Wakarusa | 06.05 - 06.08 | Kansas

word

likin the yard dogs road show

always have fun at this fest missed it this year and last... what was the word on the police situation... they still flexing their kansanian muscles?

Check out Alejandro Escovedo each chance you get. His new album is phenomenal as are his past albums, but his live shows are off the hook.

The author sadly missed Tea Leaf's late night Saturday show which was absolutely mind blowing.

Now the real review. Nice job guys, but you just seem to fluff everything like it was all great. It was, but this was a festival run by the mighty dollar. I have 2 problems with this festival. The bathrooms are good and the acts are pretty good. I'm a little pissed that the 2 main acts didnt get moved to the revival tent, but hey, cant play with wet equipment. The cops were ok this year... I even got busted with some smoke and they just took it. Nice about it too. now to the two problems.

Festivals are about community and music. Part of the community that travels to see shows is that everyone is a vendor. Not so at wakarusa. You cannot sell shit. I miss the days where I got to see what everyone around me was selling something, by doing that I got cheaper(or simply reasonable) stuff that was higher quality. These assholes expect me to buy $5 slices of pizza and $5 beer, and only in the 'concession' areas. Gone are the days of the veggie burrito and a phat tire for $5, or a grilled cheese for a dollar. If you tried to take care of your brothers and sisters in that way, you can be thrown out, or worse, arrested.

If that isnt bad enough, then if you do want water???? I found out that only 2 or 3 places were even allowed to sell water. THERE WERE EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO SELL WATER!!!!!! What does that tell you.... They want to get rich while you die of thirst! I can see no other reason for this other than corporate greed.

I will go back, but I will bring better supplies for myself and my neighbors... screw the 'no vending'. Music-good. Layout-good. St.Bernards-awesome. copScene-better. vending-SUCKED.

Mr. Rodriguez- well done my friend. Loved your writing. Refreshing for a jambase review. very well-rounded and informative....although it made me glad i wasn't at wakarusa. ;)

Who would want to play in the fucking mud....You would have to a fucking MUD MORON!

GO LAKERS

the track is called mysterious vibes by the blackbirds you idiots!

one dude rocked that whole post out! I'd call that there one helluva weekend

wasn't there, but in my humble opinion, this is one of the best-if not the most apparently thorough and complete festival review i have ever read. EVER. Wow. What a great review Waka received from this jambase team. Covering these festies is a labor of love and while hovering backstage and in press tents can lead to being out of touch w/ the 'vending issues' (above poster) for example, i can't totally fault the writer(s).

thank you. thank you. thank you to these jambase writers for making kansas feel sooo much closer to my home in upstate ny than other festy reviews.

great job! 5 stars.

I agree. This writer did a great job of capturing a great majority of the acts. This is one of the best reviews I've seen. My critique was of the festival, and I enjoyed it. My 9 year old son had the time of his life... in his words, 'best waka ever'. We were most surprised by split lip rayfield, they have so much energy, its amazing. Flaming lips were fun too. David grisman and Leftover Salmon make the trip worthwhile, when the headline gets rained out. For a lot of you freaks, the girls mudfight was the highlight of your weekend. I liked it, but the HUGE circle that formed IMMEDIATELY when they started their stuff was maybe a little, um, freaky.

Again, props to jambase on the review and the photos... how bout a part 2?

Wish there was a part about a great bluegrass band - Mr. Babers Neighbors: The Solar String Band. Everyone check them out. But pretty good review.

Does anyone know who played in the Everyone Orchestra set (s)?

Nice review and pics - Waka sounded like a grand time again this year.

It appears that this summer Mr. Coyne is the hippies answer to Hugh Hefner.

bring on telluride bluegrass festival!

Good pictures! your review is top notch, but i thought there were some major downfalls this year at the fest. there was NO communication as to what was going on, half the people i knew missed the Galatic set because they didn't know they were switching with cake, people just took the chance on bands coming back on sunday, some were pleasently surprised while others didn't know and peaced out...last year when it rained they put down straw which helped a lot, this year nothing??? and it rained a hell of a lot more. spent a few nights of canceled shows getting wasted in my car... but other than that my highlights were the yard dogs road show, built to spill, flaming lips (it was my first time seeing them, so i thought it was awesome) the avett brothers in the mudd, i loved keller with the transmitters, del was awesome, and arrested development was great too. i thought the sound was weak for sts9, not because of them, i thought the speakers sucked, one was crackleing. i made the most of it, and still had fun, but i think next year... i'm something new, sorry waka.

cool review, sucks the rain put a damper on the weekend a bit. my only complaint is its race for the prize not "Race to the Finish" was the opener,

the flaming lips rule.

damn 50000 words and not one about the best act of the weekend? wheres the love for C-Mon and Kypski? those freaky dutch bastards are alright in my book.

Glad I didn't hit WAKA, no PBS, galactic early, busts INSIDE the venue, nice. I need to us this to get something off my chest. Fans pay hundreds of $$$ for tix and then get screwed once they are there. I work for a sound company and know the way these promoters work. Most of them are worried about NOTHING BUT THE MONEY. IF THE COPS WANT TO COME AND ARREST KIDS these assholes just let 'em in. This is seen at BONNAROO where AC/SUPERFLY bought the farm THEN LET THE COPS IN!!! THe original owner would NOT ALLOW THE POLICE TO BE THERE!!! These festival promoters are going to keep pushing the limits till people get fed up and stop going completely or they have another 99 Woodstock somewhere. People need to start standing up to this kind of bullshit, encircle the cops and greedy vendors, resist the arrests, sheild the victims, ect. I guess my generation grew up on NWA"S "FUCK THE POLICE" and Rage telling us "FUCK YOU I WONT DO WHAT YOU TELL ME". I long for Phish where WE HAVE THE NUMBERS. AmeriKKKa, LAND OF THE FEE, HOME OF THE SLAVE. STAND/REBEL/RESIST

Oh and if you want to be free at a fest go to ALL GOOD the only major player left that hasnt completely sold out.

