WALKIN' THE LINE AT WAKARUSA 2006

did you make it to any of the latenights??? PGroove..ALO...Moonshine Still...Bassnectar. I feel like I read this review 5 years ago on the first Bonnaroo review. Or how about the vibe around the festi itself. I have read alot of your stuff, but I feel like you shortchanged this one

i heard the disco biscuits were still cool.

Good reivew, but man that is a completely different festival than I saw (the only sets that I caught that Nathan reviewed were the Flaming Lips & Les Claypool). The Lips tore the place down though, one of the best rock shows that I've seen this year. Where are the roots-rock & roll bands in this reveiw? No mention of amazing sets from Shooter Jennings, Robert Randolph, Lucero, Andrew Bird, Mofro, Rose Hill Drive, William Elliot Whitmore, Backyard Tire Fire, and Rev. Horton Heat! These alt-country/roots bands are what set Wakarusa apart from all the other fests out there with identical lineups, imho.

Despite the extremely heavy police presence, I had a blast at this gathering. I will always smile when I think of the septic-tank drum jam on Sunday with almost a dozen or so cops on hand to watch in awe. That moment truly captured the spirit and energy that so many wanted to let loose on Clinton Lake, but that many had to contain due to the boys in blue. Keep on drumming (even though I won't be back next year or any year to come).

Great review & great photos by Pamela :)

I don't know how long current festival attendees have been travelin' this great land, but kops in kansas is nothing new. In days gone by, I remember traveling to lawerence for the original traveling festival and reading billboards, yes billboards, on 70 that stated the state police's opinion of and tolerance for those who partake in celebrating 420, let alone in trance inducing holidays. The bible belt is and always was intolerant. Can you say deliverance?
peace

Wakarusa was an amazing fest! I did not have any trouble with the cops, but then again, I wasn't using drugs, or even drinking. The police presence was clearly unnecessary, but the music was stellar. However, there are three sets unmentioned in this article that more than deserve comment. Jake Shimabukuro put on an amazing set (he plays ukulele like Bela Fleck plays banjo), Gov't Mule rocked, and Tea Leaf Green displayed some incredible jamming.

right on pheelarights ! i've been to festivals in kansas before and even in other southern states and all these conservates are harshing in on everyones vibe. while not speaking for all the people of those states, it should be noted that red states have a lot of convservative and ignorant buch supporters. and bush's main sup[porters are fanatical christian extremists in those states. at times i feel sorry for them becasue they're like a bunch of blind sheep flocking to some messed up ideology. i think it's time that orginazations like headcount should openely come out and oppose bush and all the corrput republician dogma. this stuff applies to people who like to spend their hard earned money in the summertime at a good festival with good vibes in the most beautiful time of the year. until then, i'll be giving other states like those in the pacific northwest and new england area by tourist business. it's not gonna stop my pasttime of hittin up the summer festivals.

Came from NY to hit this up and the random fences and disrespecting cops deffinitly took me by surprize. New music that knocked me on my ass were Delta Nove, Pangea, and Tea Leaf Green. This fest is gonna have to have a rediculious line-up to get me to go next year...

And for the record Les Claypool was rockin out on a BASSJO, not a banjo.
Awesome review and pics.

what about the lotus sets? how can a band start playing around 4am and you not cover it? best part of the fest imo

or what about 56 Hope Road, Madahoochi, Shanti Groove, White Ghost Shivers, Todd Snider??!!??? Yes, all the acts mentioned in this article kicked ass at the festie, but how about checking out those bands that you hear and read of, but still haven't caught...isn't that part of the purpose for these festivals of 70+ bands?!! Go out and see NEW live music!

It was one of the best line-ups of the summer festival season. I would dance for the helicopters as they would fly over my tent. Its a big joke, our goverment is fake. We don't have money to build schools, or important tasks, but we do have money to watch young people at a music festivals. I hope the DEA reads this, F*** you, and your job. I hope that the people at the top understand, hard working americans, need a vaction. When we go on vaction, we don't need the extra security to protect us. Protect and serve. It is our music sence and ourselves that we have to take care of, or it will be taken away.

