I got a late start to my Saturday and unfortunately missed Four Finger Five and Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, but made it to the Ranch Arena for Son Volt. Son Volt is an american folk/country band with some fun instrumentals: mandolin, fiddle, banjo, lap steel, pedal steel, drums and guitars. It was a good way to kick off the day. I watched a few songs and then headed to the Odeum Stage to watch some Jackie Green.
Jackie Greene, labeled a folk/rock/psychedelic artist, had quite a large crowd for their early performance. His song "shaken" got me into this artist about a year back, which you can stream on his myspace page. I danced around for a bit to this Californian talent and then headed to the Budweiser tent to listen and Tweet in the comfort of some shade. Saturday was quite sweltering.
Maxim Radio was interviewing straggling fans and they crept up behind me to ask what I was twittering about. I told them about my music blog, so that was pretty exciting coverage for me. They also asked me if I would laugh or be disgusted to see someone shooting fireworks out of their butt... a bit perplexed my response was, "I don't think I would watch to find out"... although after some bit of afterthought on that question, I think that it would be pretty impossible not to watch that in action. Probably why Jackass was such a success; most people are perverted, some are just better at hiding it. If anyone was following me on Twitter that day, you already know that Railroad Earth was my next stop.
Railroad Earth plays with a plethora of different instruments, which is always fun to watch live. They play with a stand up bass, violins, guitar, drums, dobro, banjo, mandolin, flute, saxophone, and bouzouki. This band is from New Jersey, just neighbors to my Connecticut home. This band has been around since 2001 and has worked hard at successfully recruiting a wide and loyal fan base. After a few songs I had to depart to check out Zappa Plays Zappa at the Sherwood Court before the Black Crowes.
Zappa Plays Zappa was in the midst of tearing up some guitar solos as I walked up to the stage. It was very sexy. This Californian rock/alternative/jam band knows how to finger; I can say this with much certainty. This is a tribute band, led by Dweezil Zappa, the eldest son of composer Frank Zappa. They devote themselves to reincarnating his music and the fans definitely seemed to dig it. I really enjoyed that the band played with two drum kits. I don't think there can ever be too much percussion. The band spiced up their set with a lot of comic relief. During one song, one of the vocal members performed an interpretive dance... I wish that I could begin to explain what this large, somewhat dweebish, bird-like, sesame street-esque dance looked like, but I am sure it's on youtube somewhere. It was hilarious. I think the band was having a very hard time keeping straight faced... I caught the lady on the keys cracking up more than once. I did not blame her at all, especially when he bust open his collared shirt, leaving his bare chest for all to see. This was when I decided to head over to the Odeum to see The Black Crowes.
My dad was a fan of The Black Crowes. I used to listen to them a lot my freshman year because they were my favorite band to work out to. "Go Faster" and "Kicking my Heart Around" were always good upbeat songs to get me working the treadmills a little bit harder. I haven't been on a treadmill in about two years so I danced harder than ever to this band to make up for it. Seeing Chris Robinson up close and personal... well close enough... was pretty cool. I am a big Kate Hudson fan also, so I've done my fair share of following them in all the Hollywood gossip magazines when there was a long line at the grocery store. The Black Crowes have been around for a while and done a lot of touring and Chris Robinson's vocal chords have not got tired yet. His voice was pretty incredible live. They will be touring through December so I suggest catching a live show if they make a stop near you.
John Butler was the next musical act I wandered through the forest to see. (By Saturday people were getting quite tired and the forest was more of a resting ground then it was Friday night. It began filling up with more and more hammocks as people got tired. There was a hammock vendor close by the entrance... genius marketing.) I must admit I have a huge crush on John Butler. He grew up in Pinjarra, West Australia, and I have a soft spot in my heart for accents. I have been to New Zealand and Australia... being surrounded by such beauty, I think it would be hard to not carry that with you through music, art, thought, or whichever your personal medium. John Butler is a strong advocate of peace and environmental responsibility, which I also fin quite attractive. Rothbury must have been a fun festival for him, because the green force was ever present. He was a beautiful performer to watch live. I danced around crowds of smiling hippies as they sang and danced along to his songs. He seemed to have an ability to almost hypnotize the crowd into feeling peace and comfort as he guided them with his soft lyrics and calm guitar that played as elegantly as the wind.
The wind carried me to the Sherwood Stage next for Les Claypool. I do not know exactly how to explain the music of Les Claypool, but he is best known as the bassist for Primus. He rocks the bass like nothing I have ever seen before. It was evening by this point and every one was starting to loosen up and gear up for the long evening that was still ahead of us. His music tastes of gumdrops and poprocks, smells of rice cakes and frosted flakes, and pairs best with tambourines and and tangerines... Its quite fun to dance around and get a bit funky. It doesn't always make sense, but it always sounds good. It was a very good pre-deadset. That is for sure. It put the crowd in good spirits, got the blood flowing, the moon glowing, the sun setting... Perfect.
