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Post by gibsonguy20 on Oct 2, 2022 22:57:01 GMT -5
I didn’t go, but had multiple friends attend. All of them enjoyed the festival but heard it only sold 10k worth of tickets. Doubt it’s around next year but who knows.
I didn’t go, but had multiple friends attend. All of them enjoyed the festival but heard it only sold 10k worth of tickets. Doubt it’s around next year but who knows.
I heard it will be sticking around because the Walmart boys want to have their own Coachella and don't care if it's not profitable.
This fest looked freaking amazing from all the social videos I saw. It's definitely on my list for next year.
Attended all three days, did a different path to each one.
Friday: We decided to bring our bikes on the trip and ride them to the festival. Bentonville is supposedly the biking capital of the world(?) We took the challenge on - when in Bentonville, I guess?? You definitely get the sense from the neighborhood. Lots of bikers rolling around, many trails in the area. The festival guide recommended only one bicycle route directly to the fest, and it was the expert-only, dirt/gravel multi-elevated Hand-Cut Hollow. (1st tangent: I am only now realizing the deep irony of this trail title in relation to how my night ended...)
I suspect that they did not recommend riding your bike via rural roads as that could potentially be dangerous (and turns out, it was for us) going through residential areas along Price Coffee road, which led to the Sugar Creek Strip airfield venue of the festival. We visited a nearby bike shop for some extra supplies, and they recommended parking at the nearest bike trail parking lot and riding from there. Free parking and a 25 minute ride on the mostly-level residential road?? sounds like a deal!! Getting there was a fine time. No bike lanes or even shoulders, but "SHARE THE ROAD" signs on the rural route supported you, and cars were cautious as they passed. We actually enjoyed it with the added excitement of finally being at this exciting new music festival.
We entered the field and were directed towards the VIP area path to the right side of the box office. This was where the bike racks were to hold them over until you leave. It was simple enough and there was even a cool hang-out lounge with hipster lights overlooking the bikes. The background tones of our entry was Leftover Salmon, who I wanted to catch up-close, but the sound system showed it was strong enough to reach from main stage very clearly all the way to the gates, which was a great first sign of things to come. The metal detector lines were not crowded, and security was thorough with checks, but let's just say it was clear they only cared about searching for important things like violent paraphernalia.
The airfield grounds were far and wide. Two main stages towards the left, while all the unique, adventurous displays towards the right. Our first stop was The Marias, and again, the sound system was wonderful, very clear and engaging. Maria is a mesmerizing siren and the band is smooth. Stayed for most of their set, but I wanted to catch some of Ela Minus, one of the many DJs on the lineup I grew to liking through listening to the catalogs pre-fest.
She was playing in The Cube. Man, was this venue fascinating, and it was only daytime. Little did I know it would become my overall favorite of the festival, especially after experiencing it at night time. Although, it was a shame the crowd was very sparse - a consistent finding inside the Cube. Despite that, Ela Minus grooved to her hand-made tunes. Would have loved to experience it in an after dark setting.
Returned to main stages for Robert Glasper, who was crooning through his rendition of Radiohead's "Everything in Its Right Place" He and his foursome were showing off their skills for the rest of the set, I was very impressed with drummer Chris Dave, his set-up was eye-catching.
Got a great spot on the center-divider side-rail for Nile Rodgers & CHIC, who were everything you come to know and expect. Tight set full of hits, a dance party you want at a festival.
With that said, it is a crying shame this is where I began to notice the type of attendees that were forming at forMAT. Two dudes in front of us were chatting pretty much the whole time. Interspersed with talking to friends in VIP section across the divider rail, telling each other to 'come over here!' and then actually greeting friends who were WITHIN the divider rail. Staff connections? All these people seemed like they were apart of/connected with the festival/executives of the companies running it. Looking around, I couldn't help but feel like I was surrounded by Wal-Mart. In fact, one of their friends had a legit Wal-Mart ballcap on. To my left, an older couple in the VIP section, husband had a different Wal-Mart ballcap on. It felt very weird and dampened the mood. Oh yeah "Let's Dance"!
