Mile High Festival | 07.18 & 07.19 | CO
By Team JamBase Jul 24, 2009 • 3:30 pm PDT

Mile High Music Festival :: 07.18.09 & 07.19.09 :: The Fields at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park :: Commerce City, CO
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Saturday, 07.18
We arrived shortly past noon on Saturday and a well-organized will-call and security staff got us into the festival with ease. We didn’t waste any time in heading off across the field to the Westword Tent to catch a guitar legend in the making, Davy Knowles. Knowles and his band, Back Door Slam were already on stage when we walked into the tent and wailing through a soundcheck that doubled as an extra song for the solid early day crowd. Once things were leveled out and the soundman was pleased, Knowles launched into an instrumental opener that left many of the uninitiated in the crowd with their mouths agape. He followed this with the originals “Tear Down the Walls” and the arena ready “Riverbed” before he nodded to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and launched into an absolutely ripping version of the classic “Almost Cut My Hair.” Midway through the song, Knowles took yet another solo but added a twist. He didn’t touch the strings with his picking hand for nearly a minute and kept the solo going with only one hand on the fret board, tapping and sliding his way to a screaming ovation from the steadily growing audience. His ear-to-ear grin showed how much fun he was having and he ran through several more songs, including a new one that figures to be titled “In a Little While.” Back Door Slam was a phenomenal power trio in the style of their obvious influence, Cream, and left me wondering what could top it.
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Speaking of spirit, we tore ourselves away from DeLuca to catch the tail end of The Duke Spirit back at the Westword Tent. Fronted by the sultry Liela Moss, I couldn’t help but think back to last year when Grace Potter played the same tent. The Duke Spirit’s music is much harder and more modern than Potter’s, but an attractive, charismatic woman with a great voice fronts both bands of shaggy haired boys. Their relatively simple indie rock sound didn’t translate particularly well for me on this occasion but it is easy to see why hoards of teenage boys are goo’ing and ga’ing over this band.
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As I bobbed and weaved my way through the massive female-heavy crowd that was spilling out of the tent and hanging on Ani DiFranco‘s every word, I was surprised by how many people she had drawn. I have seen Ani before, but this show was a turning point for me and I now understand her better than I ever have before. She is, simply put, an amazing guitar player and while her lyrics do lean a little too political and feminist for me, I have to give her enormous credit for her songwriting. While she showed off her guitar skills on “Swan Dive,” she was flanked by a drummer and upright bassist that fleshed out her sound on songs like “Napoleon” and “Smiling Underneath.” While her own songs were very well written and performed, the highlight of the set was when she played a song from the 1930’s that she’d played at Pete Seeger‘s 90th Birthday party at Madison Square Garden earlier this year. The song, “Which Side Are You Are On,” got the audience singing along and really pushed the energy up a notch. She closed the set with “Both Hands” and as she left the stage the noise level went through the (proverbial) roof. It wasn’t long before she came up the stairs for one of the only encores of the weekend. After thanking the crowd profusely for the opportunity to play another song, she played the opening notes of “32 Flavors” and the crowd went crazy. Those who hadn’t counted on an encore were scrambling to get back into the thick of the crowd, and it seemed like everyone knew the words. As she wrapped up and left for good, the crowd filtered out smiling and talking about what a great set it was, and you know what? They were right.
As we headed across the fields toward the bathrooms we came across the tiny Firstbank Stage for the first time. It was quite a sight to see about 500 strong waving their hands in the air as Lyrics Born sang LL Cool J with a full backing band. Not sure if it was his rapping or the funky band but he sucked us in for a couple of minutes of old school hip-hop. I’ve seen him backed by a DJ in the past and this was hands-down a better performance. Then again, in my mind a good, tight, funky band would make just about anyone sound better.