All of Rothbury, myself included headed to the Odeum to see The Dead. This is definitely the most legendary band I have ever seen live. I think every one has at least one absolutely devoted Dead head friend. I know I have at least two dozen. I think it would be pretty impossible to grow up without hearing a lot of it. I work at a bagel shop with a lot of musical enthusiasts... and I think the Grateful Dead is on 90% of my coworkers ipods, so i've heard a very good amount of the music in my past four years of bagel steaming. I first got introduced to the Grateful Dead at church camp in middle school. I met a very young hippie, who introduced me with her purple boom box, in our log cabin, before going to dinner where we would sing children's christian tunes... it opened my eyes, for sure. The Dead entered the Odeum stage over thirty minutes late, but the crowd forgave them immediately with a very loud applause upon their arrival. They started playing and everyone went wild. People were dancing, smoking, drinking, singing, jumping, cheering, hugging, sitting, sleeping, swaying, and just eating up every beat. It was something I will never forget. I danced to the first two songs and then made my way from the right hand corner of the sound booth through the sea of adoring fans. I made it to the right side of the stage past the tight crowd and just took it all in. I saw the sea of people light up like a rainbow; every one in their festival attire complete with hats, angel wings, glitter, paint, henna tattoos, and wide smiles. I watched them move like clock work to the beat of The Dead. I watched the Sun as it started quickly setting pouring light over the crowd as it snuck behind the hill of food vendors. The sun went down and it was replaced by the lights of the Rothbury sign looking over the lights of The Dead show, and glow of smiles and wide eyed fans. I can think of no better way to celebrate the Fourth of July. I think we all felt free at that moment. Independence, freedom, love, music... we felt all of those things.
I walked again to the Budweiser tent to take some notes and rest my legs a bit. I sat down and introduced myself to the two young men that sat on stage, Matt McClain and Daniel Casanova. They were wrapping up a day of interviewing bands for Spin Magazine. They were both from Brooklyn, New York, and both successful music lovers. Matt went to attempt to get some video coverage of The Dead show, and I took a ride with Daniel to my campground to grab some warmer clothing before the Pretty Lights. We hopped on the Budweiser golf cart and took a short cut through the Sherwood Forest. As we drove through the swarms of stragglers we approached a crowd of people looking over a guy that looked nearly comatose, sprawled out like a starfish in the muddy path. He was covered with a dirty red sheet that looked like a make shift robe of sorts. We came to a stop to ask if he needed our assistance and we were told the man was fine, just "trippin balls!"... so we continued on our way. As we started to pull away the tripped out male jumped up, and the red robe did not follow his dirty naked body as he jumped onto the back seat of the golf cart. Out of shock or surprise, or more likely a combination of the two, Daniel and I started laughing hysterically as we continued to drive through the path with our naked caboose. Every one looked confused and amused as we drove this sight through the Sherwood Forest, as if it was not enough of a sight already. Just as we stopped laughing and started speaking, our naked buddy popped up out of oblivion, grabbed Daniel's shoulder and scared the crap out of us. We looked back into his bulging eyes, avoiding the dirty naked scene beneath, and he asked us our names and how he made it onto the back of our vehicle. We kindly let him off, a bit scared for him and us both. We turned quickly enough to see him feel his naked ass, realize his naked state, grab his frontal region, and then land face first into the muddy grounds we found him on. We approached the gate and warned the security guard that there was a naked man in need of some assistance laying in the path about 20 yards behind us. The security guard shook his head and called to his security guard friend... "Yo! Get over here! We found Sasquatch!" So apparently our naked Sasquatch caboose has been on the loose for some time that day. This was the funniest sight I think I have ever seen. I think I am still laughing... We made it the rest of the way to my tent without any more naked sightings and I grabbed some warm clothes for the evening. We headed back to the Rothbury entrance for some cajun food and fireworks. After we got some grub we parked ourselves at the empty Sherwood stage and listened to The Dead in the background finish up their set as the fireworks lit up the sky behind the lights of the Sherwood Stage.... what an appropriate time for Pretty Lights.
We headed to Tripolee for some live Pretty Lights action. I listened to Pretty Lights and Little Dragon for a week straight during my last week of college. It seemed to be the best fuel, along with red bull and pad thai for the many all-nighters I pulled scurrying to finish last minute projects before graduation and my move to Chicago. I enjoyed listening to the live version in my relaxed state with newfound love and appreciation. "Hot Like Sauce" is, without a doubt, my favorite jam. It was just as amazing live as I could have imagined. I love hott sauce in general. Sriracha is my favorite. I like to put it on just about everything, with the exception of cereal and vanilla yogurt. I danced under the lights of Tripolee with quite a smile. It was awesome.
Next up was MSTRKRFT at the Sherwood Stage. They started up their set with the Star Spangled Banner, which was incredible. I am glad the Canadian group let the fans know they were down to celebrate American independence. The due spun some heavy shit that got the crowd dancing and bopping like crazy. They chain smoked throughout the whole set, which looked pretty spectacular under the lights... like a homemade fog machine of sorts. For as tired as I was, I could not stop moving to their beats.
After they finished, I walked past the Ranch Arena to get a glimpse of Umphrey's Mcgee before STS9 kicked off their live PA set. My best friend, Todd, is a gigantic Umphrey's fan (talented architect, awesome friend, and great date) so I had to check it out for him, and glad I did. I would have stayed longer, but I had my fill of jam bands for the evening and was down to dance to a little louder bass beat, so I headed back to the Sherwood Court for STS9.
I enjoyed the STS9 PA set better than their performance the night before. The crowd was much more intimate, and dancing a lot harder than Friday night. The light show was equally awesome and they played until 4 a.m. They were having so much fun on stage playing music and watching the fans love it... it looked as if they wanted to play all night. And that is what it's all about. Love what you do, do what you love. Music is love. Love is music... and 4th of July 2009 at Rothbury was all of those things. Time to sleep... one day left...
(to be continued)
