We got up there Friday night with our lady friends and went out for dinner and drinks. After dinner we went to a bar called The Red Parrot. At the back end of the bar we saw Jakob Dylan. In short, we met him, he seemed like a nice guy and he was very nice about taking a nice group photo with us. But he wasn't even the coolest musician I would meet that weekend.
Saturday:
Young at Heart Chorus - They were a novelty act but very entertaining. These guys were 75 to 85 years old singing Hendrix, Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen songs. Seeing people move around singing, dancing and having a good time at their age was actually pretty moving. I'm actually glad I left before they were done so I didn't have to stay around for their inevitable standing ovation. If I had stayed I might have started welling up in front of people and I wasn't ready for that at noon.
Cowboy Junkies - Only went over for the last four songs. I'm only really familiar with their radio stuff which I didn't get to hear any. Pretty decent though.
Jakob Dylan - I was in to the Wallflowers first CD, but since then it seems like if you've heard one Jakob Dylan song, you've heard them all. I should have left this set a little earlier to go back to the main stage, but at the time, I thought meeting him the night before obligated me to stay for most of it.
Richie Havens - The reason I wish I left Jakob Dylan's set earlier. I only got there to see him close with a kick ass rendition of Won't Be Fooled Again.
When we first got to the festival, we were fortunate enough to lock down seats under the tent of the Harbor Stage which was where most of the good acts were playing that day. Between the threat of thunderstorms and the fact that the Harbor Stage had the better acts, it got more crowded at the tent as the day went on. As a group, there were acts that some of us wanted to see that others didn't which made saving seats alot easier.
Steve Earle and Alison Moorer - I enjoyed the 2nd half of his set more than the first. He brought out a DJ and played 'Satelite Radio' which I've heard before somewhere. As a fan of The Wire, the highlight was him closing with Down in The Hole.
She & Him - Probably my favorite performance of the festival (I may have retroactively changed my mind on that though which I'll explain later.) I've been getting into Zooey Deschanel lately as a singer and as a piece of ass. I love her voice on the album and it really holds up live too. She doesn't always look comfortable on stage but that is expected from someone who only recently started performing her own music. It started to downpour during this set which for some reason makes it seem alot more epic. I'm glad we had our seats since there was about a thousand person overflow coming out of the tent with only 500 seats tops under the tent. Jim James came out for an M. Ward cover which really electified the crowd since I would imagine half of them were there at the She & Him set to jockey for position for his set coming up next.
Jim James - Going in to the festival this was the performance I was looking forward to the most. After watching his set there were two things that were abundantly clear to me. First, the guy's voice is sick. Second, I need to see My Morning Jacket live. Since being back from Newport and relistening to the broadcast of it online, it might be my favorite of the festival and I think I'm developing a man-crush.
Black Crowes - I wasn't excited about seeing them. I just don't get the appeal. I guess my biggest problem was with their set list. If you're familiar with their whole catalog then it was probably amazing for you. Being at a festival where everyone is there for many different bands, I think a greatest hits kind of set would have been more appropriate. The highlight of the performance was looking up at the top of the fort and seeing Jim James. We actually waved at him and got one back. My man-crush level is raised to yellow.
Coming up...Day 2
No comments:
Post a Comment