VEGOOSE FESTIVAL
SAM BOYD STADIUM, LAS VEGAS, NEV., October 29–30, 2005

What better way to spend Halloween weekend than in the middle of the surrounding deserts of Las Vegas, Sin City. Well, the sinners were out in the thousands, only in full costume. As what could best be described as a cross between Bonnaroo and Coachella, the two-day outdoor music festival know as Vegoose turned out to be a success in its inaugural year.

Despite long lines for food, drinks, taxis, shuttles, and the oh-so-famous Johnny-on-the-Spots (which seem to be the norm for any outdoor music festival of this size), Vegoose served up something for everyone. With four stages and almost 20 acts each day, it was difficult to catch a glimpse of every band, but there are several worth mentioning.

Saturday began for me at the media tent where I attended a press conference with Les Claypool of Primus, Trey Anastasio of Phish, and Xcel of the rap duo Blackalicious. As members of the press fired off questions to the three musicians (two of whom many consider musical geniuses), one question directed at Claypool asked him to explain his feelings on Primus being thrown into the same sentence with two words that seemed to come up often over the festival weekend: jam band.

Although the festival was composed of numerous and highly notable “jam bands,” it also had its share of talented rock acts. With the bigger names playing on the Double Down Stage inside the actual stadium (Dave Matthews and Friends, Widespread Panic, Moe, Trey Anastasio, The String Cheese Incident), I mainly stuck to the three surrounding outdoor stages which catered to the “rock” bands.

After watching New York–based quintet Steel Train perform a cappella in the media tent, I headed over to the Snake Eyes stage to catch my first act of the day, the Shins. They got into the Halloween spirit by dressing up as nuns and wielding giant rulers, which they later used as dueling swords. The Shins played to a decent crowd of curious concertgoers who, I think, were more interested in the onstage antics than the music—which was good, despite some minor sound problems.

The next two acts I caught—and probably the two I was most excited to see—were Primus and Beck. They played on two different stages at the same time. Not a wise move on behalf of the festival organizers, although there were large crowds for both acts. Divided, I split my time between both acts. As the sun began to set in the Nevada desert, two large inflatable ducks rose off the stage where Primus would soon be taking the stage and the crowd began chanting, “Primus sucks!,” a motto made famous by the band itself. They treated the crowd with a set that included “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver,” “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver,” and “My Name Is Mud.”

Beck was another one to embrace the Halloween spirit as he and his band took the stage in full Boy Scout fashion, complete with stage props. Fake deer, owls, trees, a tent, and a fake campfire (where band members actually mimed roasting marshmallows) all donned the stage as Beck and his band opened their set with “Loser.” Beck’s entire set was high energy and very entertaining, as he rolled through all of his hits and some of the newer material. Just as entertaining was his backup dancer, who franticly roamed the stage flailing his arms and break-dancing.

Sunday’s acts included performances by Ween, Sleater-Kinney, Spoon, Flaming Lips, and the Arcade Fire. Flaming Lips by far put on the best performance of the festival. Their set started out with lead singer Wayne Coyne getting into a giant “space bubble,” in which he walked over the festival crowd as they raised their arms to keep him afloat, eventually sending him back to the stage. The band then broke into Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” as the crowd chanted along with every word.

Hippie. Rocker. Whatever. Vegoose had something for everyone, even if it was nothing other than a good time. I’m already looking forward to seeing the lineup for next year.