Vice 20 Party – Dec 5th – 2014 – Duggal’s Greenhouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard – Brooklyn, NY
Tired as hell and it’s still raining out, but I was getting it together and catching my second and third winds with the anticipation of something that could be quite legendary. Vice – the irreverant global conglomerate – the taste maker for hipster worldwide and the corporate band for purists alike is turning 20 years old and to celebrate they were reaching deep into their stylish pockets for a blow out of trust-fund proportions.
When I arrived I expected a shitshow to rival the one earlier at the Foo Fighters but since I was a bit late the lines weren’t too insufferable and then you had to take a shuttle bus to the actual spot, three blocks away.
I arrived to long lines of mobbed open bars as usual (thankfully I’m not a big drinker so I really could care less) and free food trucks that were pretty underwhelming but who am I to complain, they were free, and for a poor kid from Texas it’s nuts that I’m even here to have an opinion on it.
Music began at eleven but it was well after midnight when I arrived so I missed a few of the opening numbers but what they had lined up was a truly special, one-of-a-kind curation that combined hipster actors with forged on the spot supergroups and everything in between.
With a drink in my hand and a falafel in the order I made my way to the stage just as Nick Thorburn from the Rapture was hitting.
Next came something awesome, completely unexpected and my fave moment of the night when these too-cool-for-schoolers let some of my fave metallers onstage –
Dave Ellefson of Megadeth, Alex Skolnick of Testament, and Tony Foresta of Municipal Waste for a medley of Metal classics.
And here comes Wu Tang’s Ghostface Killah and Raekwon doing classic “Daytona 500Ghostface Killah and Raekwon
Meredith Graves of Perfect Pussy introduced her cover of The Strokes’ infamous “New York Cops” by saying that black lives matter in reference to the recent senseless violence of innocents by police brutality and the protests in recent weeks that have divided the city.
Meredith Graves
It was mainly about covers, playing stuff everyone knows from unlikely sources – such as Jonah Hill (with director Spike Jonze on guitar) doing Drake’s “Marvin’s Room” and though not her first foray into the music world it was still other wordly just to see Scarlet Johansen in person, let alone see her sing Joy Division.
Jonah Hill
Scarlett Johansen
That buzz carried into an appearance – and actual performance – by Russia’s famed protest punks Pussy Riot, doing a fitting version of Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon” (and referencing those protesting across the country that night over recent grand jury verdicts).Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina. To cheers, Alyokhina, in her characteristic heavy Russian accent, soberly and firmly read from notes on her phone: “I might not have the right to talk about American problems, but I think that murder is murder everywhere.”
Pussy Riot member Sasha Klokova then sang Le Tigre’s 1999 electroclash hit, “Deceptacon.”
Another great moment came when Zinner’s band doing one of his own songs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ breakthrough “Maps” with Karen O herself on vocals.
A crush of people moved forward for the next guest — Lil Wayne. So I made my way to the back
Lil Wayne
I can’t stand this dude and he’s second only in poseur rap to Kanye but maybe first in inspiring white rich kids to apporpriate something they” truly never understand.
A party like this one would seem to cost just about a zillion dollars, but asked about the total expense of the event, Hosi Simon, Vice’s global general manager] demurred. “It’s actually not a whole lot,” he said. For its 15th anniversary, Vice spent $250,000 to put on a Halloween party. Five years later, “It’s more than that,” he said. “But if you look at the lineup, it’s a multimillion dollar lineup.”
Laura June Kircsh
Ryan Muir
P Squared
Greg Christman
