Green River Festival 2017 - Sunday

Another pretty good sleep on the small and squishy Red Rose beds, and then another brilliant, beautiful early-Summer morning (7/16) that threatened to get very hot very quickly.  We still had plenty of peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, cinnamon-raisin bagels with cream cheese, iced tea, and orange juice, so had a fine breakfast on the veranda along with the normal morning repartee.

We all agreed that Saturday had been exhausting but very worth it, and we were psyched to see the LSD spinoff bands that afternoon, and of course JRAD.  Dave had been working on some possible setlists.  Note that usual band members, Dave Dreiwitz and Marco Benevento, were going to be substituted for by Jon Shaw and Jeff Chimenti respectively; so that was quite a significant trade-off and fueled further speculation.  If LSD was going to be sticking around for the afternoon, might they stick around for the evening?  Can you imagine Rachael belting out Caution or Lovelight (she (AND Teresa) had sung the part of Grace Slick two summers before with the Jefferson Airplane reunion)??  Would Larry and Teresa be hanging around?  If Alicia Shakour melded with the band so well on Two Souls In Communion, can you imagine Teresa doing the same thing??

But in the meantime, we had to get there.  Luckily we’d be coming back to the hotel that night, and so didn’t have to do major packing to get ready.  We hit the road at 10, just as we had Saturday.  Scott had toyed with coming with us so he could be in time to grab a family spot in the shade, but opted out.

It was another jolly trip to Greenfield over the Old Road and, as expected, the Greenfield Police still had orders to not let non-vendors onto the College entry road before 11.  But this time they let us queue up on the shoulder and things were much more sane.  By 10:47 or so they figured that was close enough to 11 and it was time to hang out in the shade with some cold drinks, so they waved us on in … a very mellow morning and mellow guys, why don't we live out in Western Mass?

In the meantime of course, Sarah had walked in and set up a camp in line at almost exactly the same space as we had yesterday.  We also had exactly the same neighbors in front of us and behind us in line!  Much jollity ensued.  P&D showed up soon and we encouraged them to join us … most of the other people “in line” were actually representatives for larger groups who were waiting in the shade or circulating around.  This is its own particular society, and we all were having a fun time, though roasting in the sun.  As mentioned, that morning featured a full parade of obscure and traditional GD/related t-shirts, and the parade started early.

OK, it was finally (close to) noon, they opened the gates, and it was every one's opportunity to go, go, go!  We front-runners were a choreographed group though, and we all got in and gracefully grabbed our preferred spots.  We got almost the exact same patch of grass that we had gotten on Saturday and had the same neighbors.  Steve showed up later and said, "What, did you guys reserve these spots for the weekend?"  Well, yeah, though it took some effort.

Sunday at the GRF and it was one of those magic moments!  I got into a Dead-heavy conversation with the guys at the beer tent and wandered around through the great vendors and the hordes of people piling in.  The line outside was never going to end.

I was psyched to see the latest incarnation of Twisted Pine; they've gone a step beyond the entry-level band they'd been before.  They've pared it down to a four-piece, with Dan Bui back to his incredible mandolin, a new tall bass player, and Rachel Sumner on guitar and Kathleen Parks sticking to the fiddle (none of this scratching her ass about what to play next tune).  And they've also put Kathleen in a slit-to-here red dress and red lipstick, possibly thinking that a newgrass band needs sex appeal.

Had a chance to move up front for once and was really digging their sound.  They did a few originals and I waited until they finally let Rachel sing one.  She's my favorite, a Kathy Kallick clone.  But then I screwed downhill because, as before, I was on a mission!

Wait a minute, who was that woman who was rushing uphill by me as I rushed downhill by her?  Her hair gave her away: it was a sun-glassed but not made-up Rachael Price who was on a mission herself, no doubt heading for the backstage bus/makeup artists after helping the guys set up.  I thought for a second about saying something to her, like proposing marriage, before I remembered that I was already married and we were both in a hurry.

Got down to the Parlor Room Stage and Sarah and Dave were already there.  We'd conjectured that at that time of early afternoon, standing at the left side of the seats about halfway in would offer the best combination of shade, ventilation, and sound, and that's where we ended up.  Rachael (now in full regalia) ended up there too by the time Madam Uncle came on (the two Mikes' band), and the crowd was not far behind.

So that afternoon I missed the end of Twisted Pine's set, all of The Dustbowl Revival, whom I'd liked so much last year, and all of The Infamous Stringdusters, whom I'd have loved to see.  But this was because the Parlor Room Stage was hosting the three LSD spinoff bands in a row, and I was so glad I saw them!  I'd make that sacrifice again a thousand times.

