MyFoxSTL

Wow...were do I start. I can honestly say that this year's Friday was probably the best one I had ever been at. And yet, as far as festival was concerned, it seemed there had been one mishap after another leading up to it...

There had already been a feeling of, "they better live up to what they promised" after the Amy Winehouse and White Stripes debacles. Talk of more cancellations...festival organizers defending their hard work to the media. What could be next. An RV that catches on fire during the Pete Yorn set, that's what!

As I was walking towards the festival from the greenbelt, I saw a billowing stack of black smoke coming from the grounds. I wish I had taken a picture of it...drats! It was pretty ominous. By the time I got inside the festival, and walked towards the Pete Yorn stage, Austin's Finest had already had the situation under control. Shout out to them. Pete Yorn went on with his set as if nothing happened....

Walked down to the AT&T Blue Stage and caught Blonde Redhead. Unfortunately whoever was running sound for the NYC Dream Poppers totally did a snow job on them...the mix was terrible. The guitars were way too loud and the vocals were not loud enough. But, the band soldiered on with their set playing mostly tunes for this year's awesome 23.

Walked back to the main AT&T stage and fell in love with Joss Stone. Man...that voice! LIttle prim and proper English girl with the soul of Aretha Franklin. Joss played up the crowd really well, and the crowd responded really well to her. Sound was great, and her band was tight...right on their game for her mix of R&B and Pop. I'm so glad I saw her...although I think it would have been cool to see Crowded House as well on the other side of the park.

Grabbed some Stubb's BBQ and walked over to the AMD stage to camp out for the Queens of the Stone Age. One the Queens hit the stage...I was amped! Considering Josh Homme changes band personnel like he does guitars, it's amaing how tight as a group the sound. The band played quite a bit from Songs for the Deaf, Lullabies to Paralyze and their latest Era Vulgaris...and played their guts out! They were so good...they turned my friend Nik into a fan from that show, who hadn't even planned on seeing them. And Josh Homme turned in one of the funnier in between song banter sessioins of the day. At one point while he was trying to get everyone to clap, he quipped, "It's OK to clap...it's just not OK to get the clap".

Walked back to the AT&T Blue Stage and caught the Kaiser Chiefs who were great. This was just an incidental show for me...filling in time between Queens and Bjork, but it turned in to one of my favorites of the day. Their like a modern day Clash...amped up songs for the working class. And they worked the crowd great. My only complaint was that their set was too short. They could of used another 15 minutes...

One word for the healiner of the night...amazing! Watching Bjork was like experiencing a sonically aural and visual explosion. It was really breathtaking. The stage was set with so many vibrant colors, and everyone was wearing them too. The light show was amazing, with neon greem rays of light pouring into the masses. And the Icelandic Goddess poured her heart in every song. It was the experience of a lifetime.

What sucks is that my crappy camera just really couldn't handle the Kaiser Chiefs and Bjork at night...so I didn't get any good shots of them!

That's it for Day 1. Check out Jeff Israel's Blog from myFOXboston.com. He's here in town chronicling the festival for them. Be sure to check back on Sunday for highlights from Day 2 as my bud Adam Silverstein guests blogs for me on Saturday's best.

Some pics: