Two of the acts I most wanted to see were going to be on the main stage that day, and the rest of the lineup didn't look that compelling. My plan was to be even more mellow than the other days and stay up at the main stage as much as possible, keep the wandering to a minimum, and maybe leave early so we could get Dave back at a decent time and then rescue our kitties (Uncle Andrew had stopped by to feed them on Saturday).
Most of the others were going tubing on the Deerfield, but we were bound for the Festival again and ended up leaving at about the same time we did Saturday, maybe a little earlier. It was another beautiful, hot Summer day but the sky was not at all perfectly clear as it had been the day before. Some huge clouds were drifting slowly, and threatening to maybe become thunderheads at some point in the afternoon. Whatever, they kept the sun from withering everything in the vicinity and so we were glad for them.
Another strange weather(?) note was that there were no balloons at the Festival! Well ok, there were 2 of them (one the corporate-branded one that's always there) and they were offering rides up and down. But there are usually 6 or 8 balloons and they always inflate to great fanfare, escape the surly bounds on un-tethered rides, making a spectacular sight, and then get brought back in the evening for a flame extravaganza. This time none of that happened, though the weather seemed perfect for ballooning on both Friday and Saturday. Was this another cost-cutting measure?? Wasn't this supposed to be a balloon festival as well as a music Festival? Harumph.
We got to about the same place in the car line waiting on the GCC access road to get in, and this time Sarah grabbed the chair and went in to stake a spot in the people line. This turned out to be a bit of a grueling experience though because were we were right between the Berkshire Brewing Company refrigerator truck, that had to keep its engine running, and the generator at the BCC tent. Besides loud noise, they were both making some exhaust fumes and the guys in the tent were also blasting tunes (most of them very good actually). So this was not a mellow wait, and they didn't let the line in early as they had on Saturday, and this time an unauthorized line for the no-bags entrance started up. But whatever, soon we were in and though we were not able to get our prime spot, we got another great one at just the right distance from the stage, to the right of the electrical conduit.
First up was The East Pointers, a folk-bluegrass-Cape Breton Juno award-winning trio from PEI: Jake Charron on guitar, Koady Chaisson on banjo, and Tim Chaisson on fiddle. They were really enjoyable and I stuck around for half of their set before the mid-day sun came out from between the high clouds and drove me away.
I hadn't been that impressed by the offerings on the other stages, but saw Dave had managed to grab a standing spot in the shade at the Parlor Room Stage and so navigated over to join him for the Gaslight Tinkers. And again, I was surprisingly delighted! They had had a children's musician with them at the beginning of the set, but he had left by the time I got there and they started to get a little rootsy and a little funky, and then kept on going that way. They did a particularly dark take on the traditional Storms On the Ocean, mixed in a few originals, and finished with another really dark take on The Wind and Rain. Then they said, "And that was our *children's* set!"
We stayed there for the end of their set and then split up and I was back on the main stage in time for Eilen Jewell. And they opened their set with a bang. Eilen was on Telecaster ... that's right, Eilen Jewell went electric!!! Perhaps this wasn't as earth-shattering to the hordes as Dylan's change of pace 54 years beforehand, but it got me psyched, especially because it reinforced my view that this GRF was all about the things you could do with a guitar. And you know what they did? I can't believe no one had done this before, they opened with Creedence's Green River.
I was kind of afraid (maybe not the right word) that Eilen would have a fiddle or pedal steel on stage from the bits I'd heard of her atmospheric (for Eilen Jewell that is) new album, Gypsy. But she did not, she had the same old threesome of husband Jason, iconic guitarist Jerry, and the bass player of the day. And they delivered a classic Eilen set with a few tracks from the new album (which was on sale at the merch tent, weeks before release) and lots of classics.
They finished their set and then came out for an encore and this was one of the cutest things I've ever seen, possibly at the top of the list. Her daughter, Mavis, is now 5 (amazing!!), and she came out to join them for the encore. Eilen said that Mavis had been practicing and then Mavis took over the encore, Shaking All Over. She shook her shaker, she shook her body, she shook her head, and when it came to the chorus she shouted (on key) into the mike, "Shaking all over!!!!" Mom looked very proud of her, as did Dad, peering over the drums, and this was an incredibly delightful moment. You've gotta believe that she got a standing ovation from everyone in the vicinity.
Ack! Time to stop by the Green Room stage, hit the porta-potties, hit the parking lot for a last beer, and then to get back to our seats for Rhiannon Giddens, perhaps the last (and definitely most anticipated) act of the Festival for us. Rhiannon did a long sound check with her stripped-down band of Francesco Turrisi (her fabulous recent collaborator) and a bass player. And though Rhiannon was bugged, bothered, and bewildered by her banjo constantly going out of tune and feeding back on her, they really topped all other bands we'd seen for musicianship.
Rhiannon stuck to her mid-19th century banjo reproduction, which produces fabulous sounds, and her bass player was wonderful too. But all eyes were on Turrisi with his endless assortment of frame drums, tambourines, and an accordion. Wait, you say that that's not fascinating? It was when you heard him play them, just astounding in the talent he showed and the responsiveness his instruments showed.
They played mostly tracks for their new collaboration, but I was more than glad to hear them play Rhiannon's most provocative songs about enslaved people, Julie and At the Purchaser's Discretion. She switched to fiddle later in the set, but this was about her voice and Turrisi's instrumental talent. We waited in line to talk with them afterwards and were delighted to hear that they'll be playing in London this November, so Sally and Jim can go see them!
Well ok, we'd wimped out on the last couple of acts of Saturday and it was getting to be time to wimp out on the last couple of acts of Sunday's show. As I say, some GRFs we've been too have had riveting lineups, but there was not much left to see on Sunday, and so we did a last few house-keeping things and then headed to the car. I hope the GRF has a better lineup next year.
No delay for us, we got in the car (the tubing crew was just arriving as we left!), braved a surprisingly large amount of traffic on route 2, switched down to the Turnpike to deliver Dave back to Quincy, and then got home by 7:30 or so. The cats were ecstatic to see us, which was very nice. They had the Welcome Home banner all ready.
So that was another long weekend at the GRF that in retrospect should have lasted much longer. I bitch about the quality of the lineup, but we still had a great time. It could have been better, and I feel bad that a lot of the bands I saw did not stick in my mind and so are not reported well above.
And let me repeat that it was thrilling to see so many kinds of guitars played so skillfully. Besides some beautiful folk/blues acoustics, there were pedal steels, lap steels, a percussion guitar, a bajo sexto, and an endless succession of incredible electrics such as Sean McConnell's hollow-body Rickenbacker and Samantha Fish's solid blues (but gold) Gibson. That was a delight.
The hotel worked out well and we had some great times hanging with our friends. I bet next year will be even more fantastic!
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