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Saturday, 07.04
 Jackie Greene :: Rothbury 2009 by Vann |
Waking up early Saturday on the 4th of July to check out the Rothbury Think Tank at the Tripolee stage, a presentation about "Voting For Change With Your Everyday Actions" was underway to a small gathering of folks. The lecture spoke about how we as individuals can take simple steps in our everyday lives that would benefit both the Earth and ourselves. Although the creators of this entire event probably had some revolutionary aspirations, standing beneath blank rave canopies and inactive laser lights from the previous early morning "rager" it was unclear just how many festivalgoers actually cared about these ideas on our nation's birthday. (KS)
Jackie Greene
One of the best surprises of the entire festival was Jackie Greene and his band. Most well known for his stint as the young gunner guitarist-vocalist for Phil Lesh & Friends, Greene exhibited much confidence performing original material. Perched at the keyboard, wearing a stylish fedora and sleeveless vest, on "So Hard To Find My Way," he looked very much like an early Dylan - even ripping a hand's free harmonica solo near the end. Picking up a steel guitar for "I Don't Live In A Dream," an engaging form of Americana rock emerged. The band's mature sounds caused me to speculate just how much, if at all, the Grateful Dead's music has influenced this young man. "Hollywood" featured the group's first extension towards space, extending the outro into a slower, psychedelic version of "Taxman." The highlight of the set brought Phil Lesh on stage for an alt-rock version of "New Minglewood Blues." The two obviously share a special bond, and I am confident that the relationship has given Greene a grounded sense of self as he carves his own path through the history of rock & roll. (JB)
The Black Crowes
Another blast from the not too distant past came at us with their thoroughly '90s, straight ahead, hard blues-rock. The Black Crowes hardly seemed to play anything people recognized, but that didn't matter – this set was heavy on the jams. Lead singer Chris Robinson, with his Jesus-like hair and beard (and aviator sunglasses... just like Jesus!) immediately showed us the Crowes haven't lost a step, screaming in his raspy voice at the top of his lungs. Rich Robinson, Chris' brother, and Luther Dickinson traded bluesy guitar licks as they stretched most of the songs to optimal length. "Evergreen" from their latest release Warpaint, their first in seven years, was possibly the highlight of the set. The Crowes also showed us it's not all distorted hard rock as they slowed things down with the country-ish love ballad "Josephine." (KS)
Zappa Plays Zappa
 Chris Robinson :: Rothbury 2009 by Smith |
Let me get one thing straight - Dweezil Zappa is not a reincarnation of his father. None of the crazy antics, costumes or other zany Zappadom seemed to be passed on with the last name. One thing, however, that Dweezil did seem to inherit was Frank's mind-blowing guitar chops. And as such, he and his ensemble manage to recreate Frank Zappa's music with devastating accuracy. Dweezil stood shyly center stage, strumming away at his guitar while his bandmates assumed the role of reproducing the wacky words written by Frank. An ode to dental floss, "Montana" was a prime example of the perfect weirdness Frank put into his creations – a weirdness not only manifested in the lyrics but the compositions themselves, passing through dozens of different genres in the span of a few bars in a comical fashion, or running down a humorously long phrase of notes, Frank's brilliant compositions certainly had a degree of oddity to them. In spite of this strange approach, Zappa created some of the most ingenious compositions of the 20th century – and Zappa Plays Zappa pulled all of them off as tightly as they were written. By virtue of his father's endless creativity and his own musicianship and arrangement skills, Dweezil's Zappa Plays Zappa turned out to be one of the best sets at Rothbury. (KS)
Les Claypool
The people finally started to pack in as Les Claypool's set got underway. A master of orchestration – from Gabby La La's sitar to Skerik's screeching sax – Claypool has always known what timbres would fit well with his dementedly dissonant jams. Claypool on this tour has been employing the use of Sam Bass' cello, a haunting green instrument that blended perfectly with the rest of the company. A vibraphone tweaked with sinister effects also came into the mix. Claypool, as per usual, in a disgusting display of virtuosity, slapped his bass raw until he moved over to a graceful electrified stand-up bass. If you still had somehow managed to maintain your sanity until this point of the festival, the satanic offerings of Claypool's bizarre cavalry of musicians would have been enough to send you to the madhouse. (KS)
The Dead
 The Dead :: Rothbury 2009 by Smith |
Looking around Rothbury it's hard to forget the source of all this – the tie-dye, the loving friendliness offered on a whim, the general good vibes and most of all the community. But in case you did forget, Saturday night would have served as a stark reminder. The Dead – the band that essentially created this scene – took the stage to applause generated by the tens of thousands of fans hungry for their only chance this summer to see these godfathers play.
