The Monster Reviews Arras

Main Square Music Festival success!

But first work-related stuff. So after setting up the interferometer, work has been kind of slow. We've got most of it figured out, but to show how effective the home-made target system is, we're going to test it against a more manufactured model. Right now my workdays consist of traveling around with the two French Mathieu's and talking to the mechanics (rather listening to the mechanics and Mathieus talk as they only speak French). So far, we progress little by little.

Arras time!
Drew Chrissy and myself arrived around 6 in the afternoon of Friday for Arras. After a walk to the campsites and retrieval of bracelets for the festival, we set up the tent quickly and then went to see the music, after joining up with Kierstin and Zak. We listened to some of garbage, and then Mir arrived, so I showed him where the tents were. Here's my thoughts on the artists. (Kind of a long and tedious list, so don't read if you don't care.)

Friday
Garbage (19:30)- They were older than I thought they were, but they put out a good sound. Not exactly my style of music and the lead singer's pants were distracting.


Brigitte (20:45)- Very French. But a lot of fun too. Two girls sang and they had very coordinated movements.

Kasabian (21:15)- They were the first real rock band. Very entertaining to watch. Good times had by all.

The XX (23:10)- Too chill for their own good. Good music, good vibes, but not exciting enough to headline.

Justice  (01:10) Fantastic. I don't normally like DJ shows, but the beats and the lights were incredible. I'd forget there were other people around.

Chase and Status (2:10)- Fun show, but the best song was a cover of Killing in the Name of. Good cool-down after the might of justice.

Saturday
Skip the Use (15:05)- Very british, very punk, very fun.

Rain delay (~16:30-17:10)
not real, but for us, yes.

Miles Kane (18:00)- Good stuff, the songs just kind of sounded the same after a while.

The Kooks (18:05)- Very british again. Very nice.

Florence+The Machine (19:35)- Incredible. Everything I hoped for. Florence brought the sun out, she was fun and lively and despite what Zak says, I enjoyed her crowd interactions. Her voice is incredible. I wanted to sing along, but felt I shouldn't out of respect. It was that good. Also her performance passed by so quickly for me because of how much I enjoyed it.

Pearl Jam (21:30)- One of the best rock bands brought the rock. Even though, I'm not too familiar with their stuff, they were great showmen and had great stuff. Lot of fun.

Birdy Nam Nam (00:10)- Again a DJ show, but there were four of them, and it was incredible. The lights weren't as good as Justice, but the beats were incredible (I guess you can do that with four people).

Sunday
The All-American Rejects (15:10)- Fun concert. Definitely one of the more American feeling shows. Only drawback, they led with their proverbial left by opening with Dirty Little Secret. Just seems like a bad idea.

Michael Kiwanuka (15:15)- Surprise find of the festival. Good old fashioned grooves and blues type stuff. I really enjoyed his show.

Gaz Coombes (15:45)- Would have liked them more if I could have figured out what they were about.

Wiz Khalifa (17:20)- Great concert and show. Lot of fun, and he seemed to really enjoy himself which helps. Also kept giving shout outs to his band which was very nice of him, I thought.

Noah and the Whale (18:05)- Probably would have really enjoyed them, but I was anxious to see Incubus.

Incubus (19:00)- Great show. It was nice to know most of the songs again. I had fun with it, I just wish the crowd was more into it.

The Mars Volta (21:15)- My second favorite show (first was Florence). They were just feeling it and went crazy on stage for the whole time. Tons of fun, even though I didn't recognize any of the songs. Also produced my favorite quote from the festival. The lead singer came out and declare "I'm here to eat your cheeseburger ass. That's right, your ass is made of cheeseburgers. Now bend over and let me take a bite!"

Blink-182 (22:50)- Good for the first couple of songs, then I remembered why anyone only listens to them in middle school. Cause they just sound whiney. So we left.

M83 (23:10)- Good vibes, but we were tired, so we went to bed so we could get up at 4:30. (We being Zak and myself, as we were the only ones brave enough to handle three days of Arras goodness.)

For a quote see the one from the Mars volta.