I was sound asleep, but Sarah woke me up at 7:00 and I was soon getting ready for the day. The schedule had been pushed forward again and the gates opened at 10:00 for a noon start. We wanted to get there on time to get a good place at the main stage, which meant we had to hustle.
And it was Dave's 30th birthday! Our messaging apps were full of birthday wishes for him, as were our Festival friends. And in the course of the day I overheard 4 other people getting Happy Birthday's from their friends. I guess August 28th is one of those days.
Showered, stretched, and ate a bit of breakfast (not necessarily in that order). We had brought eggs, peanut butter sandwiches, and iced tea and coffee, and this was at least as good as the average American hotel breakfast. We were packed for the day and in the car by a little before 9:00 and beelined for the Fairgrounds, parking a bit back from where we'd been on Friday, behind 20 or 25 other cars. But we got a good spot in line, many of the people there early weren't Festival Faithful and had their own line, which was coming in after us. Soon both lines stretched down the street farther than we could see.
The weather was delightfully overcast and late-summer temperature, as opposed to the heat spell we'd been having. And they let us in right at 10. The FF line did not have a "no bags" option, but a volunteer soon waved a few of us who didn't have bags out of line and told us to go right through another entrance. But the people at the gate didn't know he'd done this and weren't going to let us in when we got there! The guy next to me objected in a slightly strident voice, and one of the officials at the gate exploded at him, yelling right in his face to not raise his voice at him unless he wanted a really bad day. Whoah, chill guy! They let us in but I and my neighbor's friends had to calm him down, not the most mellow start to your day.
Anyway, same as you might expect. We got seats in front of the soundboard (not quite as good as Friday but fine), set up our chairs and got some more iced coffee, read magazines, and toured around the vendors. I was afraid I might regret not having a sweatshirt, but the sun behind the clouds soon warmed everything up and there was a nice wind to keep us from getting too hot.
Another day of trying to see everything:
Liam Hurley at the small stage - Though music didn't officially start until noon, a couple of artists were doing small "family" shows for the campers. I saw a couple of songs from Hurley and the best part was watching toddlers dance and hearing him sing the ABC's song backwards!
Zara Bode at the small stage - Zara from the Sweetback Sisters did a family show next and on my touring around I managed to catch a bit of her act too. She was aimed at the slightly older kids and tried to get a sing-along going with some songs that everyone knows but that I can't name.
Kimaya Diggs at the medium stage - She was the first on at just a few minutes after noon and she was a wonderful way to start the day. Kimaya says she's a mix of Joni Mitchell and Ella Fitzgerald, but to my ear it was pure enlightening soul music. She has an amazing voice and could fill a concert hall with her dulcet tones. And she was wearing a nice home-sewn dress, perhaps from her mother, whom she eulogized.
Bella White at the main stage - Bella was first up at the main stage with a wonderful small country/bluegrass combo. I stayed until the end of her set and was charmed, great originals that were old-timey at the same time.
Appalachian Still at the medium stage - Now you're talking! This is a four-piece electric rockabilly band made up of people who aren't really professional musicians but who really like music (some of them are permanent staff at the Festival). They opened with The Race Is On (which of course, is a Grateful Dead song) and did a number of great covers and originals, including the Band's Get Up Jake. This was the good stuff.
Kris Delmhorst at the small stage - Kris is one of my all-time favorite folk musicians and has not slowed down at all over the past few years, writing and singing some of her best material. She was accompanied by her husband Jeffrey Foucault and a stand-up bass player who could make the bass sound like he was bowing it when he was actually plucking it. Kris was being drowned out by the main stage when she talked, but when she sang her voice resonated like an angel's.
Ghost Of Paul Revere at the main stage - Though they were being a little rude (unknowingly) to Kris at the small stage, I next had to go back to the main stage to see this trio, who do some great loud, funky, and rambunctious music. I was fading by this point, as I knew I'd be by mid-afternoon, so it was time to head for the car and try to sneak in a nap in the shade.
Zara Bode's Little Big Band at the small stage - But on the way out I had to stop by the small stage again and see Zara's official band, who were all dressed up in matching suits and straw hats (except for Zara, who wore a gown). They were fun but were bothered by sound from the other two stages.
