All Good/Forecastle Previews
By Team JamBase Jul 8, 2010 • 2:48 pm PDT
JamBase Associate Editor
How you holding up? It’s only July, kids, and there’s MANY more sets and sunrises to enjoy before summer comes to an end. Eat some high fiber cereal, take your vitamins and pack enough beer. We’re far from over this season! Let’s dive into two primo offerings this coming weekend.
All Good Festival :: 07.08.10-07.11.10 :: Marvin’s Mountaintop :: Masontown, WV
This mid-Atlantic darling genuinely lives up to its catchphrase name. With no overlapping music on its twin Dragon and Crane Stages, All Good encourages one to settle in and enjoy the musical adventure they’ve programmed for you, cutting back on the gypsy wandering one experiences at most summer fests. Umph’s Jake Cinninger has dubbed to performance space “the concert bowl,” and it’s all-too-easy to imagine stretching out on the grass as headliners Furthur, Widespread Panic, Umphrey’s McGee and Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi rock ya for a little while. Here’s a few suggestions for sets you should be out of your tent in time to enjoy.
1. Femi Kuti & The Positive Force :: Friday :: 3:45-4:50 PM :: Dragon Stage
While his father is currently the toast of Broadway, Femi Kuti is breathing hot life into the musical tradition Fela began. A fiery blend of dance-ready African rhythms, political themes and tight, large group musicianship, Femi & Positive Force are lethal live. Come prepared to kick off your shoes and dance.
2. Dr. Dog :: Saturday :: 2:40- 3:40 PM :: Dragon Stage
If The Beatles had decided to NOT retire from the road and instead suss out ways to transmute their studio brilliance into equally brilliant live performances, well, it might have sounded a good deal like Dr. Dog. While the band’s presence has grown rapidly on the national stage, based on what JamBase heard at High Sierra, many fest veterans haven’t experienced their life-affirming concert performances yet. This is soul-deep music that arms one with small kernels of wisdom and puts a warm breeze beneath your heels.
3. The Lee Boys & The Travelin’ McCourys :: Sunday :: 12:15-2:15 PM :: Dragon Stage
Sacred steel meets bluegrass and southern rock. It’s a gosh darn beautiful combination and a far cry from the way these boys play when Del is leading the charge. A real conversation that expands one’s musical horizons takes place when this bunch assembles onstage. Not to be missed, and a grand way to get your Sunday rolling.
Check out JamBase’s 2009 All Good review for fuller picture of what awaits you on Marvin’s Mountaintop.
Continue reading for our picks for Forecastle Festival…
The 9th Annual Forecastle Festival, located in the heart of one of the great cities of the South, takes its name, according to the fest’s website, from a sailing term meaning “a superstructure at the bow of a ship where the crew is housed. Hard at work in the boundless blue sea, a place where workers unite after a hard day of labor. A place where the people come together.” Sounds nice, and it won’t be hard to have a good time with headliners like Widespread Panic, Smashing Pumpkins, Spoon and The Flaming Lips providing the soundtrack for one’s revels. And there’s a lot of other golden moments waiting to happen on Forecastle’s four music stages. Here’s three keepers we want to steer attendees towards.
1. Lucero :: Friday :: 10:30-12:00 midnight :: East Stage
While many of you will be glued to Widespread on the main stage, another American rock ‘n’ roll great will be playing a short distance away. Over the past 12 years, Lucero has married punk to southern rock and quality singer- songwriter sensibilities. Anchored by Ben Nichols and Brian Venable, the band is as real as a heart attack and tuneful as the best Drive-By Truckers and The Replacements, just two kindred spirits to this exceptional band.
2. Devo :: Saturday :: 7:30-8:45 PM :: West Stage
The term “devolution” didn’t exist before these spud boys invented it. Not many bands alter the general social lexicon AND cover the Rolling Stones with aplomb. Devo is playing with real energy and wit these days, perhaps reveling in the fact that they were already living the present moment decades before us all. You don’t want to tell your grandkids one day that you missed a chance to see these guys live.
3. Joe Purdy :: Sunday :: 1:00- 1:45 PM :: West Stage
Very quietly but with sure, strong steps, Purdy has crafted one of the finest, heaviest songbooks of any American singer-songwriter going. His beautifully broken voice, his vaguely hobo-esque appearance and especially his insight into the human condition leave a profound impression.
Check out JamBase’s 2009 Forecastle review for insights into what lays ahead in year nine.
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