WAKARUSA | 06.07 – 06.10 | KANSAS
By Team JamBase Jun 25, 2007 • 12:00 am PDT
Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival
06.07.07 – 06.10.07 :: Clinton Lake State Park :: Lawrence, KS
Not In Kansas Anymore
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What a difference a year makes.
Festival organizers promised a “kinder, gentler” security presence, and—believe it or not—that’s precisely how events unfolded. Last year, entry to the park took several hours, with lines of traffic extending more than a mile. This year, the line rarely exceeded a dozen cars, and a quick flash of identification would suffice. Last year, according to the Lawrence Journal-World, there were more than 100 arrests, this year there were 14. Festival organizers relied on security folks that had worked at Phish’s summer festivals, who kept things running smoothly during the four days, proving that you don’t need hidden cameras and night vision goggles to keep concertgoers safe.
Indeed, the only real problem many Wakarusians experienced was one faced by many Type A tourists on vacation: too much to see and not enough time to see it all. Many bands only played a single set during the weekend, so inhumane choices had to be made – Galactic or Ozomatli, Sam Bush or Les Claypool, Medeski Martin & Wood or Martin Sexton. However you chose you sacrificed one experience to gain another. 25 shows in less than 100 hours sounds respectable until you realize that meant you missed more than 75 other performances. All things considered, it’s a fun problem to have.
Day 1: Thursday, June 7
The Allstars Throwdown
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Crooked Still seemed amazed to be in Kansas, yet somehow not surrounded by inbred, corn-fed hicks in overalls with pitchforks, making no less than half a dozen comments about playing in Kansas in their first half hour onstage. A satisfying take of the ancient English ballad “Dreadful Wind and Rain” spiced things up, quickly followed by Robert Johnson’s “Someone In My Kitchen” and Bob Dylan’s “Oxford Town.” The band’s sound was crowded at times with Aoife O’Donovan‘s sultry, engaging voice nearly drowned out by the rest of the group. There was unfortunate tension between talented cellist Rushad Eggleston and O’Donovan, with each vocalizing their distaste of the other’s attempts to juice up the crowd, which detracted from an otherwise pleasurable set.
Thirty minutes after Crooked Still finished, the Spam All-Stars kicked things off at the Campground Stage, about half a mile from the other main stages. It was a pared down version of the group, with evil genius DJ Spam behind the turntables backing a quartet of Tomas Diaz on timbales, A.J. Hill on sax, Mercedes Abal on flute and Chad Bernstein on trombone. The music never stopped. During the 75-minute set, it was easy to have a “new favorite” band member every 10 minutes. The group celebrated Abal’s birthday with a short, funky version of “Happy Birthday.” They ended with an amusing conch shell solo by Bernstein that punctuated a rousing, double-time rendition of War’s “Low Rider.” It was an all-around superb performance from start to finish.
 Wakarusa 2007 by Foster |
For the first portion of their set, the North Mississippi Allstars seemed to be either searching for their groove or demonstrating their versatility by traversing blues, gospel rock and honky-tonk. Bassist Chris Chew made a strong case for assuming a more prominent role on vocals with a soulful interpretation of “Drowning on Dry Land.” About 40 minutes in, the band hit on all cylinders and delivered a seamless “Mark On the Bus” > “Hey Bo Diddley” >” Who Do You Love” trifecta. After the crowd helped belt out the vocals to “Bo Diddley,” Luther Dickinson unleashed an inspired, uninhibited solo to begin “Who Do You Love” that marked the beginning of one of the finest stretches of music during the festival. The band tightened up the beat, picked up the pace and seemed to be reveling in the moment – they began playing music instead of songs.
 Wakarusa 2007 by Foster |
A short while later, they tossed in a hard-hitting cover of the Jimi Hendrix’s “Hear My Train A Comin’.” When the band finally lumbered offstage, the spontaneous roar from the audience was deafening. The Allstars encored with a crowd-pleasing “All Night Long” > “Turn On Your Lovelight” > “All Night Long” sandwich. It was an action-packed, high-energy, non-stop two-hour performance that left both the band and appreciative crowd gasping for breath by the end.
Walking in to check out The Motet, led by drummer extraordinaire Dave Watts, we were happy to find that The Campground Tent still had ample space for dancing behind the soundboard and were immediately greeted by smooth, fast moving jazz-trance music. The relatively simple, layered rhythmic patterns were visually aided by a fire dancer outside the tent and a mesmerizing light show inside with swirling, fluid colorations projected on the ceiling. Though the audio-visual spectacle became slightly repetitive at times, it was a half hour well-spent at a good show.