First up was Madam Uncle, as mentioned, and they opened with just Mike Calabrese and guitarist Lyle Brewer on a few raunchy, crunchy numbers.  Then Mike Olsen joined them to make it even raunchier and crunchier.  This was their college band reincarnated, and they played some early stuff, including one song that had been released on the mythical first Lake Street Dive record (which is very much not for sale).

I'd grabbed a seat next to Sarah, and Rachael was sitting a few rows in front of us, being supportive like a good bandmate.  The guys played a really short set, but it was a great glimpse into Lake Street Dive's raw genesis and roots.

The guys had Rachael up for the last number, and as soon as they were done Sarah, Dave, and I took turns scooting down to the porta-potties, beer tent, and water station while the others saved the seats.  The crowd was already packing in tight.  I caught a song by Sweet Crude on the Four Rivers Stage while I waited in line down at the bottom of the field.

Got back and traded off, while they re-set the stage for the set I was really looking forward to.  Bridget Kearney played GRF last year with her accompanist Benjamin Lazar Davis (in the present day, introduced as "Ben" and wearing heart-shaped sunglasses), and was enthralling.  In the interim she's put together a solo record (Won't Let You Down) that you have to hear.  I swear she's the fifth Beatle at times.  She came out with a flower tiara that kept falling down over her eyes, a comfortable looking dress, and some shades that had people saying, where's Bridget?

Besides Ben on guitar, she was accompanied by a brilliant keyboardist (who's name we didn't catch), and by her producer, Robin MacMillan, on drums.  They were a fantastic, tight band (even when the tiara got in the way), and they basically did Bridget's whole album: Won't Let You Down, Serenity, Daniel, What Happened Today, Love Doctor, Wash Up, etc.  It was fantastic and I couldn't help but hoot and holler, sentiments expressed by many others in that suddenly small and rocking tent.

Dave's only complaint (he was still standing) was that Rachael was standing right in front of him and obscuring his view with her hair-do.  She finally got bothered one too many times by guys who just couldn't resist trying to engage her in conversation ("Hey, I'm listening to the band!") and she retreated backstage.  But the message of support was delivered to her bandmates: we're a team!

Bridget was just fantastic and the coolest guitarist ever.  Last year when we saw her on guitar she stuck mainly to the bass strings, but this year she was all over that sucker and ripped off some crunchy leads herself.  And the other guys were great too.  She then got the whole band up on stage and for the last number, So Long, one of her most Beatle-esque ballads.  She was joined by the two Mikes (tambourine and trumpet), Brewer, Rachael, and her band for quite a perfect set closer.

Woohoo!  This was fantastic stuff and she was probably glad to get backstage and throw that tiara far away, though it was well intentioned.

Time for another frantic round of scooting to water and porta-potties.  This time I caught two songs by Kat Wright, including a rocking Fleetwood Mac cover (Go Your Own Way).  Then it was time for Rachael's side project!  She's been playing with another NEC graduate, Vilray.  He plays a small finger-picked guitar, though he later switched to a Stratocaster, and has written some songs that sound like jazz standards from the 30s or 40s, they're so happy and grooving and snappy in that way.

The heat was building in the tent but the two of them were riveting in their own right, hitting all the harmonies perfectly ... or close enough ... and basically leading everybody in having a good old time.  Rachael and Vilray shared a very old-school mike and the one sound engineering glitch of the Festival occurred in their set, when the mike stopped working.  The sound guys fixed it right away and were kind enough not to say, "*We* didn't tell you to use that old POS!"

No guest appearances in their set except for a saxophonist (from The Sweetback band) who stayed on the sweet and mellow side.  They kept it traditional and presented some wonderful music that was probably the farthest away from the LSD sound of the three acts, though of course ... it was Rachael.

Wow, that was a great afternoon of music, and we were so lucky to have seen the three spinoffs back-to-back-to-back.  Wonder if they'll ever share a stage again?  The electricity in the tent had been throbbing (as well as the heat), and we took a second to gather ourselves back up.  Slowly got out of there and wandered up the hill, where we re-hydrated for sure and got some dinner at the vendors.

Back to the seats and though I'd been thinking about catching some of Robbie Fulks back at the Parlor Room Stage, I stuck around for The Funky Meters and was very glad I did!  Tristan and family came up for this one and we were treated to some astonishing funk and soul.

The Funky Meters is of course the descendant band of The Meters, one of those New Orleans bands who influenced everyone.  The current lineup has originals George Porter, Jr, and Art Neville and played a long, almost seamless set of elemental soul.  Porter was just jaw-dropping on bass, reaching the outer limits of what the instrument could do, and the rest of the band was dancing on top of his sound.

OMG, it was that time of the Festival again.  The balloons were lifting off on the lower field, the sun was about to set behind the Main Stage, the wisps of clouds were starting to turn shades of purple, pink, and orange, Jim Olsen was introducing volunteers, and the stage was being set up for the final band.