OK, time to go out to the car and try to not wake up the people in the next car over who were doing exactly what I wanted to do: take a nap in the shade and the gentle breeze. I got a good one in, had a beer from the cooler in the back to help me wake up, and then was back in the fray.
But, in the meantime other people had arrived. Our friend Dreamflower had never been to the GRF before but showed up this year and was enjoying it immensely. And Dave's friends Leen, Drew, and Cathy had decided to give him a birthday surprise and had secretly bought Saturday tickets and showed up suddenly. He was not just surprised, he was discombobulated!
And, I thought others had missed out by not seeing Soggy Po' Boys, but I was the one who'd missed out. While I was asleep the Underground System had played at the medium stage and were one of the best bands of the weekend according to everyone I talked to. Oh well, you can't see everything.
So here's what I saw in the second half.
Whiskey Treaty Roadshow at the medium stage - This is another band of talented players who all sing, and they play every style around. They can only be called Americana because they bring such an assortment of influences to the stage. I stuck around for most of their set.
Jeffrey Foucault at the small stage - Accompanying him were his wife, Kris Delmhorst, and a bass player who could make the bass sound like ... wait a minute! Hadn't I seen this band before? Oh yeah, it was exactly the same band as "Kris Delmhorst" but they were doing Jeffrey's songs instead of Kris's and the two had switched places. Almost as excellent though.
JD McPherson at the main stage - Here's another guy who played the good stuff and had the crowd dancing and dancing. He's been around for a while now and is a multiple GRF performer. But this time was the best I've seen him, mostly because his sound was pared down to just his great guitar (and voice), bass, keys, and drums. He did some of his older songs like Dimes For Nickels and North Side Gal and was rocking!
Rebirth Brass Band at the medium stage - These guys had just led the kids' parade and when they took the stage they were hot. What a great classic brass sound, spread across the front of the stage and with a honking tuba (the only one of the weekend!), a guy with a snare around his neck, and a guy with a bass drum and a huge cymbal standing across the back.
Valerie June at the main stage - A critic has called her "cosmic country" and I'd have to agree, though she was nothing like Gram Parsons. She just holds down the stage herself with a guitar, and she played everything from Hank Williams to rap but in a style that was distinctly her own. I was riveted, what an original musician!
Vapors Of Morphine at the medium stage - These three guys are a spinoff from the band Morphine, and we'd been told by our friend Scott that we'd better not miss them. And he was right! They consisted of a conventional drum kit, a guy playing the biggest baritone sax I'd ever seen through a MIDI (so he could make his sax sound like a banjo), and a guy playing the weirdest assortment of guitar-like instruments that exists, including a six-string electric bouzouki with the lowest two strings tuned deeper than any bass. This band hollowed out your brain painlessly and replaced it with something else.
Jon Batiste at the main stage - I can't say enough good things about Jon Batiste. It had been a long day and we were exhausted and another loud popular band was coming on and this might have been the time we snuck out of there and went back to the hotel to wind down. But I'd seen Jon on video and was captivated by him and I think everybody else who saw his act live was captivated too. He played grand piano (excellently), guitar (poorly), saxophone (meh), and melodica (pretty well, but who can tell with a melodica?) and sang, rapped, and danced. And he was fantastic, what an entertainer and a band leader! He was so in synch with his three backup singers and it's a cliché but he had the whole crowd in the palm of his hand, waving their arms, dancing, responding to his calls, and grooving on the great sounds he made. Dave and his friends were all at our seats for this, and we stayed until the very end, how could you walk away from that guy? And I've heard that he's just as good a person as he is a musician, incredible fun!
OK, Saturday at the GRF was over and we picked up our stuff and screwed out of there as fast as we could, expecting a traffic clusterfuck *this* time since we were leaving with everyone else. But again, this place was laid out so well there was no problem. The parking had a well-placed exit and the line of traffic was moving well, out through the neighborhood and back to the highway, where we climbed West on route 2 into the late summer sky.
Back at the Rose and again we gathered our stuff and went out to the picnic table for some late night revelry, even though it was already pretty late and we were exhausted. We all gushed about the great bands we'd seen that day but pretty soon had to get to bed ... probably around 12:30 when we went to sleep with the air conditioner off and the windows open to the starry Western Massachusetts night.
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