This Ain't No Picnic Festival 2022

i havent done any research, gonna listen to some of her sets. thanks yall for the recs

Ucla is playing a home game at 1pm. 🫠

Fuck. That.

man this weekend was absolutely NUTS my body is finally recovering. I was in SO much pain last night. but I saw a ton of great acts and ill post my daily rankings as many others have.

SATURDAY
1. Le Tigre - they were the real headliner for me. they played so many songs from their first album and the energy was GREAT. loved the guitar tones and loud vocals it was definitely a party up there.

2. Indigo De Souza - HUGE surprise!! I found this band from their feature on the compilation "through the soil" and they were put up with lo fi legends like attic abasement, teen suicide, salvia palth etc. they had that depressing raw sound that I absolutely love and I would see them again if they played a bigger fest in the evening.

3. Eyedress - this was my drunk set and I just went to have a good time. his music is super goofy and I dont really like that bedroom pop stuff but wr got a pit going and I had a great time with it.

4. Circle Jerks - i haven't listened to them too too much but I knew they were gonna rock the place. fun circle pit but had to leave a lil early cause the dust and I wanted to be fresh for sundays pits haha

5. Hana Vu - she played very early in the day so it was like getting my own private concert. her voice is POWERFUL and the band was solid all around

6. Courtney Barnett - i watched her set during "nap time" my girlfriend and I were hot from eyedress and the alcohol was wearing off and we were sleepy so we found a tree by Courtney Barnett and just enjoyed the show. her songs are very chill and she has some guitar skills!

7. Jorja Smith - she actually sounded super good!! with a huge live band and backup singers very grand performance! however, rnb is not really my thing and I went more for my girlfriend but she enjoyed it so I enjoyed it too!

throughout the day I partially saw some ying yang twins (looked like a party!!), yves tumor with that AMAZING full band, dawn Richard which was interesting LOL, kind of heard some lcd when I was getting food but im not into them that much. we also spent an hour in despacio and took tequila shots!! we danced our butts off for a good hour. man it was so good!

SUNDAY

1. The Strokes - my favorite band yada yada im considered a hard core fan i guess so let me tell you that setlist was INSANE very rare songs! opening with under control and meet me in the bathroom. we got barely legal and IZE OF THE WORLD that performance alone was worth the ticket. kinda had a bad spot around a bunch of huge people and my girlfriend and I moved like 4 different times and always ended up behind a huge man with a bucket hat. im only 5'6 and shes 5'0 RIP

2. Turnstile - yall the crowd did not disappoint. I swear this days lineup was building up to this moment. TURNSTILE ROCKS these guys were absolutely insane and the pits started before they even walked on stage LOL I had a blast and got so much dust in my sinuses from it but it was so worth

3. Wet Leg - i don't listen to this band that much really but I know they are hot right now so I wanted to be a part of the party in the center of the crowd. they played LOUD and it was such an electric set with high energy

4. IDLES - the second they came on stage i knew exactly what was gonna go down. I was up front with my girlfriend and a bunch of pheobe stans 💀💀 a lot of people couldn't hang but I thought it was badass. I dont listen to IDLES too much either but man the live show was killer people were going mad!!

5. Slowthai - I ended up ditching deadheaven for this guy and it was a rager😂 I've only been in one rap pit and it was injury reserve in 2019? they are way different from punk and hardcore stuff this was surprising so much fun stupid silly fun and everyone around was having the time of their life

6. Margaritas Podridas - surprise performance!! they KILLED it! the girls were crazy insane gave me Kurt Cobain vibes solid guitar tones and I loved the dirty feedback, playing tricks and messing around with the instruments. they put me in a good mood

7. ZULU - this band would've been way higher if they had an evening slot maybe opening for turnstile. I had a blast and the pit was fun but the crowd was very small and the sun and early time kinda takes away some of the appeal. the drummer never missed a beat and the riffs were sharp. love these guys

8. Nothing - I love this kind of loud guitar driven music and I love their studio stuff. I was kind of chillen for most of the set and moved up right as they played a what felt like 10 minute long slow song but they still sounded sharp. Is it just me or did the greens stage feel too small? like I know the artists aren't as big but I think they still should've made a big tent stage for smaller bands!

9. Pheobe Bridgers - im not a pheobe stan and I dont see the appeal. if you want sad girl music go with Indigo de Souza or Fiona Apple or Cat Power and several other artist. I couldn't help but get rich white girl from the million dollar houses by the rose bowl is now famous vibe. but in actuality she sounded good and the band was solid. just not my thing! was just there to secure a spot for the strokes and I wish it were Beach House opening instead !!!!

throughout the day I partially saw some Mike Watt + The Missingmen THESE GUY ROCKED it was lunch time so I was eating during their set but I could feel the energy and passion. also saw some Mdou Moctar under the shade and that guitar player was giving amazing energy. reminded me of Santana on guitar? like that woodstock performance? absolute baller

I think that's all!! now here are a list of bands I wish I would've seen but the festival was too staked to catch their sets

Beach House, Deafheaven, Shame, Descendents, any of the DJs, Julia Jacklin

overall had an amazing time and I hope they do it again next year.... maybe Queens of thr Stone Age and some other headliner maybe throw in The Moldy Peaches in a Le Tigre spot? hmmmm

How was They Hate Change?

