GRF 2026, Saturday

 Slept well and woke up to another great day, but with an already strong West wind.  Had some bagels, tea, and orange juice that we’d brought and traded notes with our friends about what to see that day, and what not to see.  We packed up and got going around 10:30, got a parking space in the shade when we got to the Fairgrounds, waited just a little bit in the line until the gates-open at 11:00, and then got a fine space to the left of the soundboard, back about 8 rows from the Standing Room section.

Wandered around a bit and got a nice tie-dyed shirt from one of the vendors, then grabbed a beer and headed over to the DBS for The Animeros at noon.  They’re a Latin rock band with a guitarist and bassist on vocals, a keyboardist (who also played the kind of melodica that has a hose) and drummer, and a conga/bongo player who looked just like Sunny War’s drummer, though he probably wasn’t.  Great start to the day, and the highlight of their set was a cumbia-delic (new word!), instrumental cover of Ghost Riders In the Sky … very spooky but danceable.

Over at the MS was Greg Freeman next, whom I had panned in my spreadsheet, and so everyone (except me) wanted to see.  I was elucidated when the texts started pouring in that he was as bad as I’d described.

Got some late lunch, waiting for what I really wanted to see, which was Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars back at the DBS.  They play a New Orleans standards/funk/space mix with Sally on lead acoustic and vocals, a keyboardist, stand-up bass, and an incredibly talented horn section.  Enjoyed their eclectic set very much (I love Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab), though unusually they were a bit tamer live than in the videos I’d seen.

The next few acts were “maybes” on my spreadsheet, and so I went back to the car and got a nice nap in.  The day had started off perhaps more chilly than expected because of the strong wind, but the weather was just perfect at this point.  But at the same time, the Fairgrounds had become kind of oppressive!  The Saturday crowd had filled in with a vengeance, and the entire area was packed with people, there seemed to be barely a square inch left where late arrivers could set up their chairs or pitch their tents.  Every vendor featured a long line, and it was impossible to stroll around, you had to concentrate on where you were going or you wouldn’t get anywhere.

Anyway, made it back to the MS for Kurt Vile and the Violators, who were another very entertaining rock band with a guitar, bass, keyboard (who also had a trumpet), and drums backing up Kurt on lead guitar.  He’s an extraordinary player, and his techie brought out a new guitar for every song, it seemed.  They do some pretty simple rock and then Kurt takes over and plays very unexpected and complex leads.

Pushed back through the throngs to the BPS to see Folk Bitch Trio after that.  I was looking forward to seeing them, but you could barely get anywhere near the stage because of the elbow-to-elbow people.  Caught a few songs anyway.  They’re a trio of Australian women (as their name hints at), but for once the sound was just not done right.  They do very reverb-heavy, moody songs and their sound was turned up so loud it was almost distorting, adding to the feeling of antsiness the crowd was bringing.

But … the most anticipated act of the weekend was up next at the MS, The Beths from New Zealand.  They wowed the packed Fairgrounds with their kaleidoscope of indie pop rock sound and excellent songs, all written by their “front-man,” Liz Stokes.  They opened with Straight Line Was a Lie and did their great No Joy (with recorder break).  This was my first time seeing them, and I was so impressed.  Besides a great guitar sound (Liz plays rhythm acoustic, Jonathan Pearce is on lead electric, Ben Sinclair is on bass (and writes a fun blog, and Tristan Deck is on drums), their vocal mix is extraordinary.  Liz is an alto, and the guys back her up with psychedelic, overlapping high harmonies.  Every second of their set was a delight, and their recorder launches showed a lot of practice.

The crowd was finally starting to thin out a bit, and I was able to find an ok place to stand over at the BPS for Ratboys, another guitar/bass/drums rock band.  They’re led by Julia Steiner on vocals and rhythm (she played a string of flying-v electric guitars) and vocals, and were definitely good, would have liked to see more but …

I had to grab some dinner and then get back to our seats at the MS where the night’s headliner, Spoon, was about to start.  Believe it or not, they’re another rock band that featured basically the same instrumentation as I’d been seeing all day, but this time they had three guitars on stage and were playing some good, crunchy songs.  But wait … one guitarist switched to keys and then another one did, and gradually they changed to an atmospheric, prog-rock sound and went downhill.

Oh well, that was enough and it was time to fold up our chairs and get out of there to beat the traffic.  Back to the Rose and we gathered down at the picnic area, Aldo delivered us a pile of firewood, and we talked and talked.  I took off around midnight, but the party was still going strong and I think some of our group must have been there for another couple of hours.