Continue reading for Day 2…
Day 2: Friday, June 8
A Day of Surprises, From Woodie Guthrie
to Biggie Smalls
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Once again “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Because Toubab Krewe was busy blowing the roof off the Campground Tent, we only caught the last half hour of the southern swamp funk from JJ Grey & MOFRO at the main festival grounds. Grey’s effusive, rowdy personality took over as he prowled the stage. Guest Ian Hendrickson Smith (sax) added an additional dimension to the band’s sound. A nice version of “The Sun is Shining Down” rounded out the set, with Grey’s pleading, heartfelt delivery making it a keeper.
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The Nightwatchman was next. We knew nothing about the group except for the fact that Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine was involved; we came to find out he’s not only involved, it’s his solo acoustic project. He teased a Rage song at one point, saw the rabid reaction of the fans, had a laugh and joked about it, opting for some newer tunes. The half hour set was the most political music of the festival, as Morello announced he had just returned from the G8 protests and was glad to be “surrounded by people that hate George W. Bush.” Armed only with his guitar (on which he’d written “Whatever It Takes” with a black marker), Morello jumped into “Flesh Shapes the Day,” where with a sneer he sang, “Yeah I support my troops. They wave black flags, they wear black masks.” He followed that with a memorable version of “House Gone Up in Flames” with the provocative chorus, “We could cut and run, and take half the blame. Don’t stop now. That’s why we came. House gone up in flames.” He finished the set with Woody Guthrie’s classic “This Land is Your Land,” adding in verses that were censored in the radio version of the original. It was a set many were talking about later in the evening.
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A couple members of the New Mastersounds watched the entire show from the left side of the stage. Sure, they were up next, but it was nice to see them enjoying the crew from New Orleans. It also offered a nice contrast. Galactic is still holding down the fort, but the New Mastersounds are patiently waiting their turn to occupy the same position.
Having seen Galactic about a dozen times or so in the past nine years, I can honestly say that they were in top form. After sinking deeper in the mix for the last few years (or at least the shows I managed to catch), Richard Vogel seems to have gotten his swagger back, which gives the band another heavy hitter to take the lead on extended jams. They played “Sunday Arak,” which was new to my ears. Bemused, I scribbled “Borat?” in my notepad, to later find it was a Balkan Beat Box cover. The band launched into the reassuring fan favorite, “Crazyhorse Mongoose,” which featured a nice bass solo from Robert Mercurio. Up next was “FEMA,” which had Luther Dickinson on the edge of the stage, bobbing his head as Moore roughed up the beat like it was a rented mule. Jeff Raines glanced back at the finish, and offered up his guitar to Dickinson for the next song. Without raving much further about Dickinson, he certainly confirmed his spot on Rolling Stone‘s list of “Top 20 Guitarists” working today.
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Ben Harper, one of the headlining acts, was next at the Sundown Stage. We managed to catch a fun little version of “Who Knows” from Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys; but I need to be brutally honest here. I simply wasn’t into the show. It gave me the same feeling I had growing up and being told I had to eat brussel sprouts at dinner. Maybe Harper threw down one of the hottest sets of the festival, but I joined a couple hundred others under the now-spacious Revival Tent to see the New Mastersounds one last time. It was another tight and funky show, with guitarist Eddie Roberts really taking the reigns on a few of the songs.
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We took a gamble. Instead of staying to see Yonder Mountain perform, we made the trek back to the campgrounds to check out Ozric Tentacles. Unfortunately though no signs were posted or formal announcements made – when show time came the musicians onstage didn’t look familiar. After talking with several people working at the Campground Stage the next day, the word was that the band was held up in Customs and never made it out of the country. A unfortunate end to an otherwise spectacular day of music.
It was about that time we stumbled across the unofficial song of the festival: “Juicy” by Notorious B.I.G. Not kidding. By pure chance, I had it as the first track of a rap mix we listened to on the drive, thinking I wouldn’t be listening to much hip-hop during the festival. As it turned out, a few people wore boom boxes on their shoulder in the campgrounds, and we wound up hearing “Juicy” blasting a few more times during the weekend, usually with a dozen or so people dancing and passersby proudly reciting lines from the rags to riches anthem: “Birthdays was the worst days, now we sip champagne when we thirs-tay!” It was nice to see so many people appreciate such different types of music.
