(Note that the intention of my trip to New York City was to live blog from the event. But with a weak Wi-Fi connection and hardly any cell phone service, all I was able to do was write my content rather than post it during the two-day music festival. Over the next few blog posts I will be sharing what I wrote down while sitting in the VIP section at this year’s Electric Zoo.)
I am coming to you live from the second annual Electric Zoo Festival. I am sitting here watching Tom Middleton spin and watching people dance their faces off to his sick beats. We are located just to the right of main stage in the VIP section near the SIRIUS Satellite Radio booth where artists keep walking in and out for live on air interviews.
I am actually slated for an interview with Tom later this afternoon as well as another main stage DJ, Benny Benassi. I will be interviewing them not far from where I am sitting in the media tent located on the far side of the VIP section.
Getting to the festival this morning was quite an experience. We woke up, left out hotel, and hopped on a subway that led to another subway that landed up smack dab in the middle of Harlem. I told Sheryl that I didn’t feel safe being there and now I know why. I was not aware that it was Harlem at first. We then hopped on a bus and took that right to the main gates of Electric Zoo.
The gates didn’t open until 11:00 AM but we checked in at the media tent, grabbed our colorful wristbands, and tried to find the media entrance. Sadly, there was no media entrance. We were forced to wait in like with everyone else. After asking four or five people who all looked like they knew what was going on, we came to the realization the media didn’t get a special entrance. So we hopped in line just wait in another line that eventually led to yet another line. See a pattern here? We were patted down twice, tickets were scanned, and then we were off to wait in yet another line to prove we were over the age of twenty-one. It seemed like a never ending cycle of lines. Good thing we could hear the dope beats from various DJs already performing on Randall’s Island.
While walking through the midway we noticed merchandise booths everywhere as wll as food trucks lined up one side. The food trucks actually provided the best value when it came to ordering food and drinks as in the VIP section the prices were outrageous. For instance, a glass of domestic beer was $9. But wait, I didn’t even mention the price of merchandise.
Granted, I expected it to be a little steep, but not this bad. Sheryl wanted a hoodie. Last night, while walking through Times Square, she went shopping and almost dropped $35 on one at some random souvenieer shop. At that point, it seemed like a good deal. But she decided to hold off in hopes of getting one at the festival for a similar price. She ended up getting a t-shirt that ran her $30 because the hoodies were $95! Yeah, I know. Who in their right mind would pay that much? (I guess I am just not that keen on buying merchandise at shows and festivals like this. Especially when they are that much.)
We eventually found our way to the VIP tent, where the media tent is located and where I would eventually hold my interviews. There was a nice breeze blowing in here and it was cool due to the canopy above providing us with constant shade. We grabbed a couch right and made ourselves comfortable. In an effort to never lose our spot, we traded off walking around to see the DJs we wanted to see throughout the day.
The Wi-Fi was hit or miss, and it actually took me quite a while to even get the password. But when I did get the password it was so slow it wasn’t even worth using. Thank goodness we had our iPhones with 3G Internet speeds. Oh wait, we are in New York City where there are millions of people using the same network. It was just about as worthless as well. So much for having reliable Internet speeds. Makes it hard for a blogger to get his work done! It’s a good thing that there was reliable, and free Wi-Fi at the hotel. I had to track down a username and password for that last night too. When will Google just provide free wireless Internet for everyone?
(Did I mention there is a dancing chicken in the middle of the crowd? I am not kidding, there is a man dressed up in a chicken outfit dancing his way around the crowds at main stage.)
So far the festival has started off just fine. We are here, ready to dance, and we are about to enjoy the rest of the afternoon listening to the sounds of Benny Benasi, Markus Schulz, and The Chemical Brothers. Oh yeah, and Pretty Lights. You cant forget about Pretty Lights!
Were you at Electric Zoo? Who did you see or want to see?