I'd just like to add as a note to the organizers that I won't be attending any future wakarusas because of overzealous police attention and I think many others won't either. I'm sure that a few of us won't hurt your checkbook, but i'm not willing to sacrifice personal liberty at illegal checkpoints in order to visit your festival

No mention of Gov't Mule or Oteil and the Peacemakers? The later was one of the best sets I saw all weekend. What really irritates me though is how much complaining people are doing about police. I mean, I don't know anyone that got messed with that had a small private stash of weed, but when you bring every kind of drug out there with the intention to sell, you should be "hassled". It is about the music afterall.

Where I agree whole heartedly with your feelings about Grace and the Lips shows. I am disappointed w/ your RHD take.

Fantatic festival this year. Wouldn't change a thing except to add two more Yonder sets.

Hey Dub Lover...

THe original Bonnaroo review was dope!!!

http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=2646

Yep!! (Hov)

first of all pnuma trio raged both nights,sorry to any who missed out.
i had a great time,they only problem is the distance from compground
to mainstage area.everything else was pretty solid.

Bassnectar was sickk, I also thought soundtribe played a great show. Cops suck and they had night vision I saw them using it and i also heard that they had directional mics. Im convinced that the paople that put on wakarusa dont want to have another one again, or they should switch locations to a location thats not a state park so the cops cant get in.

Great review. I'm glad to see that Groovatron show didn't get swept under the rug. I've caught those fools a couple of times, but this show was just ridiculous. In regards to the cops, that was a little ridiculous, but unfortunately a festival of this magnitude does bring a lot of drugs into the community. And, like the others have said, it's Kansas. Tolerance is not their specialty.

Yes, the law enforcement was extremely over the top. You couldn't even waka around without having to get out of the way of one of those ATV's! I agree, some people there deserved to get arrested for bringing the vibe down, but with a festival like this, we're the most laid back, unaggressive peoples. Oh well, hopefully things straigten out for next year or I'm not making the trip back. I drove from Minneapolis by myself for this festival and the only thing that lived up to my expectations was the music. Disco Biscuits were amazing both nights! Moonshine late night was tight...love those guys. On a side note, I ran into a couple people I met at Waka at the Yonder show last night at the Minnesota Zoo. Check out that setlist!

Good review, but not comprehensive. Some other bands that played great, but were not mentioned are:

56 Hope Road
Moonshine Still
The Balance
Oteil & the Peacemakers
Back Yard Tire Fire
Speakeasy

I could go on and on . . .

right on dedhead! i won't be atending any more festivals in the ignoranty state of kansas and all of their ignortant busch loving cops. i hope the festival promoters go flat broke next year. this is awful. and what's up with the heads today. did we learn from our forefathers, it's time for headcount to openly oppose bush while not taking any political affiliation. these past six years have been nothing but tax breaks for the rich, the spread of ignorant christian dogma, and over 2500 troops who have all died in vein (yes, i know thats harsh but it's the raw truth) a war based on a lie. kansas is among the one of the most ignorant states in america. and all you festival lgoers need to wake up and take a stnad becasue wakarusa is just the tip of the iceberg.

wtf no mention of buckethead! he had 2 sets!

bernie worrell also had an amazing set

Waka was a great time. The police's action was what one should deplore but expect from a country that falling into the depths of a fascist, police state. The state sponsored attacks on our nation on 9/11 and the subsequent cover up of the truth of what actually happened on that fateful day have led to the errosion of our civil liberties where now the police somehow have the right to watch you bang your girlfriend in your tent with nightvision goggles on, not to mention commit numerous illegal searches and seizures at a toll booth, which is a direct violation of our fourth amendment rights. And yet no single wakarusa attendee cared enough to follow through with the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri's attempt to take these criminals to court. All they need is one plantiff, ONE!!!! One person to stand up and say... hey, that was wrong. I personally was not messed with by the police and thus i cannot file a complaint, but if you were harassed and you believe your constitutional rights were violated, please contact the ACLU at http://www.aclukswmo.org/ . It will help all of us out for the future if you do.