We went to explore a little bit, getting hungry, let's check-out the food vendors. There were few. Four on north side of park, Four on south side. Despite limited attendance, most of the lines were lengthy at night. Definitely need more vendors for future fests (if it happens.) Ate delicious, overly-expensive nachos while watching War on Drugs from a distance (next to the aerated air duct installation).
Went to catch an early spot for main stage headliner Phoenix (3rd time seeing). Decided to view from the back, leaned against sound booth barrier, dead center. Again, lack of attendance was very apparent, because the crowd didn't even fill up space to us on the rear rail, lots of room to roam.
The fellas in Phoenix jammed hard, and reminded again, the sound system was STRONG, but that's usually the case when next to the engineers right? Couple songs in, you could see Thomas Mars make his way for the crowd rail to look across the shallow sea of people we were working with for potential surf/standing. He retreated back to stage, probably too sparse to attempt. He shared his appreciation for those who were there, revealing they've never played Arkansas and were pleasantly surprised by its beauty. He also showed humility, stating they should be opening for Nile Rodgers & CHIC - 'I look at our setlist of songs next to theirs and wonder how is this...?'
Halfway through set, the stage went dark and suddenly, towards the right of the engineer booth, in the open air appeared the Studio Drift drone light-show that danced around like forest fairies during "Love Like a Sunset" pt. 1 & 2. It was pretty freakin' cool -- that Phoenix allowed this to occur during their set. I felt privileged to have seen it, and glad I captured the whole 6 minutes on record, might upload it sometime... in a few years.
After that, we noticed time and bailed because we wanted to check out Fatboy Slim in the alluring Disco Barn venue. We got there just as he was starting - but no chance of getting inside. Shit was PACKED, overflowing out da barn door. Look, 'Drag Me to the Disco' idea was a cool concept, but they failed in a couple aspects - only ONE main entry/exit and it's too damn small. It reminded me of the Boom Boom Tent at Hangout Fest, which got overcrowded easily, but at least it had wide open spaces on the side for viewing. Disco Barn now felt like an exclusive first-come first-serve fit. This was a bummer. But our diversion was not a regret.
We wandered to the next new venue - Next Door stage. This was the strangest, most unique of the four. You don't even realize what it is unless you are looking for it. All three side entries are sets of three doors that are fashioned from of porta-potties. You walk inside, and it's a bunch of bright, obnoxious art-filled hallways smacking you in the face. All paths lead to the center - a small dome-shaped room, filled with speaker boxes and bean bag chairs on the ground, and a planetarium style projection on the ceiling above. We are just in time for Belgium-based Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul. They fucking blew the dome up. Such a fun set-up and they were so into it, leveled face-to-face with and inches from the audience. They mentioned they'd never come anywhere close to Arkansas before, it felt very special.
From that intimate indoor set, criss-cross to the deepest part of the field. The deeper you go, the more surreal it gets. Where the giant LED air balloon is emblazoned with light waves. A large circular STARGATE-lookin' portal with mist spraying out of it. Into a section of woods, with limitless lasers illuminating everything. And a disco ball in the center to give it all a boost. This is Smokey's stage. So intense. Shygirl is on, and killin' it with her coochie song - "about one of my favorite things" and Big Dick Energy banger.
After that, we finally ventured back to the Barn, and discovered it is no longer over-flowed outside, because security is now managing traffic like bouncers. One person leaves, one allowed to enter. After finally making it inside, we got to experience the Fatboy Slim finale, filled with "Weapon of Choice" "Praise You" "Rockafeller Skank" remixes along with classic traditional Underworld's "Born Slippy"
We are exhausted. But I begged for a last gasp back to Smokey's to get a taste of techno tango with Richie Hawtin. Talked to a guy outside the stage say Plastikman was the big draw to be here, and could not believe they got him, among many others. I felt the same way. Imagining what other acts that they could lasso in the Ozarks if future ForMAT fest functions...