The clear blue sky of day still in panoramic view, The Dead got to some good old-fashioned noodling before diving into "Sugar Magnolia" to start off the first set. It immediately became clear why so many thousands of people dedicated an innumerable amount of time following this band around over the past four decades, as Bobby's voice sang sweet, sugary, soft caresses. Warren soon got down to business. Eyes closed, head tilted back, mouth slightly agape, Haynes swam through a captivating solo with his crisp guitar. Jerry always had this way about his playing where the notes he played tended to swirl around and linger in the air for an unquantifiable moment before disappearing into nothingness. Warren's playing similarly seems to leave an ephemeral imprint on your memory that lingers there for a little while after a note is played.
Not before long "Sugar Magnolia" magically dissipated into "Eyes of the World," RatDog's Jeff Chimenti hammered away an oriental sounding piano solo while the eyes of the crowd watched approvingly. Chimenti, like Haynes, is faced with an impossible task – filling the shoes of the now four time replaced Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
 Bob Weir - The Dead :: Rothbury 2009 by Smith |
Like the countless times before, "Eyes of the World" annexed a Caribbean-like clave, beginning its metamorphosis into "Estimated Prophet," which marched on for an eternity without ever losing its luster, as each musician donated his individual expressions to the greater good of the jam. The Grateful Dead's exploratory jams always put an emphasis on the musicianship and the expressive capacity of each individual member, such that no one instrument is really the "lead." And today's incarnation of The Dead still takes this notion to heart. Weir and his Chester A. Arthur-like mustache crunched out syncopated rhythms while Phil Lesh's classically trained fingers plucked a bass line that worked contrapuntally off Haynes' guitar. A sloppy "Loose Lucy" gave way to "Friend of the Devil," where Bobby's singing seemed to lag just behind the beat as if to leave a space for our imaginations to put Jerry's voice in its proper place. "Friend of the Devil" eventually moved to a Southern rock jam that had Warren in his element.
"Slipknot!" drifted into a spacey abyss where familiar snippets of music sparsely began to form out of the chaos. Those snippets culminated in a magnificent "Franklin's Tower" to end the first set. There were certainly points in the first set where the jamming seemed a bit off, or where the band was slightly out-of-synch, but the times when they coalesced they were more together than possibly any other band I've ever seen. They may not have been the tightest or most energetic or even the most musically talented band I've ever seen but these guys have an x-factor, some ineffable force – a force that comes only from decades of playing together – that just puts their music on a whole other level.
With the first set in the books, the last flickers of daylight had finally died away well-passed ten o'clock. Under a newly cast cover of darkness the second set, appropriately enough, kicked off with "One More Saturday Night" before melting into a downright funky "Shakedown Street" that shifted us into high gear. A one-eyed Cheshire cat magically peaked its head in and out of the music until "China Cat Sunflower" was fully upon us. A few of the transitions were a bit awkward, such as the normally attention grabbing key change, but the jamming was, well, dead on. The sheer beauty of the song quickly redeemed a gauche segue into "I Know You Rider."
