I was lucky enough, or should I say impulsive and hedonistic enough, to take a trip to the world’s pop-palace the United States of America from the end of July to the middle of August. The main purpose of this holiday was to attend two humongous music festivals; “All Points West” in New York, and “Lollapalooza!” in Chicago. The former being headlined by Jay-Z (who replaced the Beastie Boys), Tool, and Coldplay; the latter headlined by Kings Of Leon, Depeche Mode, The Killers and Janes Addiction.

I have never been to an international festival so did not know what to expect in terms of the crowd. I was pleasantly surprised with some aspects, and disappointed with others.

First off, let’s get to All Points West, set in the lovely Liberty State Park with panoramic views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Fleet Foxes, Arctic Monkeys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ra Ra Riot, Vampire Weekend, Q-Tip, The Pharcyde, Jay-Z, Coldplay, Tool, Gogol Bordello, MSTRKRFT, Crystal Castles and MGMT amongst others provided us with 3 days worth of musical entertainment whilst we tried to avoid getting stuck in the mud (It rained pretty much all weekend!)

The first thing you notice about the All Points West crowd is that it’s a lot less animated than an Aussie crowd, which was a shock as I would have expected the opposite. However, this may be because they get these damn large festivals so frequently, and Australia is relatively starved in terms of music festivals with as much pizzazz as All Points West.

Everyone was just chilling, drinking (in confined areas) and enjoying some great music. There were the small groups of punters who, for the lack of a better term, were ‘going off.’ I remember a large congo-line charging through the crowd during Vampire Weekend (and I joined them!) to get to the front and jump around like maniacs, much to the frustration of everyone else. Which brings me to my next point, Americans are very anal about their personal space.

It’s a music festival! What do they expect? If they want to get close to the stage and expect to be able to just stand there with their belongings at their feet (or even sit down! Which some selfish and stupid people tried to do) then it must have been their first music festival. This was more noticeable at Lollapalooza though, which I shall whinge about soon.

All Points West also had amazing art installations, such as a row of glowing balls, which reached well up into the sky and changed direction and [I think] color according to the wind. It looked AMAZING at night. A meditation chamber in the shape of a tear-drop [would have been a good idea except the weather decided to be horrible and hence it rained pretty much all weekend!]. A dance tent [titled the ‘DoLab’] where the most fun-loving people of the festival danced whilst being sprayed with a water house, surrounded by large fake cherry-trees, creating a jungle-esque vibe [it was amazing!]. It was indeed not just about the music, but also the atmosphere.

Lollapooloza was just about the music, more so than any other festival I have attended. The weather [except for the first day!] was great (they even had to hand out free water on the Sunday for safety!). TV On The Radio, Bon Iver, Friendly Fires, The Killers, Passion Pit, The Bloody Beetroots, Boys Noize, Lou Reed, Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs were all at the top of their game and gave some of the best performances I’ve seen those bands give. Maybe it’s something about the notoriety of Lollapooloza that makes bands go the extra mile to put on unforgettable performances. The dance tent was especially impressive, entitled “Perrys Stage” (after the frontman of Jane’s Addiction, Perry Ferrel) it was like a cylinder filled with lights under which the DJ plays to one of the most enthusiastic dance crowds I have ever been in.

The Bloody Beetroots were especially great at this stage, thumping us with heavy bass whilst pretty much everyone had a turn at crowd-surfing (except me because I’m boring), there was even a little girl on her dad’s shoulders in the crowd, I wonder what happened to her during the second round of ‘WARP’ (which was when the crowd was at its craziest).

Outside of the dance tent you encountered some of the more up-tight and rude festival-goers. You try to get through the crowd, you are pushed back because you are invading their personal space, or they are sitting down and refuse to get up until the very second the act hits the stage. You also had to be at the stage at least an hour before an act played to get right up the front for them (even for relatively smaller acts such as passion pit or the knux). It seems every band had their devout followers, which is good, most people there seemed to love and know music, as compared to an Australian crowd where the festivals seem to consist mostly of tweenies who aren’t to ‘in the know’ when it comes to the acts that are actually playing.

Another annoying thing that happened at Lollapooloza – UMBRELLAS! It rained the first day, was sunny the other two days. During the first and second days I was relieved to see no little orange girls on guys shoulders, screaming and being inconsiderate to the people behind them. However, that annoying little crowd problem was replaced by an even more selfish and annoying problem – UMBRELLAS. You saw them go up everywhere, even people who were at the front of the crowd had to have their umbrellas out and up high, blocking the views of many. Even during the second day, people had to find refuge from the sun under their huge umbrellas. C’MON GUYS! Put on some sun screen/wear a poncho – don’t spoil the fun!

Aside from that, the crowd was overall enjoyable at both festivals. For every rude person you encountered there was a group of considerate and fun-loving people who help make the festival an enjoyable experience for everyone. I would have absolutely no hesitation in going back, was so much fun and I recommend it to everyone – just prepare yourself for some of the aforementioned annoyances!!

Also, I recommend taking an Australian flag (I know! It’s a faux-pas at Aussie festivals and we get enough of that at Big Day Out! BUT, it’s an American festival!!) , or wearing an Australian T-Shirt, a lot of Americans seem to get excited (moreso in Chicago then New York) when they meet an Aussie!