The whole Festival seemed to change gears.  It was time for JRAD!  Dave had decided that he was going to be up at the stage for JRAD or die in the attempt, and he had had the foresight to go up there before The Funky Meters came on and then not move from his spot.  Even so, he was still a few rows from the very front.  Between sets I played "Charlie and the MTA" and threw him a water bottle (or tried to) over the heads of the other Heads, packed in to the very front.  They were psyched up there!

The guys came out, tuned up, and started jamming.  No introduction needed, they were just floating from the beginning and the crowd started floating along with them.  The jam took a left turn, as is expected when you're listening to JRAD, turned into Loser(!), and we were off something serious.  Here's the setlist as posted by a taper (there were lots there) ... I post this list because the notation is closer to what I heard than Costello's list, though he's usually spot on:

Loser >
Feel Like a Stranger >
They Love Each Other tease > Row Jimmy > band intros
Alligator >
Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower
Mr. Charlie
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo >
The Other One > Dark Star tease > Aliens >
He's Gone bridge > Ramble On Rose
Good Lovin' > Let It Grow jam >
Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad > And We Bid You Goodnight
Not Fade Away

Ack!!!  We'd anticipated this set so much since December and here was actual fucking JRAD playing in the gloaming of a GRF Sunday and the moment and the band were just fucking perfect.  Again, this band takes GD music and turns it on end and shakes things out of it that you always knew were in there but needed professionals to expose.  Loser as an opener!  Alligator (Tristan's son was grooving to this one)!!  TOO!!!  Let It Grow and then wham, we were in GDTRFB and not feeling bad in the least.

They were scheduled for two and a quarter hours and they started and ended right on time.  So it must have been 2:15, but it sure seemed to me like it was way too short.  It was so good while it lasted but then it was seemingly over in an instant.  I could have stood there and danced and danced for hours.

And speaking of dancing, the crowd was moving as much as they would have been to a Rubblebucket or something.  Seriously, there were some wild gyrations going on all over, and though we weren't jumping up and down like we would be to the Bucket, we were sliding into alternate realities with alarming frequency.

There was a bit of chanting at the end of NFA, but Joe was his usual gracious self and let us all know that they were done and it was time to go home.  "Drive safely, enjoy Game Of Thrones!" he said (season premiere of the popular TV show was that night), waving to us.  And then they left the stage with the same lack of drama with which they'd come on.  They were hippies and so were we all.

Oh no, the 31st Green River Festival was history!  We sure took our time leaving, hanging out on the field for another beer or two and chatting with others who didn't want to leave.  Finally though, we packed up our chairs for the last time and slowly brought them out to our prime parking space.

Drove slowly out of there and back to the Red Rose, where we were the only remaining revelers.  All our friends had gone home already, but we had a longer drive than any of them and were very smart to take it easy for another night, especially since we'd have been returning to more house chaos.  The proprietors at the Red Rose, who usually attend the Festival themselves, did not make it there that Sunday either.

So how was the Festival?  One observation was that I considered the 2016 Festival to be a guitar showcase, with Luther Dickinson, David Hidalgo, Derek Trucks, et al.  This year was a drummer's Festival, with the incredible rhythm of Fulaso, Mike Calabrese, and then finally Joe Russo just to name a few.

For some reason I was not as able to concentrate on the music as at other GRFs.  Others made this same observation and we thought maybe the sudden heat or the crowds were to blame.  As I say, you couldn't really rely on serendipity to get you to the right state/stage at the right time, you had to plan everything.  It wasn't as free-flowing as before.

But in all, I had a thrilling time and the music was fantastic.  I'd have to rank it near the top of all the GRFs I've been to for quality of performance and of sound, let alone for having some of the greatest bands of the present day.  In all I saw at least bits of 27 bands (one of them twice) and I enjoyed the heck out of the whole experience.  Am I going next year??  Maybe I should call up the Red Rose now...

Green River Festival 2017 - Saturday

Not that bad a sleep on the small beds at the Rose, and a beautiful morning greeted us.  Soon enough we were out on the front stoop, eating peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, drinking iced tea, drying stuff on car hoods, discussing whom we'd seen the night before, and talking about strategy for the day.

In the past we'd tried to fit in breakfast before the Festival, but we realized that it would be better to eschew that in favor of an early start, and hence the PB&B.  We planned to leave at 10.  In the meantime, Paul wanted to talk jobs, Sarah wanted to talk house, Tristan wanted to talk smack, and the kids were hanging around, getting a little closer to listening to their parents and weird friends as if they were normal people.  Is it strange to be so motivated by seeing great music acts?  Sure, but there are a lot of stranger things around.  Anyway, the crew all got down to the pool by around 10 and we got packed and on the road,  P&D were not going to be far behind us.

