Mind-blowing Day One at Vegoose

By John Robison

I arrived with a friend to park at Sam Boyd Stadium at ten in the morning. What we found when we got there was a collective of diversity that a Mountain Dew ad would be proud of. Hippies selling trinkets, others selling BBQ and beer. Different tents set up to sell the latest in bootleg shirts and tie-die apparel. We walked around briefly before standing in the line that took us about thirty minutes to get inside the Vegoose grounds.

Once inside we immediately made our way to the stage where Gogol Bordello would be playing. The weather was perfect for a outside concert, slightly overcast to block out the Las Vegas sun and heat, but no actual rain clouds in sight. Finally Gogol Bordello took to the stage, and they proceeded to exceed my wildest expectations with their gypsy punk act. Their set was probably the most energetic live show I have ever seen, and I have been to many a show. Next year, this band should be one of the headliners.

I missed the opportunity to see Blonde Redhead as hunger drove me to the tents where food and beverage were served. The burger and lemonade left me $12 more broke. Passing by the Zia Records tent, I saw that Atmosphere would be doing a meet and greet and soon after Gogol Bordello would be doing a meet and greet as well. So we took a detour and got in line. Shawn, the rap singer and man some know as “Atmosphere,” took the time to say a few words and pose for pictures with the people in line, still keeping his composure with several slightly drunk and deranged fans.

After that, we decided to wait for the meet and greet with Gogol Bordello. It was well worth the time in line and worth missing some bands I wasn’t to sure about to begin with. The band also took their time to chat with fans sign autographs and take pictures… all in all a pleasant experience with both sets of artists.

We then headed over to watch Atmosphere. He took to the stage and dived right in pumping the crowd and hyping them with commentary before each song. It was entertaining to see him engage the crowd and hear him make goofs before the songs. Each song had a clinical degree of precision, with recorded samples and a live band to accompany each song. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay the entire set as it was running into the beginning of Public Enemy.

Making our way to the stage where Public Enemy would perform, we had no idea of the energy we were walking into. We arrived at stage and soon after two gentlemen came out in camo fatigues with dark sunglasses ready to lead the crowd in the time-honored Public Enemy salute. Then the band took to stage you could feel the energy as these hip-hop legends commanded the crowd, stealing away much of the audience from Cypress Hill on the next stage.

As proof that hip-hop music transcends the boundaries, the thousands of fists in the air were mostly white. Chuck D had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand as he dove into song after song. Three songs in was a huge intro for Vegas local Flavor Flave. It was a nice change to see Flavor Flave in his element on stage with the band that made him a household name. He was in top form hyping the crowd and throwing out the occasional line or too, far removed from the caricature of himself he created with his reality TV show “Flavor of Love”. To top that off, near the end of the set Flavor Flave jumped on drums and showed the crowd that Public Enemy’s hype man was more then just that, he is also a talented drummer.

We caught the tail end of Cypress Hill and from what I saw they had the crowd equally engaged as had Public Enemy. We took another food break at that point and then made our way into the thick crowd waiting for Queens of the Stone Age. I never would have imagined it, but Queens of the Stone Age bring out the aggression in a large crowd. Their set began and the music was incredible. Josh Homme brought a bit of naughtiness to the set and kept the music flowing with little time for talk and more time for rock. I was standing near a pit and just sat back watching the participants thrash into one another as though hypnotized. All in all, a stellar performance.

Finally the time came up for the most talked about band of the festival—Daft Punk. The curtain pulled to the side to reveal a large pyramid with room for two in a spacing near the top and a large structure that looked like a metallic cage structure behind it. The music began and at the top of the pyramid out came two robots ready to shake loose the tail end of Vegoose Day One.

In a dreamlike moment, one could look out into the crowd of thousands and see everyone dancing. Calling it amazing music and an amazing lightshow would be selling it short. There are no known words to describe the complete next level of entertainment that Daft Punk provided. The crowd was mesmerized and if anyone had doubts about the ticket price before this show, Daft Punk made it worth it and then some. They finally finished with a brief but mind-blowing encore. As we made the long trek back to their cars and then sat idle for more than 45 minutes, we hardly noticed as our minds were still processing all the music and visuals we had just experienced. Then finally time for sleep.