Continue reading for Day 3…
Watchin’ People Go By
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The Slip set up shop at the Revival Tent, and the sound was a train wreck. The vocals were nearly impossible to make out, and a general lack of balance made it difficult to enjoy the music being played. The edgy, jazzy sound that defined The Slip for many years seems to have been jettisoned as the band has “evolved” its sound. The songs were relatively short with somewhat predictable chord progressions. The Barr Brothers (Andrew on drums and Brad on guitar and vocals) salvaged a few songs, namely the opener off Eisenhower, “Children of December,” but the sound problems combined with relatively beige material caused us to jet midway through the set.
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100 yards away was a memorial to Split Lip Rayfield‘s guitarist, Kirk Rundstrom. A painted guitar rose prominently in the middle of the circle of photographs and paintings propped up against poles. Fans and well-wishers examined the tribute or added their own words to the evolving art piece. Ribbons with notes were affixed to the poles. The notes included “PBR and Split Lip made life make sense” and “You were louder than God.” Split Lip Rayfield was an irreplaceable part of Wakarusa, and had closed the festival in each of the first three years (you can still find these shows on YouTube).
Yonder Mountain took note, offering: “I just look around, and can’t help but think of the greatest band in the world, Split Lip Rayfield. Kirk is here and he’s bigger than ever.” The band then went into an excellent version of “At the End of the Day,” before rounding out the set with a spirited “On the Run” > “Kentucky Mandolin” > “On the Run.”
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Herring again jumped out to send “Pilgrims” to a higher level before landing squarely in the fan-favorite “Porch Song.” Surely that has to be the end of the set? Incorrect. After being onstage for close to two hours, it became gradually evident that there would be no set break. This unexpected surprise took nearly everyone off-guard (including us, who had planned on catching some of Son Volt during setbreak), but was more than welcome, as the band seemed intent on playing THE single show that everyone would be talking about at the end of the weekend.
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I’d be remiss not to mention Dave Schools, who was on fire throughout. He was noticeably great on the slicker-than-snot intro to “Blight.” Later in the song, they broke things down to a spectacular bass-percussion duet jam before turning Domingo Ortiz loose for a few minutes. The soothing chorus of “Climb to Safety” cooled things off at the end of the marathon set before a rowdy “Papa’s Home” closer.
Around 1 a.m., Mother Nature intervened and dished out a couple quick downpours within a half-hour span, making the night soggy for campers that forgot to bring a tarp, and the next morning a little squishy in the shadows and valleys.
Continue reading for Day 4…
Letting it All Hang Out
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“Wake Up, Wakarusa!,” Grace Potter smiled breezily as she made her way to the front of the stage. Joining her and the Nocturnals were the standard guests – a stuffed “Animal” doll attached to the drum kit and a couple of miniature owls flanking the band. The assortment of beasts says a bit about the band, as none of the members are afraid to have fun onstage and seem to genuinely enjoy jamming with one another. The band reigned in guitarist Scott Tournet a bit from the year before. Tournet only got to do some bite-size shredding this time around – nothing longer than half a minute or so – but at the same time it kept the songs a little cleaner and tighter. A convincing “Watching You” closed things, which saw Tournet’s best solo of the set matched with Potter’s sultry invitation, “Why don’t ya make a move my way?” This is a band that has the look and feel of a lottery ticket waiting to be cashed in.
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Later, they broke things down to a nice bass-drums-percussion jam as the rest of the band walked offstage. They slowly built up the pace before Little Feat co-founder and keyboardist Bill Payne re-emerged for a drawn out, contemplative and gorgeous five-minute solo. He smiled and gave a wave to the crowd as he finished, and the rest of the band came back for a triumphant version of “Tennessee Jed,” which featured great guitar work from Paul Barrere. “Feels Like Rain” featured Shaun Murphy lending her rich, soulful voice as she salaciously navigated the full space of the stage. At the end, the band invited Bonnie Payne (playing percussion on a washboard looped around her neck) to join in on an extended Cajun hoedown. Barrere again shone brightly in the jam, nailing an impressive solo and holding a single sustained note for several measures as the rest of the band assembled for a final run through the song. Exceptional show.