Then we finally made our way out of the grounds, picked up our bikes... and rode them in the pitch black dark. Good thing we picked up lights at the store. We made it about 3/4th of the way back to our truck when I decided to coast down a hill too fast as a car was coming in the opposite direction, blinding me for a second, which caused me to wobble and wipe out, hard. Good gash on my palm - HAND-CUT HOLLOW CALLBACK - knee and calf, which got stuck in the bike that luckily broke my fall. And busted the front wheel alignment at the same time. Walk/limp of shame the rest of the way.
What a day/night one. few hours sleep and onto the next!
Way worn out from the trek the previous day, we slept in a little. When I awoke, I went to cornerstore for first-aid to clean and wrap my wounds from the biking bust. If that incident did not occur, I believe we were fully committed to creating our own bike path again, despite the dangerous darkness. But alas, I failed and fumbled, so we decided to take a different route to forMAT festival grounds... turns out by the end of this night, I would have rather wiped out again.
We went ride-share, with a Lyft from our stay to the designated drop-off location, which is at the Hand-Cut Hollow trailhead parking. Our drive and driver were fine (it's the trek home, once again, which took a turn for the worse...)
We walked the half mile or so road to the festival entrance, again with short lines and easy access. The apocalyptic booming sounds of The Comet is Coming guide us through the field, unfortunately they ended before we could enjoy up close. We did get to the main stage in time for Christone "Kingfish" Ingram. At only 23 years of age, the dude is already a master guitarist, and his vocals are smooth accompaniment. He surprised the sparse crowd with his presence off-stage, becoming a magnet pulling everyone in tightly to get an up-close look at his skill. I was lucky he landed right near me wailing on his solo.
On his return back up with the rest of the band, he was gracious enough to have artist Nick Cave's sound suits share the stage for the next song. These were omni-present throughout the weekend, randomly appearing at some sets on the two main stages. You'd be lucky if you caught them. I was unfortunate we didn't find any Friday, but seemingly made up for it this day, witnessing their twistin' ways three times.
We moseyed east to The Cube in daytime again. Still very unattended, criminally so while Francois K is thoroughly twisting knobs to his own amusements. This guy has been DJing since the 70's and has an extensive resume. Apparently he performed two days in a row. All of that which makes the turnout all the more disappointing. Got this dude groovin' though
We went to the secret porta-potty Next Door venue to check out the local punk band - The Phlegms. We showed up before the reported time start, but the band was already in full steam ahead with attendance PACKED like sardines in the dome. Nearly as full as Fatboy Slim in the Disco Barn the previous night -- these were the only two overflowing sets I witnessed the whole weekend.
Huge local draw apparently, with the lead lady making some type of comment about how this was "our festival." Made me wonder they were Walmart kids. I had to squeeze my way through for a minor peek, as there is not a lot of square-footage. They lived up to the crowded house, raucously powering through each two minute jaunt.
After a few, I let someone else take my spot, squeezed back out of the porta-potty playhouse. I ran across the field to see the finale of Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, which was made special with Nick Cave's sound suits. Perfect timing here!
Hustled back across the runway in a return to Smokey's. Jurassic 5 alumni- Chali 2NA & Cut Chemist were holding it down, doing almost exclusively free-styles. Constant mentions of the festival, Arkansas, people in the audience, and a couple times he rhymed admitting he was running out of material off the top of his head. But they'd pick it back up right quick.
It's dark now, and The Cube's illumination is calling me back. Just in time to lay eyes on Neil Harbisson - the human cyborg - announce himself and his mission. He is apparently the first person with an antenna installed in his brain. He claimed to be connected with the International Space Station, and he was tapping the sounds of space into a seemingly analog set before our very ears. (Apparently he performed two nights as well) This was the most people I saw in the audience for a Cube set (although there were a lot I missed admittedly) The constant musical drone could really put you in a trance, whether good or bad (like what the fuck am I listening to? solar flares?? ALIENS???) A few dudebros with beers in hand would eventually mock jumping up and down like they were at Fatboy Slim or sumthin'.