Anyhow, about the music... my favs were 1. RR + The Family Band (best show by far that i've ever seen by them...unbelievably powerful sound), 2. Flectones, 3. Claypool, 4. Buckethead, 5. Delta Nove (Zappa cover always wins in my heart), 6. Franti, 7. Bassnectar, 8. Bernie Worrell, 9. Booty Band, 10. Brothers Green. Other notables include: alfred howard and K23, Rose Hill Dr., Flaming lips (only got to see the end because my group got freaked by the huge system of lightnight near by), Zilla, Treologic, Brass n Grass, and Tim Reynolds ( who covered "cold sweat" by James Brown, not "sex machine" as was mentioned)

Amazing music, amazing people, unfortunately the cops totally harshed our mellow. We traveled from fort lauderdale, Florida to Kansas for this in a 31 foot RV only to stopped continuously before entering the campground to be searched and harrassed. We also got nabbed at our campsite for chillin and enjoyin a smoke, thanks again Kansas PD!
To address some rumors:
yes they were using night vision to bust festivalgoers
yes they were using directional mics
yes they rolled up on campsites
yes they were actually walking around in the crowd at shows
Guys, we all need to band together to make sure bs like this and Smilefest doesn't start happening regularly. I love all of you too much to see anyone get pinched. Oh yeah, and to large scale production companies-book events on private land,PRIVATE LAND!
"why do i feel like...somebody's watchin me?"

Average review. What about AOD, 2nd Monsoon, TLG, Lotus, Mule! These were all great sets! I agree that the cop presence was outrageous, but come on people, these festivals are about the music, not the amount/ease of drugs one can buy, sell, or consume!

i did not attend this year and was going to but glad i didnt my roomate got arrested for drinking a beer i think that the future of wakarusa is now jepardized bc from the sounds of it i dont know anyone who went this past year that are ever going to go back and that sucks, it really sucks that the police had to ruin such a great event good luck next year to anyone who goes

That Thursday night groovatron set was awesome...here is a quick video clip from that show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM3kZ1lTrzI

I'll be back next year....but bring back Umphrey's!!! They were missed this year...

I think it's cool that Jambase's picture on the front page for this article was the "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam." It took me a couple of times to catch the signifigance of that seeing how they didn't review Mule in the article. Cops were thick. Music was good. But you know what? The secret is out. Festi's aren't going to be what they were. Even if these things are on private property. Too many people. Too many festivals. Just the way life is. Now, the question is for the future, who's really in it for the music?

Boooooo no love for Lotus! Fools

To the author...while I think this was a great review and I rated it 4 stars, I have to disagree with your nominating Chris Berry and Panjea as a "breakthrough" artist. Panjea have been playing music for years and are superstars in Africa, while I am a huge fan of them and glad they got nominated for something, I just feel that they were miscategorized.

From what I've been hearing over the past weeks it sounds like you better "walk the line" when at Waka!

Never going back to that one. I feel like I payed these people to harass me. The music was even better than I expected(that really says alot), but I also go to these festivals to ecscape from my job and stress. I would have been safer smoking a bowl on my front porch at home, than under a shade tent at WAKA 06. Great music!

What I remember most is about 25 awesome live shows from some of my favorite musicians. The fact that so many people are whining about how their favorites were left out, is a tribute to the overall quality of the bands. Next year, hide your personal stash creatively, and enjoy the music, because as a few people have pointed out, that IS the real reason for Wakarusa. Can't wait for next year!

waka's music was great, as always it met all expectations. but the presence of the curious george drug patrol put a damper on some aspects of the festival. i expected bonnaroo to be more strict than waka, but this year it was just the opposite. manchester is in the middle of the bible belt, and still no cops to tell you "you are under-arrest." (which i heard the last night at waka after sts9, for public intox) overall good review of waka, but a nomination for claypool for best show would have been nice. that was an amazing show, better than the one at bonnaroo. overall i give waka a 7of10 falling a little short of the perfect bonnaroo expierence, 10of10. as for the review ill give it a 4of5.


claypoolfunksme (read review below its a good one) i agree with all you had to say about 9-11, the state sponsored attacks, the cover up of the truth, and it leading to the errosion of our rights. BUT every music festival i have been to the past 5 years has been an escape from all the bull shit, thus i do not beleive that the cops at waka were a post 9-11 thing. they were just bible carrying, tounge speeking, shitty cops from kansas, expect it at waka from now on.