Citizen Cope was completely new to me. I must have missed the Pontiac commercial. It was a five-piece band – two keyboardists, guitar, bass and drums. A few of the early songs had a lilting, reggae feel, which was offset by the anguished vocals. “Hurricane Walls” was aided by crisp snare snaps and synthesizer work, but it was Clarence Greenwood (a.k.a. Citizen Cope) that clearly ran the show. He has an ambitious flair in structuring songs, the type of big vision usually reserved for classical music, where the band has sweeping changes that create a powerful wave of sound. “Son’s Gonna Rise” was a nice rocker that had many in the crowd (perhaps those that had seen it on One Tree Hill) singing along.
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At 6:30 on the Sundown Stage, it was time for some Medeski Martin & Wood. Clattering discordance from John Medeski and Billy Martin gave way to Chris Wood‘s bassline that smoothly brought about “Hanuman” from the Out Louder album to start the show. From the get-go, Medeski was hard at work, squeezing out thoughtful notes, leaving space at times and applying the pressure at others. By the time the band got around to “Coconut Boogaloo,” Wood inhabited the deepest of grooves. Martin would drop the beat for a measure or two before picking it right back up, and Medeski led the way with textbook tension-and-release jamming. One of the single best songs played during the four days.
A sizable crowd had developed side stage, with members of The Slip and The Nocturnals watching the performance. MMW briefly dabbled in the experimental before unleashing Martin for a few minutes, shaking and hitting everything within arm’s reach. During a few songs, Martin came as close as he will ever get to approximating a straight-ahead rock beat, which was kind of refreshing. For the final song, MMW went with “Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing.” The musicianship on the song was incredibly precise. Wood looked over at Martin and hung out his tongue, Jordan-style, with a huge smile as Martin nodded back. The trio brought their “A Game” to the festival, and it was a performance that will translate better than most on disc.
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It was about then that madness ensued. I saw her about five feet directly to my right, in front of the V.I.P. section, in the photo pit, scaling a large speaker. I thought, “This looks odd.” Then she was onstage. Carrying a sign that said “Free Hugs” and what appeared to be a sensing stick for the blind (while also wearing sunglasses), she clung to Franti’s side in an attempt to tell him something. Security was taken completely off-guard, but were brushed aside by Franti. The song ended and she eventually left the stage. Next song, Franti walks over to guitarist Dave Shul to enjoy a musical moment, when Free Hug Girl jumps between them and clings onto Franti’s torso again. The other band members and stagehands took turns trying to pry her away, but she brushed them off verbally and physically. Unbelievable. The band kept playing throughout, but Free Hug Girl was unrelenting. Finally, security guards physically lifted her off her feet and carried her off the stage. She was seen shortly later squeezing onto the railing and accusing them of breaking her nails as they attempted to pull her down. I’ve seen people rush the stage before, but never anything quite like this.
Franti finished another song, commenting, “God is too big for one religion,” to the delight of the crowd. He then led the band through a lighthearted medley that began with a cover of a band Franti described as one of his “favorites” – “What I Got” > “Sesame Street Theme Song” > “‘C’ Is For Cookie” > “What I Got.” Toward the end, thoughts turned toward the political with the protest song “Light Up Ya Lighter,” during which Franti asked us to hold up our lighters in unity. For the encore, Franti brought out about a dozen college-aged girls that had taken advantage of the body-painting booth during the weekend. All were technically topless, though painted artfully. It was an unexpected ending to a show that was full of surprises.
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After standout versions of “Vernon the Company Man,” and “Of Whales And Woe,” Gabby La La busted out the Theremin for a bit on “D’s Diner.” They abandoned the song midway through, as Claypool confidently said, “I am through fucking around,” and closed with an absolute rager, “Whamola.” He may have only been able to play for 50 minutes but it was an action-packed set.
Ain’t Life Grand
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New Belgium – a company that uses renewable energy to brew – once again provided beer for the festival, which was served in reusable plastic cups. However, according to one band, the alcohol was 3.2 percent though this was not posted. Representatives from Wakarusa were unable to confirm this, and said they were looking into the matter at the time of publication.
Jim Pollock, the artist commissioned to do much of Phish’s artwork, provided limited edition prints for the festival, which was a nice added treat for 700 fans.
For every story told, there are countless others that are omitted. I’m pretty confident that someone could do a damn good review of Wakarusa and cover completely different bands. I’m also pretty confident that we’d both end up at the same conclusion – Wakarusa 2007 was a blast. Great music, no hassles, few lines and great weather. Ain’t life grand?
JamBase | Kansas
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