Took the Old Greenfield Road route again.  It had been a very rainy and temperate Spring and early Summer, and the greenery everywhere was wonderful, especially in the woods over the ridge West of Greenfield.  Twisting streams delineated the sides of the roads, gorges filled with ferns tailed off to our left and right as we twisted uphill, and the lilies were a delight, springing up in bunches ranging from 10 to 100 in patches of light over the hills.  We headed down into town and finally under the highway and into suburbia.  Colrain Road appeared in front of us, and we took a left and were soon in a line of cars approaching the circle at the entrance to the Greenfield Community College.

OK, this was a bit of a traffic clusterfuck, and the Greenfield cops soon realized their traffic control techniques were just making things worse.  It was around 10:30 and when we got up to the circle we were told (as all of the other non-vendor cars had been) that the gates weren't opening until 11 and we should go away.  We let Dave out at that point of course, and he walked into the college to get in line.  I turned around and then parked on the shoulder behind several other cars, patiently waiting our turn (Sarah got out and walked at that point too).

But soon the cops tried to wave us on, telling us that we were blocking emergency access.  It wasn't *us* on the shoulder blocking access, it was all the cars on the road waiting to be told to go away!  I tried to explain this to the cop who was waving us on, and what could he say but, "I don't know what to tell you sir."  As I say, they realized they were participating in a clusterfuck and soon just gave up and let us in (after I'd pulled onto the shoulder on the other side of the circle).  Oh well, everyone involved kept their sense of humor and soon we were in, in a reasonable simulacrum of the order in which we arrived.

Parked in the same good spot as the night before and soon joined Sarah and Dave in the rapidly growing line and slathered on the sunscreen.  Saturday was long sold-out (not sure if Friday and Sunday ever reached sellout numbers) and the place was swarming with people by noon.  LSD's bus pulled in around then, and they let us in soon after that.  We hurried up to the same old spot between the soundboard and the standing area and managed to plant our chairs just in time, though one guy we'd met before had the chair closest to the conduit in our row.  P&D showed up soon afterwards and we were able to squeeze them in too.

OK, time for beer wristbands (and a beer) and to check out the setting-up-in-a-frenzy food and record vendors.  I then resumed my seat and was watching people, wearing my Dead & Company Fenway 2016 t-shirt, and wishing I had a lighter color on ... the day showed promise of getting blisteringly hot and the fringes of the field that were in the shade were already packed.  Everywhere was filling up, and the organizers asked us over the PA to be considerate and not take up any more room than we needed.

Then a volunteer security guy started staring at me, and came a little closer, and stared some more, then moved in to say something.  I wondered what I was doing wrong!  He leaned in and said, "Saturday or Sunday?" and I told him, "Both!"  I realized instantly that this was a fellow Deadhead and we gushed about the Saturday and Sunday shows at Fenway the month before (though I was wearing a 2016 t-shirt).  In true Deadicated fashion he rhapsodized about what a special moment it had been for him when they played Ripple on the acoustics.  It's wonderful how music can be so meaningful to people who just listen.  This was Steve and he was around the next day too ... we told him to feel free to use our seats when we weren't there and he did, and joined us in some crazy dancing to JRAD the next night.

Yeeha, time for the show to start!  First up was Dan Bern (with a fiddler and drummer), who tempered our enthusiasm a bit.  He seemed to think that caricature was the important thing to his act, specifically seeming like a cross between Woody Guthrie, Dylan, and a few other funky folk singers.  Wasn't this why people listened to folk music?  Anyway, I'm sure he was a hit later at the kids' tent.

I was off to the Four Rivers Stage soon anyway, bound to hear Hammydown, who'd impressed me some with her videos.  Abbie Morin was holding forth on a borrowed guitar and had a bass player and drummer and they played some angry-young-woman indie tunes that were pretty good.  Someone finally fixed Abbie's guitar and she wailed some fine leads on it when she got it in her hands.  All in all this was fun, but the really good stuff was still to come.

I left soon before Hammydown's set was over and caught a bit of Dietrich Strause & Blue Ribbons over in the Parlor Room tent.  I'd seen him before, opening for Lorrie McKenna, and was totally unimpressed.  But the Blue Ribbons seems to be a good, traditional country-blues outfit and his turns on piano were very nice.  Might have liked to see more of them.

Back up on the Main Stage and realized I'd better eat something before the Festival really got going.  Crammed down a bean burrito from the excellent La Veracruzana people and enjoyed a few songs from The Suitcase Junket while doing so.  I'd been in the merch tent when Matt Lorenz had arrived with his crew, one of them proffering a large valise.  He was met with blank stares except by me, who said, "That's the biggest SUITCASE I've ever seen."  He slapped me five and said to the tent in general, "See, THIS guy got it at least!"  Matt's put out a new record recently and if I hadn't seen him before and knew what to expect, I would have been riveted by his set.  He's the real thing and definitely plays the good stuff ... by himself.