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As Big Head Todd wound down we made the short walk back over to the Firstbank Stage where Karl Denson, Robert Walter and the rest of the Greyboy Allstars were about to throw down some serious funk. The small paved area in front of the stage never really got crowded and it left plenty of room for grooving to soulful sounds while in the sweet spot. They got things going with a hard charging instrumental before hitting a couple of tunes off their most recent release, What Happened To Television?, namely “Still Waiting” and “What Happened to TV?” Karl D. was as ripped as usual and despite being in such seemingly good shape, he made the obligatory Mile High joke when he complained about the lack of oxygen. As we slowly danced our way out of the crowd to catch a little bit of G. Love, I was impressed by the mass of people that had been pulled in by the music as it was more difficult to navigate the edges of the crowd than it had been right in the middle.
The funky dance grooves kept us moving across the fields as the organ and horn driven sounds of Greyboy faded into the background of the jazzy hip-hop stylings of G. Love filtering out of the Rhapsody Tent. As we made our way toward the stage through a very diverse crowd the decidedly hip-hop flavors of “Can’t Go Back To Jersey” had everyone grooving hard until he busted out the harmonica and called for everyone to wave their hands in the air for the “dirty version” of “Booty Call.” The butt shakin’ soon resumed and continued as the band segued into a percussive version of The Beatles classic “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road.” By this time the energy was coursing around us and their recent hit “Peace Love and Happiness,” while a little on the cheesy side, got even the outer edges of the crowd into the action. Feeding off the crowd G. Love kept up the energy up as he teased Peter Tosh‘s “Legalize It” and finally busted into the crowd favorite “Cold Beverages” toward the end of the set. It was another surprisingly strong set from a band I had set aside several years ago.
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On my way over to Main Stage East I was struck by the distinctly rock ‘n’ roll sound that was coming from Harper’s band. In recent years I have lost my taste for his slower R&B flavored material and this sounded like something I could get into. Unfortunately, by the time I picked out a spot next to the soundboard and turned my attention to the stage the band had moved into “Another Lonely Day,” an older, slower Harper tune from his 1995 album Fight For Your Mind. They kept the pace slow with “Skin Thin,” one of the more subdued tracks from their new album, White Lies for Dark Times. Overall the band had a great mellow groove going but they lost a lot of the crowds’ attention, along with mine, as I turned tail and ran back to The Black Keys to discover much more space as hoards of people were making their way over toward the Main Stage West for the opening show of Tool‘s first tour since 2007.
We were able to secure some space to the right of the soundboard and settled in to wait for Maynard James Keenan and company to take the stage. The crowd got thicker and thicker and it was clear the sun and easy access to expensive beer had gotten to some folks, with eyes rolling back in people’s heads and shirtless high schoolers slamming their way through the crowd on their way to a guaranteed beatdown. But, I’ve got to say I didn’t see anything that topped the naked guy who ran through the crowd pissing on people last year before the Dave Matthews Band set in the very same spot.
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The amount of sound these four men created was absolutely incredible as they wove their instruments together in perfect sync throughout the performance. Though I am not intimately familiar with the Tool catalogue, the musical range that the band covered was amazing. From intense prog-rock to head-banging metal and even venturing off into the realm of the darkly psychedelic, they did it all and they did it very, very well.
For the duration of the nearly 90-minute set the audience stood mesmerized by one of the most incredible visual displays I have seen since Pink Floyd toured for the last time in the mid ’90s. The screens displayed fantastic, disturbing images and animations of water, fire, flesh-eating beetles and eyeballs, while giant iridescent totem-like heads loomed high above the band. Midway through the set, things got even more out of control when the stage exploded with multi-colored lasers that bounced around the band and tore through the crisp night air as the music took us on a journey like none I have experienced prior.
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It wasn’t more than a couple of minutes after the dark, frenzied, exhibition of the Tool show that JB and the rest of the boys took the stage on the East end of the festival grounds. They leapt right into the set with a drum jam that segued into “Goin’ Out West,” where Schools took it over with a mean bass solo. The song’s lyrics fit the night perfectly as the cool air blew in on the back of a strong wind that whipped JB’s hair into a swirling mass around his head.
