Now, I am by no means a good interviewer. I try to be conversational. I try to be funny, nay, entertaining. I mostly fall flat. And the last question isn’t meant to be dickish, it is meant to be funny – it’s a widely accepted fact that Guster doesn’t jam, but my pseudo-humorous barb falls flat. Anyway, here’s the interview:

It was on the third day at Rothbury that I knew I had settled in to a bit of a routine. I knew my favorite food vendor, I knew the fastest route to each stage, and I even had a port-o-john that seemed to be cleaner than the rest. I knew I could survive on very little sleep, I knew the importance of drinking lots of water, and I knew the benefits of Gold Bond.

This was also the day I had planned to see the most music. Three of my most anticipated sets would happen on Day 3 – Railroad Earth, The Dead, and Umphrey’s McGee. One was just as much fun as I figured it would be, one blew my mind, and one was a huge disappointment. Read on to see which was which…
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I was a late bloomer when it comes to the Grateful Dead – I didn’t listen to my first live concert (2/24/74) until college. As I explored their live sets, I stuck mostly to the mid-to-late 70’s and the late 80’s. They were energetic, songs like “The Promised Land” and “One More Saturday Night” can really rock. So, I don’t know what the hell happened at Rothbury.

Saturday night’s Dead set was a lethargic trip through some great songs – songs I’ve been wanting to hear for more than a decade, and never thought I would. “Sugar Magnolia” opened the show, and showed some promise – sounded tight, vocals were as crisp as they could be, crowd was digging it. A good start. “Eyes of the World” was where the trouble began for me. The song’s tempo was so much slower than I had heard it, I couldn’t identify the song until the lyrics started. “Throwing Stones”, “One More Saturday Night” – they all seemed sluggish and dragging. Those should have been huge songs! For me, the encore was the highlight, mostly because they finally put some fire in their step as they rolled into “U.S. Blues” with fireworks as a backdrop, followed by “Not Fade Away”.

The Dead ran pretty late – both MSTRKRFT and Umphrey’s McGee had started their sets on the other stages, and as the fireworks were beginning, so was the exodus. Maybe this was an off night. Maybe this is what the whole Spring 2009 Tour sounded like. Maybe I just need to go back to 1974.

The Dead
July 4, 2009
Complete Setlist

Set 1
Jam > Sugar Magnolia, Eyes of the World > Estimated Prophet, Loose Lucy, Friend Of The Devil, Into The Mystic (Van Morrison), Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower

Set Two:
One More Saturday Night, Shakedown Street > China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider > Drums / Space > Viola Lee Blues, Morning Dew, Throwing Stones, Sunshine Daydream

Encore:
US Blues (with Fireworks) , Not Fade Away

Well, here I am on the last morning of Rothbury, still trying to collect my thoughts from Day 2. To say there’s a lot going would be an understatement. To say that I’m borderline A.D.D. and unable to pay attention half the time would be the truth. So, I will attempt to be as coherent and concise as possible.

A good portion of Day 2 was spent fixing computer glitches – slow internet, timed-out uploads and other things of that nature. But all headaches aside, Rothbury really kicked into gear on Day 2, with the first full day of music getting underway at 12:30pm with Lansing, Michigan’s Steppin’ In It.

I managed to see at least a half-dozen artists through the course of the day – some for a full set, others for only a few minutes. I also headed over to the Tripolee area to check out a panel discussion on Green Jobs, what they are, and how to get one. I learned a lot about what they were and why we need them, but there wasn’t much focus on how to get one, other than the repeated call to action and “just go out and do it” mentality. But the content was interesting, and I hope to post a recording of the entire discussion at woodtv.com.

Music-wise, I started the day with Macpodz, from Ann Arbor, MI. They had a 70’s funk sound… that would quickly turn to a latin jam, or some Jethro Tull inspired flute-work. The band was all over the board in terms of styles – an interesting complement to the overall picture of Rothbury. Take a listen to a little of The Macpodz set: the-macpodz

I sampled a lot of other acts throughout the afternoon, from Femi Kuti to Damian Marley, G. Love to Soulive. I was most impressed by the 10 minutes I got to spend with Flogging Molly. A driving, frantic, Celtic-Punk sound lit up the Ranch Arena stage. I had other places to be, I thought I was in a hurry. But these guys made me stop and forget everything else I needed to do. It was loud. It was reckless. The crowd was eating it up, and I look forward to checking them out further.

The big show of the night came on the Odeum stage. A crowd of 30,000+ gathered to see the official reunion of the String Cheese Incident. That show meant a lot of things to a lot of people, or so it seemed. You can read my thoughts and check out the setlist in my full review.

We ended the night with a little Chromeo – an electronic outfit. Our buddy Wade is the expert on this genre, so you should definitely check out his review.

I managed to make it to bed before 2am. A little embarassing, given the plethora of late-night options.. but I had an early morning (8am) date with a shower, and I didn’t want to let that shower down.

Nothing ever goes quite as planned. Our crew of four has been jumping hurdles and changing our strategies since we arrived. But, with this many people in one place, you can’t help but roll with the changes. I’ll save you the sob stories from backstage, only to say that 25+ media folks all sharing the same Internet stream makes things slow…

My first goal of the day was to make my way to Keller Williams over at the Ranch. You can check out that review right here, and even listen to an audio clip from the show.

