Wanee Festival | 06.05 - 06.06 | Florida

Saturday :: 06.06.09

BK3 w/ Nevins :: Wanee 2009

After Friday's roster of blistering blues and a refreshing swim in the Suwanee to wash off the cobwebs, the smooth sounds and superb musicianship of ABB drummer Jamoie's Jasssz Band in the shade of the Mushroom Stage was a welcome start to Saturday. This band, with a sound that's just at home with the blues as Charlie Parker-style bebop, was extremely tight and capable of jazz great levels of improvisation.

Walking up to the Peach Stage to the unmistakable intro of the Grateful Dead's "Franklin's Tower" was one of those moments more than worth the price of admission. Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann and BK3, featuring guitarist Scott Murawski, bassist James "Hutch" Hutchinson and Donna the Buffalo's Tara Nevins on vocals and many instruments, were a delight in a mix of Dead classics, covers and originals. Nevins' excellent fiddle work delivered a bouncy bluegrass flavor to "Franklin's Tower." Next, she picked up an acoustic guitar for Donna the Buffalo's "If You Only Could" before a welcome but brief "Drums" by Kreutzmann that surely took many back in time. Nevins sang "He's Gone," with the crowd joining her for the signature verse, "Going where the wind down blow so strange/ Maybe on some high cold mountain range/ Lost one round but the price wasn't anything/ Knife in the back and more of the same," for another goose-bump moment. Adding to this, Murawski did justice to Jerry Garcia's guitar work on this number – well played and not cringe-inducing like so many other attempts since Garcia passed. The second "Scarlet Begonias" of the weekend closed their set.

Dumpstaphunk :: Wanee 2009

New Orleans' premier funk band Dumpstaphunk might be better suited for a late night booty shake than performing in the afternoon sun, but they still produced quality grooves with the excellent bass work of the Tony Hall/Nick Daniels tandem. They delivered plenty of crowd-pleasers and feet-movers with "Everybody Wants Some," "FEMA," "Put It In The Dumpsta," and "Funkonaut."

A downpour dampened the set by Jorma Kaukonen (Hot Tuna), though his melodic voice, brilliant guitar and partner Barry Mittendorf's mandolin mastery made for a sweet, peaceful set marked by a cover of Rev. Gary Davis and perhaps the greatest break-up song ever, "Genesis."

Maybe it was the fault of the heavy rain, but the Drive-By Truckers' set was marred by sound problems, with frontman Patterson Hood repeatedly doing microphone checks to get his monitors working properly. A shame, considering a recent Truckers performance featured better Hood stage banter, with him preaching at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, "I'm not going to apologize for one god-damned thing I've ever done in my fuckin' life! And you know what? I'm just thankful to stick around for a few more years and do a lot more fucked-up shit!" That is the essence of rock & roll and one of the hallmarks of this great band. Despite the problems, the Truckers still nailed it for a blistering show with rockers such as "Lookout Mountain" and the Southern twang of "Carl Perkins' Cadillac."

Doobie Brothers :: Wanee 2009

Who knew the Doobie Brothers could melt faces? No longer beholden to the easy-listening style of Michael McDonald, the back-to-the-basics boogie of the Doobie Brothers produced so many classic rock moments during their excellent set that most anyone that grew up near an FM radio knew all the words. After "Taking It to the Streets," the Doobies promised to play some blues and seared an instrumental before launching into a set-closing run of "Black Water" and "Without Love" before an encore of "China Grove" and "Without You."

The ABB's Saturday show was raw, gritty and pure blues with a parade of special guests such as Charlie Sexton, in step with the band bringing many in its wide circle of friends on stage to celebrate its 40th year. It was marked with the emotion and turn-on-a-dime tempo changes that are hallmarks of a great ABB show.

The show cooked from start to finish, featuring some of the most gut-wrenching anthems in the band's considerable canon, with Gregg making you feel him inside as he growled "Ain't My Cross To Bear," "Trouble No More," "Come and Go Blues" and "Ain't Wasting Time No More." We also saw the sweeter side of the band with a cover of Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" before a monstrous jam into "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed."

The Wailers kept the magic of Bob Marley alive, performing the immortal's music by covering the entire Exodus album in a mellow, yet somehow raucous, late night set that ended with an encore of "Exodus" and "War." The Wailers were spot-on as they provided a peaceful "everything's gonna be alright" send off into reality for festivalgoers that must wait another year for the blend of music and magic that is Wanee.