The band segued straight into “Impossible” and that’s where we got the first taste of what the night was going to be like as they turned on the dance machine. The jam flipped ultra-funky and everybody, and I mean everybody, was getting down. JoJo wailed on the Clav like a man possessed and drove the band to some funky heights that I have rarely seen them reach before. A raging run through chestnuts like “Pigeons,” “Diner,” “Tall Boy,” “Climb To Safety” and “Big Wooly Mammoth” landed the band in “Flat Foot Flewzy,” where they honored JoJo with a birthday rap.
Looking back on the show after realizing it was JoJo’s birthday it makes sense that he took the reins and led the band in such a funky direction. It was truly a wild dance party everywhere you looked within 100 yards of the stage, and though the set was well past the 90-minute mark, things showed no signs of slowing down. A slow version of “Porch Song” and a typically serene take on “Pickin’ Up The Pieces” were highlights of the second half of a monster three-hour set that wrapped up just shy of 2:00 a.m. The spent crowd wasn’t as thick as it had been early in the evening but this was only night one of a two-night run.
Continue reading for Sunday’s coverage of Mile High…
Sunday, 07.19
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Again, strolling into the festival was no problem at all and we were able to catch the last few songs of The Wailers‘ Exodus set. As we made our way into the thick of the large afternoon crowd the band was running through a note perfect version of “Waiting In Vain.” Midway through the song, lead singer Elan Atias paid tribute to the late Michael Jackson by getting the crowd to sing the chorus to “We Are The World” before concluding the song and leading the band into the Marley classic “Is This Love.”
The sweet smell of ganja hung in the air and smiles radiated throughout the crowd of old and young folks as the band broke into “Three Little Birds.” Though only one of original Wailers, Aston “Family Man” Barrett, is still an active part of the group, the band is bolstered by a horn section and back-up singers to keep the sound as robust as people expect it to be. The set closing “One Love” made me wish I had headed out just a few minutes earlier to catch the whole show. It was yet another moment at this festival where I was pleasantly surprised by a band I didn’t have high expectations for, and little did I know but there was another example coming right behind it.
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The lineup has expanded from three to five members over the years and while it does fill out the sound, I caught myself wishing for some of the stripped down, acoustic pop that they used to crank out. As I settled in and realized that they still had the elements that I had loved years ago, I really got into the set. Multi-instrumentalist Joe Pisapia‘s vocals blend very well with Ryan Miller and Adam Gardner and their hooky melodies and tight harmonies have a way of seeping into your soul. The band’s trademark humor reared its head early in the set when the fifth member, who, we joked, seemed to be interning with the band, brought out a cowbell for a quick tease of “Don’t Fear The Reaper.” While the early part of the set focused on new material like the hit “One Man Wrecking Machine” and “Satellite” from their 2006 album Ganging Up On The Sun, the middle of the set featured the older songs “Center of Attention,” “Barrel of a Gun” and “Demons” from Lost and Gone Forever and Goldfly. As the crowd started to thin we became aware of the gypsy punk reggae sounds of Gogol Bordello bleeding into the tent and we headed back to the small Firstbank Stage for a taste of John Butler‘s solo set.
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As we walked up Guy was wailing on Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man.” He did his best to get the crowd to sing-along with the chorus and when he didn’t get the response he was hoping for chastised the audience, “Hey man, I played Tokyo a few months back and even the Japanese didn’t fuck it up that bad!” After a good laugh with us and at our expense, he tried it again and things went much better. As the set continued Guy showcased all aspects of his talent, from his guitar chops to his ability to sing in a very soulful, almost gospel style voice. As he had during “Hoochie Coochie Man,” Guy deftly wove humor into the set and kept the audience completely engaged. After running through several classic blues tunes, including “Man of Many Words” and “Someone Else is Stepping In,” Guy stepped to the mic and explained that he was going to play a blues medley “just like they played ’em,” where he tried to make each version sound exactly like the original. He started off with John Lee Hooker‘s “Boom Boom” and after a verse or two switched over to British blues with Cream’s “Strange Brew” and a tease of “Sunshine of Your Love.” He then thanked Albert King for his contributions to the scene and disappeared off the stage while his guitar was still clearly heard over the P.A. He soon popped up in the crowd, guitar in hand, and continued to play as he moved through his tightly packed fans. It’s one of Guy’s trademark moves but somehow it never gets old and always gets the crowd going. The man is a true showman and it was fantastic to see him in great form at the age of 72.