We got to the stage early enough to catch the very end of Toubab Krewe. Sadly, it’s hard to tell you much about their style – the only song we caught was a full band drum and percussion jam. Don’t get me wrong, it was awesome, and the crowd was very much into it, dancing frenetically to the pulsing, tribl beats that were being laid down – I just have no idea if that is reminiscent of their “normal” sound, or if it was just a cool way to cap off their set.

Keller followed Toubab at the Ranch. His set was great, but hopefully you’ve already clicked that link above and know that. We headed back to the media tent, dealt with some frustrations there, and tried to relax a bit before heading out to the Disco Biscuits.

Now, I will make my confession right here – I have never been into the Disco Biscuits. I have sampled their studio records, made the attempt to really listen, and have been mostly unimpressed. Thursday night (Friday morning, really) my mind was changed. These guys are first and foremost a live band. I’m sure any fan of tDB could have told me that, but I was never interested in listening. Sorry about that.

They started with solid rock. Electric guitars blazing, drums hitting hard – the crowd was into it. But I learned that the more the tempo picks up and the more the songs turn from rock into dance into electronic, the more glowing objects get thrown into the air. The more glowing things in the air, the more the crowd goes nuts. The more the crowd goes nuts, the more the band gets into it, and pushes themselves to play harder. Its keeps going on like this until the set ends or the crowd passes out.

About 45 minutes into the Disco Biscuits set, I noticed a message from the Rothbury Twitter account – there would be a secret show at the Speak EZ stage in the middle of the Sherwood Forest. We arrived around 1:30, as a Burlesque show was wrapping up on the stage – not my cup of tea, but to each their own. People filtered in slowly, in groups of 3 or 4, as word spread that something was going down in the Forest. About 2am, Dominic Lalli from Big Gigantic came to the stage for a DJ set – he mixed his own beats, and once he got a good groove going, he played sax over the tune.

To think that this would end up being a “light” day as far as things to do and see (music didn’t start until 6:00pm) was an overwhelming thought. Sleeping in my car never felt so good.

At one point, I could count 5 different instruments playing at once… but there was only one guy on the stage. A one man band, for lack of a better term. But this isn’t the comical version, with the bass drum slung over his shoulder, a harmonica within mouth’s reach, and spoons strapped to his knees. Instead, this is Keller Williams, the Fredericksburg, VA artist – a one man JAM band. (more…)

I’ve seen hundreds of concerts. What can I say, I love live music – I love to see that creative process happen right in front of me. I love to see what it does to other people – to see the way that they are enjoying the same thing I am, but in a completely unique way. I’ve been in the dirty, smoky clubs and I’ve been in the corporate arenas and summer sheds, with their $10 beers (looking at you Alpine Valley).

But I’ve never been here. And I’ve never seen this. (more…)

We are mere hours (mere = 48′ish) from the beginning of this year’s Rothbury Festival. Our crew is assembled, and we’re all ready to bring you pictures, videos, tweets, and observations from all over the Festival grounds. The Rothbury section is all set up at woodtv.com, and is starting to be populated with stories – Jessica Leffler took an excellent look at the Festival setup process yesterday. I think she has a bunch of video left over, so I may try to poach that and share it with you later on.

Anyway, I wanted to take a quick moment and just introduce the 4 of us who will be up north (or down south, depending on where you live) this weekend. Hopefully, we can build some street cred… Except for Jason and Michelle’s first concerts – we probably lose 2 points each for those…

Here’s a quick look at our crew:

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So, when it comes to camping, I’m a huge chicken. Just thought I’d get that out there. The idea of things that I dislike (spiders, snakes, bees, whatever…) being able to share my sleeping quarters is a concept I’ve never been able to handle. However, I really like live music, so I’m heading to Rothbury – any sleeping that I actually do will be done in the “comfort” (?) of my Vue.

With that in mind, I have no idea what to pack. (more…)

Pollstar.com has a fantastic article on Railroad Earth (Saturday at 4:15 at the Ranch) that I think you need to read. It takes a great look at the “jamband” title that is so liberally thrown around these days and helps introduce you to a band that I hope you won’t miss when Rothbury rolls into town in a couple weeks.

Back in the day (the day being the mid-90’s), I was introduced to the Dave Matthews Band. Early 1995 to be exact. I consumed as much of their music as I could – live, studio, whatever… Eventually, my fanaticism spilled into the still-emerging-Internet world – joining email listserves and discussion boards. It was in one of these interactive fan environments that I learned of an up-and-coming Roots Rock outfit from New Jersey. They called themselves From Good Homes. With a similar instrument lineup to DMB, the thing that caught my attention the most was the unique vocals of singer-songwriter Todd Sheaffer. Again, much like the vocals coming from the mid-90’s version of Dave Matthews, Todd Sheaffer has what I consider a very polarizing sound – he’s either gonna turn you off or blow your mind. I sit firmly entrenched in the “blown mind” camp.

1999 saw the end of From Good Homes, with a final blowout concert in early August. Shaeffer would move on to put out a solo record before hopping on the train to join Railroad Earth. The Pollstar article above picks it up from here, history-wise, so go enjoy the read. Then I’ll see you in a couple weeks at Rothbury for Railroad Earth!