Graphics by Eric Weiner
The Great GoogaMooga festival returned for a second year in Prospect Park, albeit a day shorter than expected. Rain canceled out Sunday’s activities, but not before we were given two days of great music, drinks and eats. Starting on a clear and beautiful Friday afternoon, DJ sets by Chairlift and N.A.S.A.’s DJ Sam Spiegel ricocheted off crowd-shaking sets by The Darkness, The Flaming Lips and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the Nethermead stage.
Though a dreary day weather-wise, Saturday had plenty to enjoy with highlights including Sharon Van Etten, Father John Misty and a stellar closing set by the party-addicted duo Matt & Kim. There were also plenty other things to enjoy at GoogaMooga besides what was on stage — Roberta’s sponsored a duel-heavy renaissance faire which took place right in front of a preview of Tiki Disco, the outdoor dance party that has makes the restaurant a must for Sunday afternoons in the summer.
The setup: Great GoogaMooga took place last weekend in a massive field in the middle of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. The gated property was lined with a plethora of food vendors, serving everything from BBQ and seafood to ice pops and egg sandwiches. There was one main stage where the bigger artists played as well as a much smaller stage, set in the opposite corner. In addition to the main areas, there were some fun, relatively secret themed-areas hosted by vendors such as Brooklyn pizza legend, Roberta’s.
Weather: If you read anything about GoogaMooga, you already know the third and final day was cancelled due to rain. And the second day wasn’t much better. What an unlucky weekend to have been hosting a music and food festival.
Attendance: While it was relatively busy, we can only imagine how packed it would be been if the weather were nice. Nonetheless, tons of people were there munching down food and ingesting some gorgeous music.
Best food: Grilled half lobster from The Lobster Place. Definitely the most stellar food at the festival, sitting down and eating the dish in plain sight was guaranteed to get you about 5 people approaching to find out where you got it.
Best alcohol-related activity: The flamingo beer bong. There were many ways to get a beer at GoogaMooga, but the most notable was from a the hut that served a continuous beer shot through a plastic flamingo lawn ornament.
Best crowd: Matt & Kim. Their shows are always high energy and exploding with clips from popular songs outside of their own bangers. The crowd was also more than willing to prop up Kim, who walked across the font pit while Matt manned the decks with Top-40 flavor.
Best secret: The Tiki Disco Party. Roberta’s pizzeria had a lot of stock in this festival with multiple huts housing their delicious personal pies, but they also brought along the much-loved Tiki Disco party that was inconspicuously located in the woods area way behind the Nethermead Stage. Saturday was on-and-off drizzly, but the seclusion of Tiki Disco in the tree-filled back area had a enough coverage to keep you dry and enough great tunes to keep your spirits up.