But I had a mission.  Up soon on the Parlor Room Stage was going to be Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams and I, everyone in our group, and maybe hordes of the other Deadheads at the GRF, were determined to see their whole set.  As noted, we've seen Larry live with Levon Helm, Phil Lesh, David Bromberg, Richard Shindell, et al.  And Teresa is not lacking in talent either to put it mildly.

So after listening to a few tunes from the shady hillside and lowering my body temperature a bit, I insinuated myself into the back of the crowd clustered around the end of the center aisle during The Sweetback Sisters' (Saturday) set and slowly moved closer and closer as people bailed.  The Sweetbacks were as great as they had been Friday (mostly a repeat set), but people were milling and I was moving up and before I knew it I was in position to grab a seat, then row-hop up to the front as other seats became vacant.  At the end of the set I moved up and claimed a stretch of seats in the second row on the aisle, where I was soon joined by Sarah, Dave, and P&D.

I've got to say some negative things about the Parlor Room Stage setup they had.  This stage has changed a lot over the years from a small kids tent to the great open setup they had the last few years, though that left the performers and the audience mostly exposed to the sun and the weather.  The beast setup for this stage would be to take advantage of the slope between it and the Main Stage area and make it into a quasi-amphitheater (though there's a muddy area they'd have to worry about).

They certainly had the speakers to do that this year, those were some big stacks and I was drooling over them.  But for people sitting on the hill the sound was loud but muffled, and sightlines were terrible.  They'd put a low, rectangular tent over the stage area and crowded it with uncomfortable plastic seats.  For the people inside the tent, if you could ignore the cramps in your ass and legs, this meant you were out of the sun (though ventilation was limited) and the sound was fantastic.  But unless you were in that packed tent or crowded close enough around the edges, this was a bad setup.  I say open it up again and go back to taking advantage of the topography to make a nice experience for everyone.  Maybe they will next year, they seem to put a lot of thought into things like this and happened to get it wrong this time ... can't get everything right.

And part of the problem was that the whole GRF was a throbbing mass of people by that point and people were spilling downhill and clogging up the lower fields.  The weather was beautiful, the show was sold out, and the Festival was going at full tilt.  No balloons yet actually (possibility of thunderstorms?), but they came later.

And the Deadheads were there, as predicted!  I saw an incredible variety of Grateful Dead/spinoff t-shirts, possibly even more than you see at GD shows themselves.  I didn't see anyone else with the Fenway 2016 shirt that day, but the next day I wore my Golden Gate Wingmen shirt (Jeff Chimenti was playing!) and I saw two other people with that rare shirt.  And there one SMC t-shirt sighting (not me)!

Another thing about the Parlor Room Stage was that over the last few years, it's been at the entrance to the designated pot smoking area (as we call it).  This year that field was roped off and guarded by volunteers, possibly to discourage people from going over there to smoke, or possibly to discourage locals from sneaking in that way.  But pot is now legal in Massachusetts and people didn't miss the lack of a "designated" area.  There was the smell of weed everywhere throughout the grounds, and several over-enthusiastic smokers at the Main Stage even offered to share their pipes, though we sometimes had kids with us.  Oh well, kids have to experience the world sometime.  And it was nice of the people to share.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, Larry came on in his usual denim shirt and jeans, though he must have been a little warm.  Teresa had a sensible loose top and jeans herself.  They were accompanied by a bass player (who looked familiar) and a drummer, lit into their first tune, and immediately brought the level of music at the Festival right up to the top, they were fantastic.

Larry switched between guitar, mandolin, and fiddle of course, while Teresa strummed the rhythm and the bassist and drummer grinned and grinned.  Their second song was one of the best covers of the Louvin's You're Running Wild that I've ever heard live, they later did a sparkling version of Larry's (and Julie Miller's) Midnight Highway, and they did almost as good a cover of Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning as when we had seen them with Phil in Port Chester.  Here's Teresa gathering herself to kill the last few verses of Lamps:

And of course they upped the ante laid down by the Sweetbacks with their "Cry Cry" song by singing "Cry, Cry, Cry!"  Though the tent was hot and cramped and uncomfortable, the sound and playing was amazing and the tunes were rocking.  I was transported and could have watched them play for a long, long time.  They didn't do some tunes I'd hoped for (Did You Love Me At All, When I Go Away), but what they did play was so stellar that my whole consciousness was centered on them.  This was great stuff!

OMG, they ended too soon (Larry pointed to my shirt and gave me the thumbs up while we were applauding) and we all turned and gawked at each other ... how lucky were we to be in the front rows for a set like that in the middle of such a fantastic Festival?  And the best was yet to come.  But fuck sitting around, time to run up to the Main Stage for ...

