Clearwater Festival 06.16.12

The day after Keane, I attended the Clearwater Festival. It was my first festival experience. My main concerns were that it would be so crowded I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near the stage and that the sound would be horrible. Both of these fears were quickly assuaged. Although there were a lot of people, there was plenty to do and tons of space to do it. Everywhere you looked, there were people jamming, picking banjos, I even saw some kind of tin homemade guitar thing. There were plenty of activities for kids: sing alongs, bubble pools, giant chalk boards, an instrument "petting zoo" where everyone could experiment. There were shops selling art and locally made food. It was a really neat experience I was able to share with my brother, sister-in-law and niece.

I had to stop to take a picture of the dot art on these didgeridoos; flashbacks to my senior year of Art History.

We set up our blanket under the gorgeous willow tree by the Rainbow Stage. It didn't provide a whole lot of shade and I ended up with a nasty sunburn. I really need to follow the directions and reapply...

Grace modeling her mom's sunglasses.

I was excited to see the Punch Brothers perform again. I only brought along my point and shoot because the website for the festival said no SLRs were allowed. Foolishly, I followed the rules when almost everyone else there had an SLR. I would've loved to have tested out my new camera here. Bummer, but I pressed on anyway.

We were set up on the top of the hill, but I had to move closer for a few songs. How could I pass up another opportunity to shoot The Punch Brothers?

I'm trying to get better about shooting video. Here, Gabe Witcher is featured on vocals during the Levon Helm cover of Ophelia.

Critter singing!

Chris Thile rocking out on mandolin. Even after seeing him a couple months ago, I'm still blown away by his talent.

Apparently, you get better seats if you have a hover round. The group to the right of the stage was a little dance area. There was a roped off path right along side of the stage that I found enough of a space to stay for a few songs. I took it as a practice run for the potential "Three and Done" songs that concert photographers get at live shows.

The boys jamming.

This was the view from our spot, right under the willow tree. I was highly impressed with the sound at the festival. I didn't expect it to be so clear, especially for this kind of instrumentation, but Clearwater really knows what's going on.

And of course, out of the thousands of people there, Grace was featured. She is the most photogenic kid in the world; I'll take credit for teaching her that!

My final thoughts on a festival: I enjoyed the experience. It was really neat to be able to dance along with Grace to Rye Whiskey. Maybe it was too much to go to back to back concerts and fully appreciate them both. I think I'd rather stick to seeing a band play a full set alone, rather than see a bunch rush through a few songs. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast, but I just don't think festivals are my thing.

Throwback Thursdays

I feel like this old scan of myself, circa 2000, epitomizes the week I had, and it was the perfect use of the Kodak Create A Print scanner at the camera shop. I sure did have a lot of hair!

So I'm going to another concert tonight. I'd bought the tickets well before I knew Hotel Lights were going to be touring, figuring I had to have something lined up in order to meet my Go to a concert every month goal. As it turns out, I'll be going to another concert next week, meeting my May quota. Tonight is The Punch Brothers at Town Hall, which might be the perfect venue to see this band.

My musical tastes are pretty diverse. The Punch Brothers are categorized as "Progressive Bluegrass." What the heck does that mean?, and this is why I hate music labels. What it means is they have this ridiculously talented set of musicians. Seriously, Chris Thile can rock a mandolin harder than a mandolin has ever been rocked before. Check this video to see what I'm talking about. Shit gets real 4 minutes in:

For those of you familiar with my blog, you know how much I adore Jon Brion. He's the other guy in that video and a brilliant musician in his own right. A question I'm asked a lot is where do I find new music to listen to? Friends are the best source of recommending new things, but if you've exhausted that outlet, take a look at who musicians you currently listen to work with; another bonus of having linear notes. Before I even listened to Jon Brion, I'd been listening to Jon Brion. He's worked with The Eels, Aimee Mann and Keane, to name a few. Pay attention to the producer who's worked with a band you like and see who else they've worked with. I'm only now starting to appreciate that role. Jon Brion produced The Punch Brothers second record, Antifogmatic, and I have such a high regard for him, I will give any artist he works with a listen. Talented breeds more talent. Need another example?

If you don't know the original song they are covering, I give you this:

(Apologies to my brother Nick for bringing up Of Montreal. I'm still trying to get over it myself) But really, it's a brilliant cover.

I think I've gone on long enough. I could get started on my unnatural obsession with the banjo, but I'm going to save that for another post.