 50 people standing in a circle around them. Their enthusiasm was as contagious as ever, and somehow manages to be so big and crazy as to fill an entire park. I didn't realize they were together until the week leading up to the show, which seems to be a fact they're really promoting these days. Kim spent most of the time between songs talking about their sex life, which was maybe a little TMI. They also had some interstitial hip hop dance throwdowns, which we really enjoyed.
I do think that the organizers managed to fix a lot of the issues from last year in terms of the functionality and lines. The weather ruined Sunday, and I hope that they're able to help out the food vendors who clearly invested a lot into participating in this event and had to eat a huge loss not having customers that last day. I wish I could have eaten more on Friday and Saturday!