An Island Escape from New York City- Escape Music Festival Review
Only a short ferry ride from the frenzy that is NYC, music fans gathered in attempt to escape the ordinary with a variety of dance, electronic and indie rock music. Saturday’s rain and chilly weather didn’t stand a chance while trying to interrupt the booty shaking fun going on at Governor’s Beach Club, October 11th, for the inaugural day of the Escape Music Festival. The first year festival overlooked Downtown Manhattan from Governor’s Island and early rain wasn’t going to be enough to spoil this weekend long escape from reality. Thankfully, the showers parted way early enough Saturday morning to not become much of a problem for excited festivalgoers. The cool rain subsided, the sun receded, and a breezy autumn night began to fall over the Island. Crowds were slightly thin to start the day but by the time Yeasayer, a local band from Brooklyn, took the Main Stage at 6:30 a decently large crowd had gathered on the Island. By sundown, more and more music lovers had voyaged over one ferry at a time and the festival was ready to erupt. People really funneled in for the much anticipated Placebo set. The English band packed the Main Stage and started the evening with a bang. There were plenty of Placebo faithful in the pack, singing along with front man Brian Molko, as well as first time listeners, both of whom were enjoying the fast paced set. While Placebo took care of the Main Stage, the Courtyard Stage couldn’t stop moving as Neon Indian finished up his DJ set full of funky dance beats. The semi-enclosed white tent had an atmosphere that was just right for Moon Boots to step in and spin deep, enjoyable progressions; warming everyone up for the talk of the night, New Yorker and electronic music pioneer, Moby. The iconic DJ felt right at home stuffing the Main Stage which was hosted by MYLIFE; “a location specific clothing company that is dedicated to connect and protect the places we know and love with the threads we wear” as explained by Co-owner Jabez Dewey. MYLIFE provided all sorts of MYLIFE toys to enhance the festivalgoer’s experience throughout their stay. Best of all, the emerging clothing company gave $2 dollars for every item sold at the Escape to the Surf Rider Foundation which protects the waters around NYC (pretty clever considering we were on an island all weekend After a long first day of dancing and partying, the crowd had no problem getting up for Moby once he took over the speakers at 10:30. Moby’s original DJ style capped the first day off effortlessly. With heavy, old school progressions and a lightshow that was next to none, the award-winning DJ put on quite the performance, keeping the crowd excited and in anticipation for Day 2. The masses loved every second, and considering the early festival closing time of midnight the majority of the group wasn’t ready to get back on the double-decker ferries to Downtown Manhattan (even though they were free all weekend). The excitement levels were high on the inaugural day of Escape despite the morning rain and a cool temperature in the 50’s throughout the night. Between the hours of dancing, the kindhearted vibe put out by all, and the artist who played Saturday there were few complaints heard throughout Escape Music Festival’s opening day.
For as unfortunate as the weather could have been early Saturday morning, less than 24 hours later New York had what could not be a nicer October day. A perfect 65 degree blue sky blessed the Island with a cool breeze and a lineup that would not disappoint. Artist like Tesla Boy, ASTR, Mayer Hawthorne and Girl Talk took care of the Main Stage on Sunday while Ibiza brought their Elrow party to the Courtyard Stage dressing it entirely different than the day before. Complete with vines, berries and a cardboard cutout of trees around the booth, the once plain white tent was made into a jungle. Along with a plethora of talented DJ’s Ibiza Elrow turned the secondary stage into the main party Sunday afternoon. Alex English, Toni Varga and Mark Maya B2B did a great job getting the party started early with beats that attracted groups to the Courtyard Stage, while The Most Definitely laid down mixes of today’s hits, hip-hop classics and techno beats on the Main Stage.
Tesla Boy took the Main Stage by storm shortly after, putting fans and new listeners in awe of their unique 80’s style and talented composition. The Russian band spun Sunday’s festivities into overdrive as partygoers danced away crowding the stage while took a more distant view setting up camp on the sand to enjoy the sight. Following the 4 piece band from Moscow was the New York faithful duo, ASTR. This up-tempo male/female group stole the best time slot of the weekend at 5:30 on Sunday. Wild haired drummer and DJ Adam, along with sexual singer Zoe sang and danced the day into night as the sky burned orange and the sun fell gracefully behind the Statue of Liberty. The ASTR singer even stopped the show for a moment to unglue eyes and turn the crowd around. “Look at this beautiful fucking sunset”, stating “look where we are!” proving that even longtime New Yorkers couldn’t believe the amazing scenery. The burnt orange sun reflected itself off of the downtown skyline, and you could feel the excitement as the night began to fall.
Once night hit, the Courtyard party really started to take form. Mrs. Kitten took over the turntables and Elrow took over the tent, releasing hundreds of inflatable animals, confetti and other party toys throughout the rest of the night. The horde at the Courtyard Stage was increasing by the measure as the secondary stage became the party while other more relaxed festivalgoers watched Joy Formidable and Mayer Hawthorne jam the Main Stage back to back. When Mrs. Kitten wrapped her set up on the Courtyard Stage the festival was in full swing. Boris took the stage next and brought a following of his own to Escape. Fitting the script with his psychedelic trance beats and pleasurable vibe, Boris definitely made some new followers within the two hour set he put on as confetti fell and electronic fans got funky. Unfortunately for Technasia who grabbed hold of the turntables next, most of the crowd saw very little of what sounded like it was going to be a very enjoyable set, due to his inter-lapping set time with long awaited Girl Talk. Most of the people who had been boogieing down at the Courtyard party for the entirety of the day made their way to the Main Stage where Girl Talk dressed the stage with a ginormous inflatable that looked like someone was trapped underneath the DJ as he spun. 20 foot inflatable legs with red Chuck Taylors and high socks emerged in front of the stage while inflatable white arms stuck up behind the DJ at the back. The crowd was absolutely electric during the final set of the weekend. The way Girl Talk had everyone moving, it felt as if the festival had just begun. The artist let a fun group of festivalgoers dance behind him throughout the set giving off the perfect ambiance to match his tunes. Tired legs pushed through in order to dance, party, and wrap up the first year of this festival with a bang. His unique mixes of hip-hop, electronic, dance music and anything that could fit together had the perfect vibe as everyone tried to squeeze their partying in with Monday morning quickly on the rise.
The staff and production at the First Annual Escape music festival were absolutely amazing. Every worker at the festival had a smile on their faces to help us all enjoy a great line-up, a great view and a great venue leaving us all with an amazing Escape for Columbus Day weekend.