I did not make it to Waka but it reminds me of my 'horror' story from Bonnaroo 2 years ago...the patrolling and searching of peaceful citizens heading into a festival is outrageous. coming out of the Roo in '04 we were pulled over for 'going too slow', travelling 35 in a 45 mph zone...my brother was driving and he braked cause he saw the sherrif sitting on the side of the road. We had Maine plates on the van and it was a classic case of profiling. Long story short, they were about to let us go and the sherrif said he needed to search our van b/c he 'smelled some weed'. well, they searched and found some weed allright. we all got charged with posession of a tiny amount of weed (less than a gram for some of us) for a grand total of $1,200 each!!!! The fucking sherrif's said, "oh, you'll get a fine for about $250." Those pig fuckers' faces are burned into my memory forever.
So, it seems like the ideas of a peaceful, stress free music festival are fading. It's just not fair for working class peeps to stress out over something like this on a vacation.
I feel for all those people who got busted and arrested.

I agree, the cops were a complete buzz-kill...even for a conservative like me. I'm sure they could have gone to Wyandotte County and busted more people selling crack to kids than worrying about some hippies smokin' grass. The music was simply fantastic! I can't believe there was no mention of TEA LEAF GREEN's Saturday afternoon set?! They had the campground tent overflowed 50 yards on each side with people dancin' their asses off! These guys will be headlining major venues sooner than later. Speakeasy late-night and Shanti Groove w/ Jeff Austin were other highlights that werent mentioned.

My friend and I were pulled over going into Bonnaroo '06 for traveling 6 miles over the speed limit with out-of-state plates. The cops were out looking for festival goers. He said they were conducting a 'drug intervention program' and needed to search our car. We did not give him permission. He wanted to bring a K-9 to sniff the vehicle and we again calmly did not give consent. He was telling us that he KNEW what went on at those rock concerts. In the end he didn't even give us a ticket for speeding which was weird because he was acting like he wanted to arrest us.

The moral of the story is that people should realize they will be profiled going into these events. This is backwards but true. Don't draw attention to yourself and know your rights. Don't raise your voice to the cops (hardest part) but calmly refuse consent to a search. Once you give consent the search becomes legal.

Looks like the organizers of Wakarusa are trying to organize a response. They've now have an "incident report" form on their website in which people can write a formal complaint if they were harrassed by law enforcement.

The link is: http://www.wakarusa.com/2006/incident_report.asp

I highly advise anyone who either witnessed or was a target of harassment from law enforcement to take a moment and share their experience.

Late-night Bisco and Pgroove, Robert Randolph, STS9 sets easily the best of the weekend. Wouldn't have changed a thing...Waka '07 a done deal!!!

Hey everyone, I reviewed all 4 days of Waka on the 101Report so by all means, come have a look... and feel free to comment..

Scotty Greene
http://www.the101report.com/jam/scotty_greene/index.html

Everyone thinks the cop presence was outrageous and I agree. However, some cops, specifically the ones using night vision, were there for our safety. Anyone that went the year before and saw the guy laying with a sheet overtop of him know what I'm saying. The friends of the person who passed on the year before complained because the response was slow, maybe this should be taken into consideration. You have to realize these cops aren't all there to bust people, some actually care about our wellbeing. While I am not, by any means, justifying the levels of enforcment because that was an extreme waste of taxpayers money, but I was personally injured the first day there longboarding down a hill outside the venue. I talked to many people in the medical tents that said if people got taken in for an overdose, they were simply treated, and as long as they didn't have any illegal substances on them, they were let go. The people in the medical tents said there was increased enforcement because of the death the year before. I truly want to believe that's the only good reason to use night vision, I mean catching people smoking seems pretty insignificant for night vision. Overall great music and great people made this event one to remember. That fist night of Disco Buscuits changed my perspective on the band, abselutely amazing!

timhalder, you are joking right? How would night vision goggles help you spot someone who needed medical attention?! The only use I saw 1st hand of night vision occcured when I saw some ATVs head up the hill around dusk then about a half hour later some folks I just met had their campsite stormed by the same lawmen. Apparently the audacious activity of playing drums represented a threat to homeland security.

thanks for your story GrnCrcl!!! while my story has lots more details and is too painful to recreate in its entirety, it seems to be very helpful for festival goers to share their positive AND negative experiences, especially with local law enforcement conducting 'drug intervention programs' and profiling just b/c they think they can get away with it. we got fucked, bottom line, and I will never forget what we went through. it was a horrifying experience. I have learned from it though and will say to all: beware of the LO-PO!!!! yes, they can be very helpful at times, I agree with timhalder21, but they can also be downright deceiving if they want to be. me and 4 other people are thousands of dollars poorer b/c of the Tenn. sherriff's dept. I guarantee they had a good 'ole time with our tasty nuggets.