I got those delicious expensive nachos again - THIS TIME THEY MADE EM WITH DORITOS!? - and we watched LA/NY hopper Elle King reeeaaally POUR on the country twang accent while waiting for...
Oklahoma's own The Flaming Lips (5th time seeing them.) I will openly admit they are a band who I have almost zero interest listening to their music in a real world situation, but the spectacle they put on live will draw me in. What can I say, I am a sucker for smoke and mirrors and lights and colors and confetti and odd inflatables.
The thing with Wayne is the guy constantly wants feedback from the crowd. I suppose I understand, you put a lot of effort to be here so you need the appreciation to be loud and obvious. And the small amount of downtime between songs to get the next gimmick setup can seem awkward? But maybe just create your own musical bridge - seen other bands do this impressively - instead of chastising the crowd to "come on come on keep it up keep it up" Like am I at a Jeb Bush speaking rally or something?? Keep it up, Wayne.
Since COVID, he still won't roll out into the crowd with the hamster ball anymore. But he DID change up the routine by allowing Nick Cave's sound suits to swoop in on a song "Moth in the Incubator" which added an extra layer of strange to the set -- 'I don't know how this will go... but I am willing to let these peaceful aliens show us their ways.' Glad I got some of that on video as well.
My wife really wanted to see Beach House, but hearing they are a somewhat minimal live band - especially in high contrast with a Lips show - I wasn't planning on them to hold much attention. But they did?! My wife at one point - "I didn't expect headbanging to a Beach House song??" Victoria Legrand made an interesting comment about how the festival had "a lot of distractions" and thanked the fairly full (for this fest) crowd with holding strong.
We were already worn out on a second long day (getting older sucks) but we swung the stamina all the way back to Smokey's because I wanted to check out another DJ I was drawn to with homework listening -- Acid Pauli. Crossing through the misty portal into the laser forest with a remixed "Idioteque" by Radiohead really made me feel like I made the right choice.
Got up on the left side stage ramp, where a security guard was mildly amused and telling people to keep moving. At one point he asked me "what the hell is this?" with judgement, as Acid Pauli was building the next track. Then suddenly beat drops through, the guard follows "OOOOoooh okaaay" and starts bobbin'. Soon after, yells at some dude in a unicorn hoodie to quit dancing on the walkway ramp (it's dangerously slippery?) We retrace our dance-steps back out the trees on the end of a Wet Leg's "Too Late Now" remix, with intention to stop by the #1 headliner on the way to the gates...
"Treat You Better" guides our way. Rufus du Sol got a shiny light show. We walk by sound booth just in time for a massive confetti blast-off. Turned to each other and said "Alright, solid way to go out."
Buuuuuut if only it was that simple. Out the gate, we still have to walk the half-mile to the 'ride-share' destination that now feels like two miles..... which is actually what we end up walking. Because when we get there? No service. Oh, yeah, this is where I mention Arkansas is full of Dead Zones. None more dead than in the middle of a grassy airfield turned into a music festival. Furthermore, especially down a secluded walk/hike/bike trail. At this location, there is surprisingly a nearby mini-suburb of nice houses, but the elevation is low, so no go on phone bars. At least a dozen other people standing around/sitting on curbs trying to catch a service and a ride. A few begin to walk up the hill, hopeful the climb will catch a bar. We make the trek, run into some ghost-like lady wandering the roads (KATE BUSH!?) looking lost and she dismissed us when we tried to help her. Another half mile later, we get service. But it is now after 1AM, and there are ZERO available rides with Lyft. We walk another mile to the nearest hotel with a friendly front desk lady who has a hookup with a driver that stays there. He works a Lyft, but was off by that point. She personally asked him if he could take us, and he agreed for an off-the-record, reasonable fee. They saved us, honestly.
