Rock in Rio Pop Weekend 2015
This weekend my parents took me to Las Vegas for the second weekend of the inaugural Rock in Rio USA. It was the first concert we’ve attended together since American Idol Live when I was 9 years old (my mom and I were big Carrie Underwood fans at the time). Lineup aside, I was just excited to go to a music festival where we weren’t squishing too many people in a motel room or campsite and surviving off of junk food for 3 days. Instead, I had a whole queen bed to myself and my parents taking me out to Umami Burger (amazing) and the Bacchanal Buffet (disappointing, totally not worth the price).
The festival ran approximately 3pm-1am every day. We ran into some problems getting our wristbands so I was a bit worried about the festival’s organization, but the venue was surprisingly one of the best I’ve seen for a music festival. The three main stages were all close together on one edge of the grounds, so you didn’t have sprint across the entire field to see the next band. On the other side, miniature Disneyland-esque storefronts were put up with really cool decorations and housed different brands, restaurants, bars, etc. The “Rock City” was divided into three sections, each with their own small stage, to promote music and culture from Brazil, the US, and the UK. There was astroturf to sit on and it was kept surprisingly clean due to diligent workers constantly picking up litter. There were just a few cigarette buds to kick aside every now and then. Rock in Rio also introduced a cashless wristband system, where you loaded money into your wristband and simply scanned it to make purchases. The idea is great: it saves the time and hassle of cash or cards, thereby eliminating the staggeringly long lines that plague festivals everywhere. Unfortunately, it had a couple drawbacks like a $3.50 refund charge and only allowing you to add money in increments of $10, which attendees were all forced to comply with to buy anything in the festival.
James Bay opened the festival armed with all the necessary trappings of a modern-day singer-songwriter: long hair, a dark round hat, a guitar, and a British accent. It was a pretty enjoyable start to a weekend of music with my parents. He’s got a nice, pretty voice that my mom likes and I’m sure I could get into him once the right song comes around with a strong, memorable hook.
Passing the time between sets, we decided to go watch an Irish river dancing troupe at Rock Street UK because hey why not. Personally I’m all for these displays of culture to keep people entertained between the big names. It’s definitely what sets Rock in Rio apart from most festivals out there.
Tove Lo had a pretty fun set, but it wasn’t as gripping as when I saw her play the Troubadour last year, although that may have just been due to the environment. The catchy songs were enjoyable after a relatively quiet start to the day, but with the impressive array of female pop stars playing after her, her set proved to be pretty forgettable later, except maybe when she flashed one boob to the audience during “Talking Body” (sorry mom).
From there, we followed the crowd of people streaming Brazilian flags behind them to the main stage. I’ve never heard of Ivete Sangalo, but my dad, who has a strong Portuguese background from growing up in Mozambique, really wanted to see her. He was definitely the most excited out of all of us to check out Rock in Rio’s Latin offerings. Sangalo’s set was energetic and undeniably entertaining, just not my thing. She was basically like an older, less famous Jennifer Lopez performing Latin music. The crowd loved her though, which mostly consisted of proud Brazilians, many of which I think actually flew out for this festival, and white girls who were already drunk.
Charli was the beginning of an entirely different caliber of acts on the lineup. I’m not a huge fan of her songs, but I really enjoyed her set. She had a certain spunk and confidence that I felt Tove Lo was missing in her set. The heavily beat driven music sounded much better coming out of enormous speaker stacks than my car stereo. As evident from this blog, I truly truly love bands, but this festival reminded me what it was like to see a true entertainer. Someone who went above and beyond their songs so that you were just utterly mesmerized and couldn’t rip your eyes from the stage for even a second. Star power is a real thing, and I felt very lucky to witness it firsthand this weekend.
Congrats to Echosmith’s booking agent for landing them a great spot on this festival. They played the mainstage later in the day to a huge crowd either waiting for Taylor Swift or killing time between Charli XCX and Jessie J, two of the other big names that day. I’ve seen Echosmith in both venues and on festival stages and they’ve always had a pretty entertaining set. They’re not very lively on stage, but the songs are great and the banter charismatic. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed by their performance here. I don’t know if they were daunted at all by the size of their stage, but the band was unable to fill it, with both the music and the members themselves feeling incredibly small as they stood miles away from each other on either end and made no attempts to move around at all. My parents weren’t into it and we left about halfway through to get food.
Jessie J brought that same impressive energy and charisma that Charli XCX had, paired with incredible vocals that were prominently displayed throughout her set. Unfortunately we only stayed at that stage for two songs before moving to the main stage to get a good spot for Ed Sheeran, and of course Taylor Swift. Part of me wishes I had stayed longer for hers, but sacrifices are necessary in life.
I’ve seen Ed Sheeran several times now and although it was mostly the same of what I’ve seen before, it was still an incredible set. He came out there with only a loop pedal and gave another amazing display of musicianship surpassing everyone else I saw play that weekend. I never get tired of watching him perform. I also loved the fact that he was the only standout male performer among a score of female stars. The alternative scene may be struggling in this regard, but women confidently dominate the pop world.