San Fermin (named after the running of the bulls tradition in Spain??)!  I'd seen them on YouTube and loved them, they're kind of jazzy, kind of soulful, kind of avant garde, and entirely entertaining.  This was a real change of pace and perhaps their thoughtful, stick-with-us-and-you'll-be-rewarded vibe was not the best for the cusp of the Saturday show, but they're really good and I loved what I heard.

BUT (I say again), after some listening and some hydration it was time to run back to the Four Rivers Stage for one of the bands I most wanted to see, Tank and the Bangas!  I had heard the name but hadn't heard the band until I did my YouTube research, and they blew me away.  They won the NPR Tiny Desk Contest unanimously (quite an achievement), and they spin a mix of NOLA funk-soul, hip-hop, R&B, pop, rock, whatever, that is really intoxicating.

Tarriona Ball (Tank) has an amazing voice and amazing control of it, she can go from rapid baby talk to soul screeching to wrenching R&B honesty and right back in half a second and she does that over and over until your mouth is hanging open.  And the rest of the band is made up of incredibly versatile and talented musicians as well, such as her backup singer Anjelika Joseph and drummer Joshua Johnson.

Perhaps the live venue was not as ambient an atmosphere as is needed for them to really weave their spell, but they sure had us and the biggest crowd at the Four Rivers Stage that I've ever seen rocking and jiving and just hanging on Tank's every word.  And she sure had a lot of them, piled on top of each other.

Another note on the crowd: as I say it was jammed at the bottom of the fields, as it was up on the main field.  You could tell that people had come in through the gate, had literally nowhere uphill to set up, it was wall-to-wall people, and so had migrated downhill.  Many people were camped out there for the duration with their blankets and coolers ... they'd given up on the uphill areas ... and this meant that the downhill area was overtaxed.  The lines for the porta-potties and beer were incredibly long, stretching to the horizon, and at one point I went back uphill to take a piss and then returned, and made out better than the people who were still anxiously waiting in line downhill.

Ack!  So much to do!!  Tank went into her tour de force, Rollercoasters, and I knew that would be the last song of their set, so screwed for our seats uphill, where I re-hydrated, gobbled down some more fine food from La Veracruzana, and caught a tune of Amadou & Mariam, a Malian group.  And then it was right back down to the Four Rivers Stage for one of the headliners in my mind, Pokey LaFarge.

Pokey's got a new record out and they played a bunch of tunes from that (opening with Riot In the Streets of course).  He's a bit more concerned with instrumentation over the past few records, and I prefer the more raw sounds of a few years ago, but he's still just a dynamic singer and performer, and he plays one of those smooth rhythm guitars that make your whole body move in mysterious ways.

He had a lot of people on stage, and some cracker-jack horns, but I was right in front of Ryan Koenig and he was rocking the harmonica, the old-time banjo (the only banjo I saw there in two years), and the backup vocals.  They have a particular kind of funk that reminds you of Mark Twain, it's Midwestern!

I was lucky to have timed it right to get up front for them, which had been impossible to do for Tank and the Bangas.  That was another measure of how crowded it was that day and how crowded the Festival has gotten lately: you used to be able to sneak up front for the act(s) you really wanted to see, but now there are people packed in everywhere and you've got to really time things exactly to make it to the front.

Geez, the day was getting on and after Pokey I dragged up back to the seats and settled in for the rest of the evening.  Nothing was going to make me move, especially when Houndmouth (another band I was looking forward to) came on and did a long set of excellent rock, heavy on the guitars, the horns, and the drums, just the way I like it.

Time for the last set, and though I never left my seat, I stood up and looked around at the subtle colors in the late evening sky, the amazing rainbow of the crowd, and the balloon illuminations going on down below.  It was a beautiful evening and it is a beautiful world.  Up on the stage the boffins were scurrying around, getting things ready for ... oh yeah, Lake Street Dive!

Even if you've been under a rock for the last few years you must have heard of these guys and if you haven't, just a little taste will have you begging for more.  They play some of the catchiest songs I've ever heard, mostly originals, and have a style that exposes every note they play and every harmony they pile on top.  It doesn't hurt at all that they have one of the best bassists I've ever heard, Bridget Kearney.  Mike Olson's trumpet playing can be criticized, but besides that they are over-the-top excellent in all aspects of what they do.  And they're Boston products!  They met at the New England Conservatory (we'd seen them perform there this past winter), and spent more than 10 years slaving away in Boston bars before making it big.

They came out like the huge band they are, spread out to all corners of the stage and backlit by spotlights, with Rachael Price wearing her most shimmery dress.