Would have MUCH rather biked in the deep dark, hell I'd maybe even earn another Cut on the other Hand rather than experience this Hollow hassle again.
DO A DAY THREE???? How will THAT go?
Last Edit: Oct 17, 2022 22:00:22 GMT -5 by llz - Back to Top
Well with the announcement of Year 2, I guess now is an opportune time to dust off the draft of Day 3
SUNDAY
we slept in. the rough and tumble two nights prior got our aging bodies sore. We were planning on making this a much simpler day anyway, as we also decided to bring the kiddos (daughter is a Jungle fan) This day, we went the shuttle route. Praying it would be more relaxed and no unwanted adventure awaited us. They had everyone park at a gigantic lot near office buildings, where shuttles of all shapes and sizes would rotate and pull up to pick up. school buses, short buses, long buses, sprinter vans. large touring coaches, whatever they seemed to be able to rent. The variety was welcomed, because it was designed to keep the flow going.... Unfortunately we seemed to be the unlucky time-slot that had to wait a little extra long. Once our ride did arrive, it was about a 15 minute haul through the woods to make it to the festival grounds.
I wanted to arrive in time to catch the Nick Cave / JLIN / Arkansas university drumline collaboration on the festival grounds... We missed it by like 20 minutes. Bummer. Ah well, it looked fun on the videos shared to instagram. We did make it in time to see the last half of legendary Herbie Hancock. A riff on "Cantaloupe Island" was greatly welcomed.
Stayed main-stage rotation for majority of this night. difficult hauling kiddos around a large airfield. Got a spacious spot of some Jungle fun, another act who never woulda played Arkansas otherwise. Daughter took to the light whip, as a future festie fan.
Thundercat came out thrashing hardcore bass licks and jazzy jams with his two bandmates. Closed with "Them Changes" extended version. During this set was when I became self-aware of all the other parents with other kids surrounded . Kids who were either uninterested, or staring on like "what the hell are these noises?!" Little do they know the quality they were witnessing and less did they realize HOW FRICKIN COOL THEIR PARENTS ARE. they'll find out a couple decades down the road...right?
I ran over to The Cube one last time to see what The Lost Souls of Saturn looked like, as their sound is very atmospheric and I figured it would be tight to see in The Cube. Assumption correct. Video accompaniment was Bela Lugosi's Dracula.
Back to the main. Khruangbin. Headliner worthy. Man they are such a sharp impressive three-headed instrumental monster. When vocal, they expressed appreciation for being at the first Format, how all the art on display was cool to see. Then proceeded to pummel everyone with their massive medley of covers.
We ended up experiencing our final installation for the weekend - DomeRX. All three days, we noticed some strange orb posted up in front of the main stages. Turns out it was a 360 camera that was projecting into this Dome. Radical stuff. We finished the set while laying on bean bags and looking to the ceiling.
Afterwards, we headed out of the inaugural Format Festival, worn out from a long and winding weekend. Shuttles were waiting in the field out front, easily boarded and took the 15 minute ride through the darkened rural road, back to the massive parking lot. End.
Overall impressions - I loved what they were trying to accomplish, I loved the artists, the installations, the organization of all the stages. Greatly looking forward to this being a yearly adventure. Yet also would not be surprised if it does not return, as I imagine the financial loss was large. Truly, my only negatives would be the absolute hassle it is to get there. The only parking they will allow to attendants on grounds is for the campers. From the little I saw at a distance of the special tents, they looked legit, but did not see a lot of people in the area. I am extremely curious to hear from those who went this route, how their time was, and if it was worth the $1500.
Post by stlallison on Jan 27, 2023 15:57:16 GMT -5
I'm gonna do everything in my power to go this year. A friend of mine drove from STL for this and he even only did one day and said it was totally worth the drive. My PTO is already eaten up, but I can probably get there for Friday night and Saturday, drive home Sunday.