Hey MUDBUDDY what you say is so true, thats also why most of my friends(were all over 30 now ) quit hitting shows. My friend was arrested last year for selling a few beers in Asheville. SAD STATE of affairs here in the land o freedom. Oh I forgot, freedoms just for those who can afford it!

"Race to the Finish"

try "Race for the Prize"

Bucket switches shit up.... you should have stuck around

mudbuddy, were you at wakarusa 1?

people were allowed to sell whatever they want, but there was also a SERIOUS shortage of water. i, for one, am glad they worked out the food/water situations how they did.

and i also found and was offered plenty of goodies (ganja treats, beads, tyedyes, hummus wraps, silverware jewelry, etc.) around the campsites, but wasnt able to afford them any more than the legitimate vendors for the most part.

it is called camping out, though. most people bring supplies. and even if you didnt, there was a free shuttle to and from hyvee and parkway spirits. honestly, it was pretty easy to be prepared for everything except the 60mph wind gusts and i had a fantastic time.

you probably werent a boy scout haha

well said mudbuddy. we're folks allowed to bring coolers in with water and other beverages?

s'ALL GOOD...

It's definatley ALL GOOD...

how the hell was DELTA NOVE!?!

mudbuddy, i dont know what you are talking about people were walking around us offering breakfast burritos, bloody mary's, jars, clothes, bags, all kinds of treats and goodies. and there were a couple FREE water stations in the main area that you just filled a bottle with. so i dont know what the big deal about water was......the stage setup was TERRIBLE!!! with all the room this fest has, they set up 4 stages in a span of like 1 acre...if that. it was horrible, i was at Hot Buttered Rum and left after all i could hear was the other band rocking out. STS9 laid down the filthiest set of the entire summer though...And for anyone who is going to a festival with PANJEA W/KANG playing...dont miss them! they were excellent...Whoever did this review went to a bunch of the lame shows....i was at most of the ones he was at, and they werent even close to some of the other shows.

This fest would have been just fine had no cancellations occured. Thurs and Sun night made this the worst waka ever. wasnt even storming that bad....

SONIC BLOOM will be excellent...i cant wait for this one.

I neglected to add that Cake is FAMOUS for showing up late and/or having Visa/Travel issues...bush-league

Everyone Orchestra Line-Up Friday 6/6/08

Matt Butler

Sean Hutchenson (New Monsoon)

Bo Carper (New Monsoon)

Phil Ferlino (New Monsoon)

Zac Matthews (Hot Buttered Rum String Band)

Aaron Redner (Hot Buttered Rum String Band)

Nat Keefe (Hot Buttered Rum String Band)

Heath Bennett (Delta Nove)

Tanya Shylock (Mountain of Venus )

Janis Wallen (Family Groove Company)

Jeff Coffin (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones)

Bobby Easton(Delta Nove)

The Viking (Delta Nove)

Rob Covacevich (Delta Nove)

Dominic Feedam (Delta Nove)

Heath Bennett (Delta Nove)

Jeff Miller (New Monsoon)

Papa Mali

Chris Cuzme (Panjea)

Danny Sears (Panjea)

ZA (Arrested Development)

Dave Watts (The Motet)

Shawn Hartung (Madahoochi)

Live Painting by Michael Garfield

Madahoochi freaking rocked the @#$% out!!! I have a bunch of video of them and others, www.youtube.com/jtcbrown

Thursday Everyone Orchestra set was cancelled due to rain/tornado warning. Friday night made up for it with double the line-up and rocked the hell out of the tent.

One of the best festy reviews I've ever read. Well done.

Mad props to mudbuddy, I support all he said, and yes I did attend past Wakas including numero uno.

p.s. Why is no one commenting on Trombone Shorty? Pure dance party, people. Trombone Shorty = Pure dance party.

Great pictures Andrew!!

There's a review of Wakarusa at marqueemag that also ahs video of the dancing naked girls from the Lips set.

Check it out:

http://marqueemag.com/wakarusa-music-and-camping-festival/2008/06/10/

This festival is in Kansas, the tornado state. You think that they would have a contingency plan in case a storm would threaten to shut it down. Tents would be a good idea. The sheer amount of cancelations would have pissed me off royaly. As for the review I thought it was lacking I guess alot of the bands I was eager to see got cancelled. But leaving Bucket head, Ozric, and STS9 is lame.

Please quit reviewing the Flaming Lips. IT IS THE EXACT SAME SHOW EVERY TIME. We all now what they did.

I stepped out of Ozric for a minute to get some water. I could hear the lips performing the end of their act. The lead singers voice made my head hurt. It was just terrible.

The communication was terrible for rescheduling acts, as Cosmopolitics played a GREAT set saturday at 830-930 on the porch stage. Unfortunately, the only people who knew about it were the people who were camping with Cosmo's band members.

STS9 was 100000 times better than Flaming Lips was, Ozric was tons better than Cake, and Cake and Galactic switching was a godsend, since it allowed me to see Galactic and Ozric on the same night, instead of choosing one or the other.

The lack of campsite vendors the past few years has been quite lame, but after the police state two years ago, it isn't surprising, since they don't have nearly the attendance they once did.

Thehurricane23 - "Glad I didn't hit WAKA, no PBS, galactic early,"

Im not sure what youre talking about, but I saw P-B-S!!! Hands down, the best show of the festival! I mean there was definately hassle there, but for the music, it was well worth it!

See you all in '09!

wow...good review but I must have been at every show that you weren't at...my personal favorite = blue turtle seduction!