They opened with the incredible Bad Self Portraits, and had the GRF crowd in the palms of their hands.  Here's some other songs they played:  Spectacular Failure, How Good It Feels, Seventeen, Side Pony, Call Off Your Dogs, etc., they can fit in a lot of songs.  They did George Michael's Faith early in the set and Paul McCartney's Let Me Roll It for an encore, but besides that stuck to originals.  Unfortunately, they didn't do any of the new originals that I've heard online ... can't wait for them to release those, or Prince's When You Were Mine, that had knocked me out at NEC.  They stuck to the tried and true songs and the sellout crowd was raving.

In the latter part of the set they clustered around the mike (no pun intended) for some slower songs, and then opened it up again for the last few and the encore.  What showmen and what a band!

Well, that was some fun!  We were feeling fine and had just had a long, long day of music.  We took our time getting out of there but even so, and even though we had a great parking space, we would have had to tag along with a long, slow line of cars to get out of the lots.  So instead we set up the chairs again and had another beer and chilled some more.  Several people honked at us, like hey, they're just sitting there having a good time, that could be us!

Finally saddled up and were lucky to be turning right, out to the West while everybody else was turning left to the highway.  Made it back to the Red Rose with no trouble at all and this time the gang had a long session out at the picnic tables in the cool Western Massachusetts night.  There was a lot to talk about!

So that was at least a bit of 12 bands for me, basically running around (and sitting) from 12:45 to 10:45.  Sunday looked like it would be a less frantic day, but I was beat, as were we all.  Soon to bed and to sleep.

Green River Festival 2017 - Friday

Michelle had apparently decided back in November that we would *not* get shut out of the Red Rose this year, and we all signed up for rooms there back in November!?!  This turned out to be a great thing because it afforded us even more time for the anticipation of Green River Festival 2017 to build.

We traded several off-the-wall theories about what bands they’d feature this year.  And when they announced the first ones back in December we almost fainted.  Not only was Lake Street Dive going to return for a headlining performance, JRAD (by Dog!) was going to be the other headliner!!  We got early-early-bird tickets as soon as they were available of course (@$80 for three nights as opposed to Saturday at the gate for $70) and watched the lineup fill out over the next couple of months: The Mavericks, Larry & Teresa, Pokey LaFarge, The Infamous Stringdusters, etc.  And the crowning touch was when they announced that not only would Lake Street be performing as a band as the last main-stage act on Saturday, but on Sunday the individual members would be performing with their side projects.

Many excited emails shot back and forth between our group, and when they announced the daily schedule, much angst over how to fit in all the bands we wanted to see ensued.  A little research into bands I hadn’t heard of made this even worse, I wanted to see everybody (well, almost everybody).
Oh well, mid-July finally arrived and we gave it our best shot.  In the meantime our house had been torn apart (massive renovation) but we sucked it up, dragged our coolers and lawn chairs from under mountains of debris, made a stack of peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, a jug of iced tea, stocked up on ice and beer and cider, and hit the road on Friday the 14th while the painters were going at it on our walls.

First stop was Quincy.  We picked up Dave around 10:30, hit the Pike Westbound, 128 North for a few exits, and were soon out Route 2 past the prison, on our way to Greenfield.  We pulled into that estimable city through the back door on Route 2A, found a parking space, and meandered over to The People's Pint for a great, leisurely, relaxing lunch.  It was a surprisingly cool day after some early summer scorchers and we all had our sweatshirts on.  Their lunch special was barbecued chicken tacos, and that's what I got, along with a couple of excellent beers including a wonderfully flavorful variant of their herb gruit.

Sarah and Dave were looking for Ginger Libation, which has been featured at the Festival in the past few years and they are loyal followers.  The bartender at The Pint told us where we could pick up a few bottles and we stopped at Ryan & Casey Liquors on our way out Main Street to do just that!  Loaded up, we continued to head West, this time over the ridge beyond Greenfield and out the Mohawk Trail, to the welcoming Red Rose, where we met the crew and settled into room 9.

The Red Rose doesn't really have a lot of room for people to spread out in, but we were ready for that and had our food stuff in their frig soon enough (after plugging it in and getting some duct tape from the car to make sure it closed), got the air conditioner pumping to dispel a little must, and got our act together in short shrift.  We were out of there soon and on our way back up the Trail and over Old Greenfield Road toward the Festival by 3:30 or so!

Geez, there we were, back in line for the GRF ... deja vu all over again.  They were letting the cars into the lot just as we arrived and we got what we've decided is the best parking place for ingress and egress.  We queued up with our chairs and stuff, recognizing some of the people (who were as excited as we were, we were all veterans) and of course some of the vendors frantically setting up beside the line.  They wrist-banded us and let us in by a bit after 4:30 and we quickly set up our chairs on our customary patch of grass to the left of the conduit to the soundboard, a few rows back from the line demarcating seating area from standing area.  They had smartly expanded the standing area this year, so this sweet spot in front of the soundboard was only 15 rows or so, as opposed to the 20-30 we'd seen in past years.