Finally, the one I’ve been waiting years to see. I couldn’t believe I was about to witness the undeniably greatest star in the world right now from about the 20/30th row of a general admission pit. It was a surreal moment when the screens lit up with The 1989 World Tour. We were no longer at Rock in Rio, we were at a Taylor Swift show. She had done the courtesy of allowing Rock in Rio open for her, almost like a pay-to-play slot. Nobody else compared to her set, not even close. She brought her entire slew of backup dancers and majority of her staging to the festival, including a long platform that rose in the air and spun as she sang. She covered the enormous breadth of her stage so easily. Everything about the production was seamless and perfect. During costume changes, videos of all her famous friends played talking about Taylor and her greatest qualities. Literally only Taylor could get away with a stunt like that, which left you feeling even more enamored with her rather than disgusted by the excessive humblebragging. As extraordinary as her entire set was, the one highlight for me was definitely when Ed Sheeran came back out to duet “Tenerife Sea” with her. It’s my favorite song off his new record, which he didn’t play during his set, and the fact that I was now witnessing a one-time-only duet between them was utterly mindblowing. Other highlights included playing “Wonderland” live for the first time and mixing in “Enchanted” with “Wildest Dreams.”
Due to Sam Smith’s unfortunate illness (which I’m so happy has been successfully cured now), the second day lineup was noticeably weaker than the first. It probably would’ve been better if they had switched some acts across the two days to balance the music more. The first day was primarily straight up pop, while the second was mostly urban/funk/R&B acts, which is fun, but you start to get tired of hearing funky horns after about 6 hours.
First act of the day was Mikky Ekko, who we decided to check out because my mom loves his collaboration with Rihanna, “Stay.” So many kids these days declare that the days of terrestrial radio are over, when in fact terrestrial radio was responsible for my mom discovering that song, liking it, and deciding to take her family to Rock in Rio and thereby spend over $1000 supporting music in one weekend. Never forget that you are not the most significant statistic. Anyways, Mikky had a fantastic voice, and like James Bay, could really breakout with the right song (like “Stay” has already done a bit).
Mayer was technically Sam Smith’s replacement, getting added last minute while John Legend was bumped up to the penultimate slot in the lineup. I’d seen his band play at Life Is Beautiful last year, and it was pretty much the same feel-good funk. This is when the endless cycle of syncopated horns began. It was pretty fun to jam out to, but lackluster compared to Day 1′s performances.
Stone The Beetles/Bossacucanova/Terra Celta
From there, it was a random assembly of acts playing the smaller stages, because I didn’t feel like seeing Magic! or Big Sean (especially with my parents). My dad and I were excited to see Stone The Beetles, expecting a cheesy cover band playing a couple good songs. Unfortunately, Stone The Beetles was a group of old men that somehow managed to butcher some of the timeless classics in music history by twisting them into horrendous funk versions. I’m open to a Beatles song being played in a funk style, but these guys completely lacked the musicianship to do so, and the result was quite painful. We moved on to Rock Street USA to watch a dance crew perform, but I had seen better during half time at my high school’s football games. We then went to watch Bossacucanova since my dad enjoys Latin music. They finally offered some reprieve since Latin music is like the sonic equivalent of Chinese food: no matter the price or quality, as long as it’s being made by the appropriate person it’s good. After that we went to check out Terra Celta, which were a group described to mix Irish and Latin influences with each other. Unfortunately, the sound guy decided to max out the faders because the cacophony of bagpipes, horns, drums, etc. was way too loud for a stage that small to the point where it hurt just to stand in front of the stage.
We retreated back to the other side of the festival for aural safety where Empire of the Sun were finishing up their main stage set. They had brought the same theatrics including dancers, costumes, and trippy visuals that I saw them with at Coachella last year. While their spectacles are always entertaining, the music itself has always seemed just okay to me. Neither me or my parents were very impressed.
Next was Joss Stone, a name I have heard countless times for some reason, but never heard a single song until that night. Her appearance, barefoot in a simple, flowing dress, was a stark difference from the rebellious, NSFW female performers that graced the same stage the day before. Joss Stone provided a nice contrast from some of the horrendous performances in the afternoon, but her set didn’t prove to be very memorable for me.
After watching a whole day of relatively mediocre acts, I was becoming painfully aware of Sam Smith’s absence. While nobody could truly replace him, John Legend was by far the best option that Rock in Rio had. He even did us the courtesy of covering “Lay Me Down” in tribute for his missing comrade. “All Of Me” was the obvious highlight of the set, along with “Glory,” which he closed with, but left it surprisingly short instead of filling in the gaps left by Common.
Bruno Mars was a completely different headliner than Taylor Swift. While Taylor is in the midst of fiercely promoting her new body of work, Bruno Mars is currently in between album cycles. With his latest appearance on “Uptown Funk,” he remains relevant and successful without having to take on much of the promotional brunt. Instead, he decided to show up in Vegas for a one-off night and entertain the crowd with his slew of hits. Once again, the complete opposite of Taylor who played her entire new album and just three previous cuts. Bruno Mars was no doubt the best performer of the night and whose body of work I was most familiar with, but I was just so tired of the funk/R&B sound by the time he came onstage. Still, Bruno presented himself to be a formidable entertainer in his own right, surrounded by his band that also doubled as backup dancers and complementing his set with well-timed confetti, pyro, and fireworks.
All in all, Rock in Rio had done quite a good job providing an entertaining, comfortable experience. It was no doubt the cleanest festival grounds I had ever walked on. The focused, dynamic line-up also meant you got to see almost every band on the lineup. My main suggestions would be to make the daily lineups more diverse so I’m not watching 5 funk bands in a row, and to make the cashless wristband system more flexible so that attendees aren’t trapped with just one option, especially one that forces them to waste money. For just its first year, however, the organization was quite impressive and I’m sure the festival will only improve with time.