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We got within about 20 feet of the stage and sat down to wait Rob Garza, Eric Hilton and their army of musicians. Garza and Hilton kicked things off on the decks with “Sound The Alarm” from their most recent album, Radio Retaliation, and the show was off to a great start. The sultry beats were soon supplemented by a live bass player, two percussionists and a variety of other instrumentalists, including a horn section and a sitar player that came and went depending on the song. In fact, the only constant on stage for the entire set were the two masterminds of this project, and even they darted into the wings once or twice for a couple of seconds.
One of the most interesting aspects of a Thievery Corporation show is the fact that they rotate singers throughout the set. There were at least two women and two men who took turns at the microphone as a storm brewed over the mountains behind the stage. While the entire set was a funky dance party, “The Numbers Game” was an absolute highlight. The horns were crisp, the beats deep and the vocals right on-point, electrifying the faithful. Later in the set the title track from Radio Retaliation featured a collaboration between three of the singers over the song’s reggae flavored rhythms. It was almost as if they stole a page out of Buddy Guy’s playbook back stage when one of the female singers leapt down off the stage and made her way into the crowd to the delight of many. She sang and danced in circles of gyrating fans as the wind picked up and Garza called out something about wanting us to generate enough heat to drive the storm away. The 90-minute set pulled songs from their entire catalogue and it was certainly a festival treat to get an extended set from such a wildly innovative group of musicians. This festival was continuing to get high marks in my eyes.
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Unfortunately, next came of the longest periods without music of the whole festival. Nearly 75-minutes went by between Mule’s last note and Panic taking the stage 30 minutes late. 45 minutes is plenty of time to go get a beer, hit the porta-potties and even grab some food, and the extra half hour definitely wore on some of the fans who had been going hard all weekend and were eager to rock one more time.
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Though significantly smaller than the previous night, the crowd energy was high as shoes came off and fists pumped high in the air. It was a set that featured several searing guitar duels between JB and Herring while Schools dropped bomb after bomb on the low end. JoJo wasn’t nearly as prominent and as a result the jams didn’t take the funky turns they had on Saturday. The combination of “Walkin’ (For Your Love)” and “Space Wrangler” midway through the set added a light, almost honky-tonk element to the evening that was quickly overwhelmed by the deep growls of “Thought Sausage.” At some point one of the cameras that were projecting the band on screens on either side of the stage flashed over a setlist that had no break and a big cheer went up from the crowd as we realized they were delivering another three-hour show with no set-break.
While darker themes permeated the rest of the set, the band did spice things up a bit when they invited Danny Louis from Gov’t Mule up for “Holden Oversoul” and then Wally Ingram appeared for a “Drums” segment that flowed into Sabbath’s “Fairies Wear Boots.” Wrapping the set with “Imitation Leather Shoes,” “Ain’t Life Grand” and “End of The Show” seemed to be a signal that there would be no encore like Saturday, but after a brief trip backstage everyone resurfaced for a rollicking version of “Blackout Blues” to close out a great weekend of music.
Sure, people will say attendance was down this year, the headliners weren’t as big as last year’s festival and the grounds were smaller, but all in all I think these three factors made for a much better festival. With highlights like Davy Knowles, Tool, Ani DiFranco, John Butler, Buddy Guy, Thievery Corporation and Panic, what more could you really ask for? There are always growing pains with something like this and it’s good to see the organizers taking steps in the right direction and listening to the fans. Whether the Mile High Music Festival comes back next year or not remains to be seen, but if they continue to make improvements like they did this year it’ll turn into a great little festival.
Continue reading for more pics of Mile High 2009…
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