 Phil Lesh - The Dead :: Rothbury 2009 by Vann |
At some point during the show I realized despite the age of the music and the men playing it, this was no recreation of the past – nor was it an attempt to. What we were witnessing was indeed an evolved form of living Dead Music. No part of the show represented this evolution better than Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart's new take on "Drums." Bill and Mickey's side project, The Rhythm Devils, was aided by the members of Toubab Krewe and SCI's Michael Travis, who pounded away at djembes while Mickey hammered an ambient vibraphone. The percussive prowess of this band was simply astonishing. The tribal rhythms mixed with trippy ambience had a way of provoking the most fundamental pleasure center of the brain. The rest of the band then joined Bill and Mickey on stage for "Space," a grand display of psychedelic wonderment.
Somehow, we managed to land back on planet Earth for a stellar "Viola Lee Blues." The show came full circle once the "Sunshine Daydream" portion of "Sugar Magnolia" closed out the second set. The encore, in honor of the 4th of July celebration, began with "U.S. Blues." "Wave that flag, wave it wide and high," cried the band as a man in stilts traversed the stage, waving an American flag with a peace sign in place of the stars. Behind the stage, giant spheres of light exploded in the air. I, for one, can think of no better birthday present to this great country. With a reckless disregard for predetermined set time parameters, the show finally ended well past 1 a.m. to the tune of "Not Fade Away."
While the show was spectacular, I would imagine it was a far cry from shows decades ago, but in the end it doesn't matter if they were as good, or whether or not Warren can play like Garcia. What matters is if The Dead – in its current manifestation – embody the spirit of the Grateful Dead enough to keep the community of fans going. And speaking from my vantage point within the newest generation of Dead fans, I can safely say they do. All one really needed to do to confirm this was to look around at the incredible amount of people in every direction cheering. "Take this feeling home with you and do some good with it," suggested Mickey Hart after the show to hoards of applause. We will Mickey, we will. (KS)
07/04/09 :: Rothbury Festival :: Rothbury, MI
Set I: Sugar Magnolia, Eyes of the World, Estimated Prophet, Loose Lucy, Friend of the Devil, Into the Mystic, Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin's Tower
Set II: One More Saturday Night > Shakedown Street > China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider > Drums > Space > Viola Lee Blues > Morning Dew > Throwing Stones > Sugar Magnolia (reprise)
E: U.S. Blues > Not Fade Away
Fireworks during "U.S. Blues"
MSTRKRFT
 Umphrey's McGee :: Rothbury 2009 by Smith |
Is there life after Dead? You bet. In the wake of The Dead I found my dancing legs once again with the raucous club beats that Canadian electro-house duo MSTRKRFT shoved straight down our throats. Taking samples from eclectic sources, from "Bohemian Rhapsody" to several Daft Punk tunes, all in an unmistakably MSTRKRFT way, the dance party came to a head when they threw down their own remix of Justice's "D.A.N.C.E." that collided mid-beat with Daft Punk's "Da Funk." The thumping rhythms made for one of the best late night sets at Rothbury. (KS)
Umphrey's McGee
Coming straight from MSTRKRFT, I arrived at the Ranch Arena to the sounds of Derek Vincent Smith of Pretty Lights spinning a set break DJ set. Umphrey's McGee came back out jumping right into "Wappy Sprayberry." Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss traded off Carlos Santana-like guitar licks in rapid succession. In typical Umphrey's fashion, the band was tight as hell. Often though the music seemed to lack a certain emotional core to it, almost like the music was being pumped out by machines, which in many respects the members of UM are. After seeing Umphrey's sets where their hearts truly seemed to be into it, this shaped up into a comparatively tame set. Things didn't really pick until the later part of the show. A spirited cover of The Who's "Eminence Front" had Cinninger shredding away tight licks that would have melted even Pete Townshend's face. The set closed off with "1348," a tune off their recently released Mantis album. One of their more impressive compositions off the album, "1348" was a great cap to their set. An encore of "Glory" moved into the reggae infused "All In Time" as what, in my opinion, was the best day of Rothbury came to a close. (KS)
 The Dead :: Rothbury 2009 by Vann |
Continue reading for Sunday's coverage of Rothbury...
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