After the Jump Fest @ Studio B 8/25

At this point readers of New York music blogs are probably sick and tired of hearing about the blog currated festival known as After the Jump. For the past few weeks we have been pushing it through every post of our collective 22 blogs, and I know it may have been us beating a dead horse over it but we were really excited about all our hard work coming to fruition. Well, Saturday was finally the day for us to see what our collective powers were capable of and I have to say I was mighty impressed with everything that went down. The bloggers united to make the show run as seamlessly as possible, bands played their hearts out, and fans danced until they couldn't dance any more. The whole day was fun, musical, for a good cause, and enough of a reason to make me want to do it again next year on an even grander scale. I'm going to keep this review simple with as few words as possible and mostly lists and pictures to recap my experiences, I'm sure there will be more than a few reviews throughout the day.

Top 5 Bands:
Ra Ra Riot - As always Ra Ra Riot porved an irresistable force as they drew probably the biggest and most enthusiastic crowd of the day and impressed from the start of their set. They absoltuely blew me away with "St. Peter's Day Festival", a song written by their deceased drummer that always leaves me with goosebumps after hearing it. If this is not the next big band in indie rock then I don't know who is.

Jukebox the Ghost - Playing the steamy side stage, this DC trio were as tight as possible introducing us to a handful of new songs while playing the crowd pleasing tunes off their debut EP. This band will be taking up residency at Piano's in September so you can expect a lot more about the band from me.

Bling Kong - We weren't quite sure how this super large band with somwhere in the neighborhood of 10 members would fit on the side stage, but they managed to squeeze in and pack every inch of the room with a crowd that was excited and sweaty throughout their half hour set. With some of the cutest singers in music (to hell with The Pipettes!!), Bling Kong wowed me my first time seeing them and may just have a new fan for life.

Locksley - The last time I saw Locksley I was well on my way to having one of the most drunken and embarrassing nights of my life. So hopefully you can forgive me if I say I really don't remember what I saw from them that night. Well, Saturday was completely different. Though I still wound up quite drunk by the end, the band went on early enough that I was still lucid enough to rock out and remember watching a superb set from a very promising young band.

The Teenage Prayers - I was kind of expecting The Teenage Prayers to actually be teenagers, their slightly older ages did not prove to be a problem for the young band. They didn't get all achy or tired as twenty somethings are known to do and were able to capture the early arrivals in the crowd getting a few to dance and getting myself into it enough to neglect some of my early duties to watch the band rocking.

Top 5 Favorite Moments from the Day:
Introducing Ra Ra Riot - Though we had a superb host in Sara Schaefer for most of the day, she had a prior engagement that she had to dart off to so I was left to help Matt and Chris out with the raffle portion of the show. Following the raffle I had the chance to introduce one of my current favorite bands Ra Ra Riot, who have actually been scheduled to play past shows of mine but had to cancel for various reasons. So it was a real thrill to introduce them as "one of the best bands in New York" and to jump off stage and watch them launch into their set.

Being Interviewed by CONCERT.tv - I still find it strange when people want to ask me questions about things. I've been interviewed a couple of times but this was the first time I was ever in front of a camera being asked questions by a lovely host about a festival that I had a hand in putting together. It was fun and exciting and I can't wait to see it once it goes live on the website, or even better on their HD TV channel!

Meeting People - Though I suffered a severe bout with carpal tunnel after shaking so many hands I was completely impressed with meeting so many people. From the bands, to sponsors, to the folks that were just there to listen to the sounds of the bands, it was a great experience to get to know some of these people even if it was just a five minute conversation.

The Chocolate Covered Pretzels in the Green Room - No I'm not kidding they were that freaking good!

Getting My T-Shirt and Realizing it Was Really Happening - Talking to the other bloggers on Saturday afternoon I got the feeling that we were all a little awed by the fact that this actually got off the ground and happened. At the beginning people were practically betting on whether it was going to happen or not, and when it finally did I think we were all a bit surprised by it. It was great watching everyone grabbing t-shirts and pins and then running around like chickens with their heads cut off because it meant that we had accomplished something and that we could do it again if we want to. I'm impressed by everyone that was involved and I can't wait to work with you all again.