Finally home. Been jotting down stuff all day but I’m not coherent at all right now. Super fun time. Hope it comes back for y’all locals.

Great meeting y’all. Thank you for giving me beer and dragging me to shows. I really needed all three of those. It’s been a rough few months and kindness goes a long way with me.

Anyone see Jungle?

Had a blast. Would love for it to come back. Wish I prepared for the dust though lol

1. The Strokes
2. Magdalena Bay
3. LCD Soundsystem
4. Caroline Polachek
5. Wet Leg

alright, been meaning to get some extended thoughts in here while continuing to plod, at best, through this work week

SATURDAY
Showed up a little after 3 on Saturday and immediately went over to the 19th Hole (finding out my camelbak had a leak notwithstanding!) for what was a fun warmup set from Leon Vynehall with some super clutch shade. As I mentioned, this was the start of a DJ-heavy day for me and one that I really, really enjoyed as I'm just not up for the 5AM show ending times that always seem to happen here in NYC for those acts that I want to see anymore. Bounced slightly early for Yves Tumor which agree with some of the folks here that have said the vocals were underwhelming, but I still got a kick out of how much they've evolved in live show and popularity since Buku 2019 and 40 other people in the Float Den. Went to check out Despacio after and man was that awesome. Really hope they do the NYC shows again sometime that got covided in 2020 (co-voided? idk). First Despacio experience and really hope it's not the last. Whoever was spinning at that time played a slowed down Safety Dance and the crowd got real into it.

After leaving paid our respects for a song or two at Earl Sweatshirt (shoutout esteban bc I have stolen this phrase from him) and then went over to Danilo Plesso/MCDE, who after catching for 10 minutes after Tame Impala at Panorama 2017 and listening to a ton of mixes from since I had been dying to see a full set from and it didn't disappoint. Very slowly increasing the energy throughout while keeping it on the funkier side made for a great set and one that I would've stayed at however long he played. Those going to III Points or Portola, definitely put him on your list. After watching about 10 minutes of Kaytranada following MCDE, convinced my buddy it was time to go back to Despacio where we hung out until I flew solo to Honey Dijon, another DJ I had been wanting to catch for a while. Definitely the highest energy of the 3 (mostly) full sets I saw at 19th Hole that day and was the perfect lead-in to LCD afterwards. Obviously more than 80 minutes is preferred for them but for what they were given thought it was a great setlist and I still don't know if there's another band in the world with a better 1-2 punch to close a set than them. Shoutout to the airbnb that was walking distance back having a hot tub which was much needed.

SUNDAY
After getting over a slight hangover (thank god for sticking to beer for the most part), got ourselves together for Pachyman to start things off which was OK. Sounded nice but I think would've worked better at night or at a smaller stage. Got a little bit of Despacio time afterwards which I made sure to do because I knew it would probably be the last chance I had, which is exactly what happened. After watching about 10 minutes of Nothing (solid, probably would've been more drawn in if I showed up for the beginning and was closer), hoofed over to the main stage for Mdou Moctar, who shredded his way through the heat as expected. I'm not sure how many better guitar players are doing it right now. The last couple times I saw him he and the band started out with 3-4 acoustic songs at the front of the stage, which was nice, but a shorter festival set meant right to electric we went. Fantastic set. Following that, seeing Wet Leg for the first time after their album dropped was a good time although the mix was a little iffy at points. Chaise Longue has not become one iota less fun. Slowthai was solid after; pretty much a shortened version of the set I saw here in April but it let me get a little pit warmup in.

The main stage run ended with my first time seeing IDLES, which was as advertised - went all out in the pit for this one and had a phenomenal time. Colossus and The Wheel were especially great and even more looking forward to seeing them in Brooklyn in a few weeks. Unfortunately made the call to split right when Danny Nedelko started which is my favorite song of theirs, but any lingering regret from that was erased when Turnstile walked out. What a show these guys have. When I first saw them in May I didn't appreciate Glow On nearly as much as I do now so hearing those songs again knowing them more intimately was maybe the highlight of the weekend. Fazed Out was heavier than the core of the earth and I appreciate that they still play that one. Came out of the pit looking like a coal miner from the dust. Was pretty much too beat after that to do much of anything, but caught 20 minutes of Four Tet/Floating Points which I would've gotten more out of if I wasn't exhausted by then, drank a beer and watched Beach House from the very back, and finally watched 10 minutes of GY!BE to close things out which I am well aware is not nearly enough of one of their sets.

Whoever read this far, thanks because it's mostly for me. Life circumstances may make next year tough if it happens again but hey we'll see. Very well-run festival and no real feedback from that standpoint. Thank god we lucked out with the weather.

one edit: when they had the camera on him during the drum solo, it was very apparent that turnstile's drummed is JACKED i mean jesus christ did anyone else see that?

Glad to hear everyone had a good time and that The Strokes ended up killing it. Really hope this fest happens next year!

Got an email that says

“Thank you for joining us for the very first year of This Ain’t No Picnic festival! Because this was the first time around, we want your feedback. What did we do well, and what can we improve for next time? Take this quick survey and we’ll enter you to win a $300 Postmates gift card!”

So, 2023?

What festival offers free passes for filling out their feedback survey? Most don't even offer a chance at Postmates gift cards. 

Coachella, Cruel World, other Goldenvoice festivals.

At least the $300 in postmates will cover all the pricey food at the fest