a lot of people are complaining about the security presens and while it does suck, whining about it on a messageboard won't do much. i advise all of you who had their vibes harshed on at wakarus to go to www.wakarusa.com/2006/incident_report.asp and tell the promoters about how much all these babay huey like security guards were ruining your time. the more people that do this, the more chances the promoters will actauly do something to try to make wakarusa's 2007 experience a bit better. if you don't have a specific incident to report i urge all of you to go to wakarusa.com and click on the top of the page where it says CONTACT US and flood these people with e-mails telling them that aside from the music, that wakarusa was a crappy excperience. the more people do this, the better 2007 waka might be. PEOPLE POWER !

the solution is easy. Simply Kill Wakarusa Music Festival. at least take it away from Kansas. Once the good people of Lawrence, Kansas realize we will not be generating the millions in dollars that eventually get spent in their stores and businesses, making it more proffitable than Christmas for most of them, maybe they will take their anger out by voting out the police officials, higher-ups, and anyone else that had anything to do with this law enforcement fiasco. then maybe the cops will realize that jamband fans and hippies that bring a lot of money through your pitiful little town is way more easy to live with than losing your job. Nuf said....

OK. The police presence may have been bad, but if you are going to do something about it, try to make sure it affects the government, not the festival. (In other words an ACLU lawsuit against Kansas law enforcement, NOT festival promoters) I found so many new favorite bands(New Monsoon, Bisco, RRE, Jake Shimabukuro. I'll definitely be coming next year, Waka was a blast!

As a student at KU and a resident of Lawrence Kansas I find some of the negative comments about the town a little bit harsh. You cannot place judgment on a town or an entire state for that matter because of the actions of a few asshole cops. Also, the promoters and organizers of the festival cannot be blamed wholly for the police presence because Wakarusa takes place in Clinton Lake State Park, meaning the police and anyone else for that matter have a right to come and go as they please. The only way to save Wakarusa is to find some farmer or rancher or someone to consent to let the festival to take place on their property. So instead of wasting time and energy on bashing a place and the people who live there (not everyone in Kansas is conservative, Bible-beating and backward thinking) why don't the people who are so upset about the whole fiasco focus on a way to improve the situation? I had a good time at Wakarusa and unfortunately four people at my campsite were arrested. But you know, shit like that happens, the cops target the youth, get used to it.

face it Waka's dead. everyone (and thats a lot of folks over the summer at all the festies) I talked to said they were NOT going next year. And, as a matter of fact, it just came out in the news that they used super-expensive hidden cameras and thermal imaging devices. AND, the promoter has admitted that he gave them permission. So yes Waka People, you f-ed up and you will Not sale enough tickets to pay your talent next year, causing you to have to cancel, sorry but true

Ah, Kansas, one of the states in the USA that takes DNA samples from citizens accused of a crime or arrested for a crime but not CONVICTED of a crime. I'm sure they'd like nothing more than to swab you. Read the below.

BTW, I was not at this event. The cameras ARE a privacy violation regardless of what is or is not currently on the law books. And people DON'T have to take it. They will fight back. I do not believe the festival promoters and their PR spin, liars. Police liars. Look whats happening out on the streets. Indeed. Then do something about it.

http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=129960

http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-statutes/getStatuteFile.do?number=/21-2511.html

I hit up the Vibes and Bonnaroo this summer (06') and I had quite an enjoyable experience at both. Pretty much no trouble at all. The cops at Roo were pretty chillin, the only thing they gave us a hard time about was selling beer. Other than that, I'll never forget the first morning of Roo (somewhere around 6am) I was walking back to my van because I had met up with some chicks I knew and I crashed in there tent. There were two cops on horseback trotting down the road and these two older heads were stumbling around walking next to the horses. The one older head was so fucked up rambling something to the cop, and the cop just laughed at him. Then the guy went up and started petting the horse on its hind leg and the horse bugged and kicked the dude in the stomach. The guy was so twisted that he fell to the ground in pain but then started busting out laughing. It was one of the funniest moments I've seen at a festival.

Vibes was the shit, not a cop in sight but those crazy Hell's Angels were kicking people out for selling shit, then the bikers would take their shit and turn around and sell it. It's pretty fucked up but what are you gonna do?