[UPDATED] Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival Hosts PoWoW! SuperJam
By L. Paul Mann Mar 7, 2016 • 12:15 pm PST
Update
Mar 7, 2016 • 12:15 pm PST
Rolling Stone has shared pro-shot video of “Fame” (David Bowie) from PoWoW! including a tribute to Bowie from Win Butler. Head here to watch.
Words & Images by: L. Paul Mann
Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival PoWoW! SuperJam :: 3.5.16 :: Lake Okeechobee, Florida
View L. Paul’s PoWoW! SuperJam photo gallery below his review. Head here for L. Paul’s photos and review of Thursday at Okeechobee and here for Friday as well as here for Saturday.
As the midnight hour struck on Day Three of the inaugural Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, a mass migration to the main stage took place for the EDM extravaganza of Skrillex. Known for his aggressive trance music, the veteran music mixer delivered the goods to the huge crowd, backed by a visual extravaganza. But the flagship performance of the festival was taking place at the same time for a much smaller audience. Advertised as the PoWoW! SuperJam, the idea was modeled after the ambitious, multi-artist super jams at Bonnaroo. The question was could the Okeechobee SuperJam live up to the hype in their first year. The answer was a resounding yes, with perhaps one of the best jams ever at a festival.
The show began with a core group featuring John Oates as band leader and Eric Krasno of Lettuce as the second lead guitarist. The rhythm section was held down by Meters legends drummer Zigaboo Modeliste and bassist George Porter, Jr. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band provided the horn section, which also featured sax master Kamasi Washington. Chris Karns laid down the EDM beats and Neal Evans of Soulive and Lettuce played keys. In front of this astounding musical assembly, Miguel emerged as the first lead singer and took the lead for most of the set, with all both these players remaining on the stage for the entire two hour and fifteen minute set.
Many times impromptu jams do not live up to the hype, with musicians having trouble meshing in a one-off arrangement. But like the super jams at Bonnaroo, the PoWoW! was obviously rehearsed, with the band playing in near perfect sync yet with the innovation of improvisation still completely intact. The band opened with a fiercely jammed version of the Led Zeppelin classic “Kashmir.” Shortly into the performance, the most high profile guest joined the band, Win Butler, the lead singer of Arcade Fire. He also stayed on stage for the entire set, trading off lead vocals with Miguel. Butler began with a medley of David Bowie songs, eulogizing the recently passed rock legend as one of the nicest and most important musicians ever. He followed this up with another memorial cover of an Allen Toussaint’s “Night People,” with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band taking the musical lead on the former New Orleans piano master’s tune.
The evening took a musically and politically intense turn next when the ensemble broke into the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young classic “Ohio.” Miguel and Butler traded emotional vocals on the sixties protest song, adding lyrics about other recent shootings that triggered the black lives matter movement. The political jabs took an even sharper turn when Butler took the lead on an aggressive version of The Rolling Stones song “Sympathy For The Devil.” Halfway through the song Butler opened his shirt to reveal a “Trump 2016″ t-shirt, in an ironic twist. The singer grinned devilishly as he belted out “pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name,” as he used his mic to feign a faux gun pointed at his head. From serious politics to campy humor, Mac Miller showed up next in a bit of an inebriated stupor. When he tried to jump into the crowd, a security guard mistook him for a crowd surfer and tried to eject him from the area, before relenting.
https://twitter.com/ArcadeFiretube/status/706475847486668800An extended encore brought a whole new layer to the music with members of Mumford & Sons joining in. Marcus Mumford took over vocals for an astounding version of the Clash’s seminal hit “Rock The Casbah.” Playing “The only band that matters” seemed like a fitting finish. Yet there was more to come when Skrillex, fresh from his main stage set, appeared in his punk persona to play an animated lead guitar. Skrillex is no stranger to jam sessions, leading his on super jam at Bonnaroo two years ago. At one point he flailed his guitar so hard he broke the strings and Butler gleefully helped him destroy his guitar as the impressive PoWoW! SuperJam came to a close.
The Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival concludes on Sunday with performances from White Denim, Ween, The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons and many others.
