tony

Although the bill indicated-- as it should-- Tool, Depeche Mode, and of course Madonna, as the big deals, kids don't get life-changing experiences 300 yards from a Jumbotron. Those moments were found, seemingly on the hour, at the smaller of the five venues ringing the massive polo grounds. Most of these short, 40-minute sets started to half-filled tents-- those willing to stake out the front rows during soundcheck-- but, by second song, artists like Deerhoof or Jamie Lidell were stunning thousands with energetic performances of music most record execs would deem too difficult to market. Or, in the case of TV on the Radio, they played to a rapt audience which included a gaggle of boner-popping A&R dudes, whose presence added a strangely compelling uneasiness to the band's increasingly awesome presence.

[...]

That is not to say some of the main-stagers were not up to snuff. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kanye West, and Massive Attack all performed predictably entertaining if not overwhelming sets. The exception to the headliner rule, and probably to anything said above, was Daft Punk's mindblowing appearance. Not to get hyperbolic, but people were crying at two French robots.