... One bad thing for this year tho,
Not nearly enough rsetrooms! evrything else excellent. ----- Original Message ----- From: Fred Heutte <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 2:04 am Subject: (313) Movement '03 > It's all over now except for the shouting :) > > The good news is, it was a great festival. The bad news is -- > hmm, > I can't really think of anything. > > To the average attendee, I would bet this year's felt pretty much > like the previous three -- and that is the result of a lot of > incrediblyhard work. The staging, sound and lighting were all > really good and > there were few real problems. Things actually ran pretty close to > schedule. > > Probably the two biggest changes this year, both for the good, were > the lack of crass commercial hype (OK, Bacardi excepted) and the > upgrade of the staging on all four stages: > > Movement (main stage): a great idea to move it down to the plaza > level, it really helped the DJs and musicians connect better with the > crowd, and I thought the sound was considerably better overall. > > High Tech Soul: this was in the small ampitheater area on the north > side which had gone unused in previous festivals. A huge improvement > for audience seating and the sound was also much better. > > Music Institute: the tent worked pretty well at enclosing the space > and keeping focus on the music, and of course was welcome during > the few rainy periods. And four-corner sound made another leap > upward in quality. > > Underground: again, moving from the back (stage right) corner to the > center made the performances much more visible and improved > crowd circulation. > > Musically, it's hard to top what we got this year. I found more of > sets and live performances perked up my jaded ears than the last > couple years. In no particular order of importance, some of my > highlights: > > Buzz Goree/Stacey Hale/K Hand back to back at the MI stage on > Friday. Straight up great dance music. > > Ectomorph live, an even stronger show than they did in Portland > > Shake shaking the rafters of the tent with a superb funky set ranging > from electropop to "Radio Clash" > > Matthew Dear with a well constructed live set that managed to > walk the line between beats and abstraction > > Stacey Pullen's first hour was as good as I've heard from him in > a long time, he really has learned how to move a big crowd (although > that tendency kind of took over later in the set) > > Liquid Liquid was on fire, what a great performance that was, > the energy was just tremendous > > Carlos Souffront/Marcellus Pittman/Norma Jean Bell played three > really different and absorbing styles through the afternoon today > on the main stage. Marcellus was a fill-in and he played a cool and > jazzy set during the rain that kept the energy going. > > Dan Bell -- a terrific set, just the right balance of classics and > new stuff with a steady, unhurried approach > > And what can I say about Jeff Mills, who just roared after the > initial equipment problems. > > I'll say more about the pre and after parties elsewhere -- let the > festival stand for itself. Today may have been my favorite single > day of all four years. > > Total respect to Derrick May and everyone who made it happen. > What a blast! > > phred > >