Woohoo!  First up was Western Centuries, who came on right after 5 while people were still frantically arriving after a long work day, and were rapidly filling in the beautiful GRF fields.  The most prominent name in this band is Cahalen Morrison, who has had a hand in several excellent roots records over the past few years (Morrison & West), Jim Miller (from Donna the Buffalo), et al.

Friend Suze was there taking pictures from the get go ... she'd been in line in front of us and recommended the new Twisted Pine.

Some settling in and fetching food caused us to not pay a whole lot of attention to their act, but up next was The Sweetback Sisters, who've just released a new record (King Of Killing Time) and had some excellent songs in store for us, such as the title track, Cindy Walker's It's All Your Fault, If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me Her Memory Will, and their incredibly rocking (in a Sweetback way) I'm Gonna Cry (written by band member Jesse Milnes).  Of course they mixed in a few hits, such as Chicken Ain't Chicken.

OK, up next on the Main Stage was Big Al Anderson (of NRBQ fame) and so we figured it was a good time for diversity.  We went our separate ways and I stopped by the Parlor Room stage, which had been turned into the "Next Wave Stage" that evening to showcase a bevy of young local bands.  I caught a couple of song snippets from Court Etiquette which were very good, but then proceeded down to the Four Rivers Stage, which on Fridays is the de facto Latin stage.

Dave and Sarah ended up down there too (as did Michelle and others, can't believe we were all down there at the same time and I only ran into Dave), and we all agreed that Fulaso (short for Funky Latin Soul) was fantastic.  They were the band that most exceeded my expectations that night, by far.  I can still see them playing: an incredible percussion core of traps, congas, and a third member on bongos, güiro, and other percussion, and a quartet of horn players who produced a wonderful sound.  They had an alto and baritone sax and a trumpet and trombone, and their groove was deep and throbbing and relentless.  Added to this was an excellent bassist, the bandleader on keys, plus the dynamic Erica Ramos on vocals, who shimmied us into Latin heaven (she also took her turn on the güiro, a very democratic band).

Wow, I meant to not stay there too long, but Fulaso was just riveting.  It was one of those moments when you thought, "Why leave, what could be better than this?"  But Dave and I finally tore ourselves away and hastened back to the Parlor Room stage to see Nomads vs. Settlers, the young band that had most caught my ear during my YouTube research.  Only caught one song of their's before the set ended, but it was a good one.  They've got a great mixture of a loose, slacker kind of vibe and some make-you-take-notice talent in their solos.  Would have liked to have heard more of them.  Sarah luckily was there too!

Back up the hill for the close of Big Al Anderson's set after that, and some more jockeying between water station, porta-potties, beer tent, food lines, etc.  Ultimately we all made our way back to our seats, the sun set, and by Dog, The Mavericks came on!  What a great cap for a rockabilly/Latin/indie night.

This was the first time I'd ever seen Raul Malo live, and he nailed me to my seat.  As with most great vocalists he was just testing the pipes for the first few songs, and then he started to let it rip and didn't stop until the whole ecosystem was reverberating with his voice.

Let me take a sidebar here and say that the GRF sound technicians did it for us all once again.  The sound was just fantastic throughout the whole weekend (though the Parlor Room stage setup had acoustic problems, see below), and challenges like a Raul Malo (or a Rachael Price the next night) blasting the Main Stage PA were handled with absolutely no hiccups.  Sarah complimented the soundboard guys after it was all done and they were surprised that anyone had noticed them.  They were the stars of the Festival as much as anyone.

Of course, abetting Raul was Eddie Perez on guitar and jerky dance moves, as well as the entire crackerjack Mavericks band.  I was beyond counting how many people they had on stage, but the sound, the lights, the snapping leads from Perez, and above all the wailing but soothing voice of Malo were rocking our world, and then Big Al joined them for a balls-out encore.  If you've never heard Raul Malo, you need to!

Yeeha!  What a start to a great weekend ... saw at least some of seven bands that night.  As I say, it had been a little chilly earlier in the afternoon and it was kind of raining/drizzling through the whole evening.  I was telling the folks back at the Red Rose that I felt like I was a pampered plant and God kept misting me with his spray bottle all night.  So my glasses got a little obscured but it was all good, not like it had been last year!

The whole gang was there at the Rose (except for P&D, who arrived late) when we got back, and we eventually retreated to the picnic area for a quick beer.  They'd caught some of the show but had to get back in time to get to bed.  We were all really tired for some reason (maybe the sudden cool temperature), but agreed that Saturday would be another hot day and that we'd better get ready for that!

Figured out where to lay all our wet stuff and soon to bed.