I'm gonna do everything in my power to go this year. A friend of mine drove from STL for this and he even only did one day and said it was totally worth the drive. My PTO is already eaten up, but I can probably get there for Friday night and Saturday, drive home Sunday.
My friends who went last year were very excited for this to return. Assuming the lineup is similar to last year I’m probably in for this too. Will probably end up just flying into STL and drive with some friends leaving from there as well. I’ll be curious to see who drops their lineup first… this, Portola, or Fall CRSSD as I assume they’re all on the same weekend again and all shared plenty of overlap last year.
Semi realistic wishlist based on what I imagine could show up at one of the three festivals noted above around this time.
Darkside or any Jaar project Bicep FKA twigs Robyn Overmono DOMi and JD Beck Lana Del Rey Floorplan NxWorries LCD Soundsystem Perfume Genius Oliver Sim Ibibio Sound Machine
This is on my radar this year. I ignored last year because similar time as Portola and don’t even though if they gonna run that scene back due to noise complaints and whatnot…
Bentonville is actually a really cool town (despite being the birthplace of one of the world's most evil companies). Rogers, which is right next to Bentonville, has the best coffee shop i've ever been to (Onyx Coffee Labs) and a really good brewery (Ozark Beer Co.) and the area is one of the best mountain biking destinations in the US.
I've been wanting to go there and ride the trails for a few years now. I guess the walmart kids have to pick one project to spend $$$ on and one of the sons built a lot of them. Looks like easy access from most places in town to the trailheads and then you can just ride all day. I think the museum was the (one of the?) daughters projects. They recently purchased and relocated a Frank Lloyd Wright house to the museum property that would be cool to check out.
It was not announced until April 18th of last year, which notably is after Coachella. I would wager they wait until afterwards again before they deal their cards. Despite only sharing 5 artists (the Marias, Fatboy Slim, Richie Hawtin, AMEME, Ela Minus) within 2022, they probably feel like they want to draw the same type of crowd. 'hey there, if you are feeing a Coachella depression, look here's a follow-up option in 5 months!'
here's a hybrid of hopes/somewhat simiar side-by-side lineup to the 2022 (and not necessarily in any order)
JUSTICE | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | The Roots TV on the Radio | George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic | Umphrey's McGee Phantogram | Al Green | Japanese Breakfast Flying lotus | Future Islands | kamasi washington toro y moi | perfume genius | Margo Price Esperanza Spalding | Kaytranada | little dragon Goose | badbadnotgood | Jimmie Vaughn Tycho | Skip Marley | Godspeed You! Black Emporer Avalanches | sudan archives | Bartees Strange Natalia lafourcade | Ozomatli | unkle john talabot | US Girls | Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
taking that Walmart bag is going to be a bad look for his sister, the climate change minister of Wales (unless she is on the side of climate change which is how the title makes it sound)
taking that Walmart bag is going to be a bad look for his sister, the climate change minister of Wales (unless she is on the side of climate change which is how the title makes it sound)
taking that Walmart bag is going to be a bad look for his sister, the climate change minister of Wales (unless she is on the side of climate change which is how the title makes it sound)
she's trying to administer as much climate change as possible
LCD, Alanis, Leon - all gets I am happy about, but I have also seen them before, so they don't really excite much. Jamie XX, Channel Tres and Tash Sultana - look forward to seeing them for the first time. Still shamed to say I had to leave Day For Night 2017 early on Sunday, and missed Jamie xx closing the festival out in what would be its last set ever.
On that note, if the Aphex Twin thing is true, they really trying to recreate the image of D4N. Although if we are talking about scoring a huge get for the 2nd annual fest, I would much rather have Bjork. Unfortunately she will be in Italy that same weekend
Regardless, I already have the closest hotel reserved to return. Can't wait for this.
