moe. and LoS, together at last.
32 Things..."every time I think about you, I think about you..."
I wish I knew the names of more moe. songs
so I could tell you what they played together.
The moe. set was pretty spectacular.
They opened with a spacey "Jazz Wank>Buster", followed by a good version of
"Moth",
a tune I didn't recognize, and a fine "Rebubula"
(w/ serious "Playin'"
teases in the middle).
Jeff Sipes, drummer for LoS, then joined them for
another tune I didn't know
and then "Plane Crash" - which was good, but not
as energetic as others that I've heard.
Then the rest of LoS joined moe. for 32 Things.
Two of my favorite live
bands jamming together -
as Vince is wont to say, 'it was too much fun'.
Watching this hybrid-jamming-thing morph between moe and salmon sounds,
with Drew (it was Drew's birthday, btw) trading riffs with Chuck,
and Mark
trading riffs with Al, was the shit -
I was one happy camper.
LoS came on next, their second set of the festival.
"Headbag" rocked
(Galactic's drummer sat in on this one),
"Whispering Waters" was way jammed
out, and "River's Risin" kicked up a dust cloud
from the front and center
area which could be seen from the bleachers.
"This Is the Time", "Rocky Mtn.
Top", "Highway Song",
"Hot Corn", and "Hoodoo Bash" were also in there,
as well as
something Vince aptly referred to as the "Meltdown Waltz."
The previous day LoS got off to a slow start, but after about a half-hour
or so they locked into it and stayed locked in for the next 1.5 hours.
Highlights included "Doin' My Time", "Soul Shakedown Party", and a long,
*funky* jam
which segued into, appropriately enough, "Funky Mtn. Fogdown".
They also played "High on a Mtn Top" and "Just Before the Evening"
- two songs
which I've always been partial to - as well as a fine "Deep Elem Blues".
All
in all, this was my favorite of many fine sets taken in over the weekend.
You got out before the rains came Joanne. It rained hard yesterday
morning;
those of us who camped thru yesterday went home cold and wet.
But
it didn't rain while the festival was on -
the weather was indeed perfect
from Fri night thru sunday night.
great music, not crowded,stress-free in every way.
Besides LoS and moe. we had Widespread Panic,
WSP came on at the end of the festival on Sunday,
following sets by
Spearhead, moe. and LoS.
As such I was too tired and burned out to figure
out,
on my first time seeing them, if I liked them
or if I really liked
them,
but either way they jammed and were fun.
Galactic,
In addition to their main stage set on Sunday,
Galactic did a midnight-4am
set in the indoor stage.
The indoor stage had a serious psychedelic light
show going on,
with eight or so people continually projecting
oil-and-water,
animated fractals and other computer images,
as well as
pictures of various psychedelic images, bands, old Fillmore posters, etc.
on every square inch of wall and on the ceiling
- it was quite the
psychedelic/rave scene.
At one point they projected pictures from Mountain Aire Festival '87 -
the
(in)famous Dead/Santana show which brought in 25,000 deadheads.
Many of
whom were without tickets for the sold-out event,
stormed the fences and/or
trashed the town,
the result of which was that the locals banned the
then-annual Mtn. Aire Festival
from happening again until just this year
(and I'm happy to report that the crowd was in general very cool this time
around).
Infamy aside, those '87 shows were great fun -
images/memories
such as Jerry and Carlos trading riffs during Watchtower
(then a still
rarish tune) are forever emblazoned in my brain.
As such, it was very cool
to see those same images 11 years later -
they brought back some fine
memories of another fine weekend at that venue.
But I digress...
Galactic, who aptly describe themselves as "New Orleans Acid Funk," were
good, but not great.
They love to jam (rarely did they stop -
they played
pretty much solid from 12-4, 'cept for one 15-minute break)
and they are
talented and energetic, but I didn't find them terribly moving
- their jams
never really went anywhere.
But they have a good sound/groove, they were
fun,
the light show/scene was fun, and we (Dan, Marcos and I)
weren't in
much of a mood to go anywhere,
so we lasted until about 3am or so
when the
repetitive monotony of it all got to be too much for us
and we retired back
to camp.
Clan Dyken,
Fun world beat music.
Ben Harper,
Excellent, as always - if you haven't seen him I recommend doing so.
Highlights included a killer Voodoo Child.
Ozomatli (?), Train,
The lead singer for this band was a dead ringer for Robert Plant,
esp.
during their well-done rendition of Ramble On.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddys, and others. Also Charlie Hunter's trio Pound for Pound,
This is the first time I've seen Hunter with his new band, Pound for Pound,
with which he's traded in his horn section
(usually one sax, sometimes two)
for a vibraphone.
The vibes guy was good but I'm not much of a vibes fan -
no matter how good they are,
they always add an air of elevator music to
me.
As such I liked the set - Charlie Hunter is always at least good -
but
found much of it a bit too elevator-music-like for my taste.
Spearhead,
Michael Franti & co. once again put on a solid show;
I really enjoyed their
set. Esp. when Charlie Hunter,
who played with Franti in the Disposable
Heroes of Hiphopcrasy,
joined them for a couple of tunes.
Speaking of LoS, I talked to Vince Sunday night
and asked him about the
LoS schedule for the summer.
They are playing
Red Rocks next and on July 4th
will be in Virginia Beach with WSP.
No High
Sierra this year,
and on Labor Day they will
be at HogFarm.
So folks hoping they will be at both HS Labor day and
HogFarm
...sorry.
Too much fun to explain in detail, but let's just say
it gives new meaning
to the term "Food and Drug Administration".
Wish ya coulda been there.
What a week in music, and what a great way to start the '98 festival season. Next stop, High Sierra...
(conversation btwn Mike,Joanne & Sue)
