Wakarusa 2009: Thursday In Review

A new venue brought a familiar cast of characters to the 7th annual Wakarusa Music & Camping festival for a four day celebration of music and nature. The incredibly scenic Mulberry Mountain played host to The Black Crowes, Gov't Mule, Yonder Mountain String Band, G. Love & Special Sauce and about 70 other jam, roots, dance and bluegrass acts over the first weekend of June. We were there to take in all of the action, and were more than happy to be back in Ozark, AR for another outstanding weekend of music.

Read all about Thursday, June 4th at the Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival after the jump

After a nice drive from Omaha, NE, we finally pulled into the venue at around 4am on Thursday morning. Swiftly securing our passes, we headed to the media campground to claim our spot. After a successful-but-delirious set-up of the tent, we proceeded to drink till the sun came up. An eighteen pack and some healthy doses of very nasty rum, and we called it a night.

At the stroke of eleven, Toast and I stumbled out of the tent and immediately slammed some necessary Gatorade and a banana. While trying to figure out why we drank so much, we wondered wether we were gonna make Cornmeal's noon showing on the Main Stage. After washing up, and catching some brunch, we headed towards the main area to scope the new grounds and catch the end of the newgrass quartet's set. Unfortunately, we missed about ninety-two percent of the their material for the day, but what we did hear was some exhilarating bluegrass that had fiddler Allie Krall showing off her chops.

Cornmeal

We headed towards the Backwoods Stage to see what they did with the area, and to catch a bit of the ever-so-soulful Runnin' Wild Band. When we attended Harvest Fest on Mulberry Mountain in the fall of last year, our camping spot was located in the woods adjacent to the Backwoods Stage, an area that was now cordoned off and emblazoned with art installments and hammocks where festival attendees could take a shaded nap listening to the rootsy sounds that filled the forest all weekend. It was nowhere on the level of Rothbury's Sherwood Forest, but did have its own charm and character that added just a bit more to the stellar venue and festival. After listening to a few Mofro-esque tunes from the Runnin' WIld Band, we headed back to the Main Stage to see what was happening.

Former hometown band, and Wakarusa favorites Split Lip Rayfield filled the main field with their intense brand of speed-grass that had the early goers hopping around in pure excitement and joy. With a much more anticipated performance slated for Saturday at midnight, we decided to take it easy and hang out in the grass during the hour-long set. Highlights included "Biscuits" and "Kiss of Death," but overall it was more of a mellow set for the Lawrence, Kansas trio. We decided to head back to camp to refuel with tasty grilled stadium brats, and some much needed caffeinated soda to reenergize us for the mid-afternoon events.

Split Lip Rayfield

After the well received break, we met up with some friends who threw the extra cash on Main Stage camping, and took in Widespread Panic/Aquarium Rescue Unit guitarist Jimmy Herring's newest project, the aptly titled Jimmy Herring Band from there. While the majority of the set featured more of a funk feel, the true highlight was a mean cover of Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" that found Herring blowing Wakarusa's collective minds with his awe-inspiring axemanship.

After the finish of Herring's set, we jumped over to the Revival Tent to watch The New Mastersounds, one of the best new bands to come from the UK. Getting on it from the start, the quartet ripped through easily the funkiest set of music all weekend. Inviting the energy-filled Thursday afternoon crowd to get down with them, they chose not to stop for the entire hour they were slotted.

Blue Mountain

Another stop at camp, this time to fuel up on beer, and we were off to the Backwoods Stage to take in seminal alt-country act Blue Mountain's only set of the weekend. By the time we made it to the forest, they were already in full swing, entertaining a meager, yet lively crowd. Their sound falls somewhere between Robert Earl Keen and Uncle Tupelo, even at times bringing somewhat of a jamband feel to their songs. Laurie Stirratt, twin sister of Wilco bassist John Stirratt, held down the low end, while frontman and husband Cary Hudson took care of the vocals and guitar work. I was quite impressed with Blue Mountain, and left the festival choosing this set as one of my tops of the weekend. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch another performance soon.

Next up was Steve Kimock's Crazy Engine who took over the Main Stage for the hour-an-a-half surrounding dusk. Jerry Garcia Band keyboardist Melvin Seals, Family Groove Company bassist Janis Wallen and Kimock's own son Morgan followed the guitarist through a full on funk set. With only three songs remaining, Wallen surrendered her bass to legendary bassist George Porter Jr. (who was at Wakarusa performing with his current group, PBS), who led Crazy Engine through a few Meters classics, including the easily chantable "Fire On The Bayou." It was the perfect set to transport us from Wakarusa daytime to Wakarusa nightime, and the perfect primer for both bands to take the Main Stage later that night.

Railroad Earth

Another beer stop at camp, and we were back to the Main Stage for the start of Railroad Earth's set. Starting with one of my favorites, "Long Way To Go," Railroad Earth entertained the crowd with both their impeccable instrumentation and colorful light show. If there is one thing the sextet knows how to do, it's playing to their surroundings, and with the lights and forested location, they decided to lean heavily on their psychedelic side for this performance. The last time I saw Railroad Earth, I left somewhat underwhelmed, so this set served as a nice redeemer for me.

Buckethead

The Revival Tent was full of kids looking for a little rock in their lives, and with experimental metal guitarist Buckethead on stage, they were being served a healthy dose. We walked in just in time for Buckethead to shred through a few tunes, then bust out his nunchucks to show off his martial arts rather than his musical arts. While most people seemed floored, I found it quite gimmicky and somewhat annoying, so it was back to camp for a few more beers.

Pretty Lights

With our camp so close to the Revival Village, going back to camp seemed to be an easy option. It saved us loads of money just by having beer and food so close at all times. Such amenities made this festival immediately better than each former year we've attended. Relaxing while Pretty Lights began their set, it soon became too enticing to not attend. We headed towards the Outpost Tent, which was just a jump over a fence away, and caught a majority of Pretty Lights' all-to-short set. The biggest crowd all weekend at the Outpost Tent danced as hard as they could for the solid hour of breakbeats, mash-ups, and all-around funky noise being produced by the duo of DJ/producer Derek VIncent Smith and drummer Cory Eberhard. Many great things were said about Pretty Lights going in to this show, and they didn't fail to impress. Knowing that we had another showing by Pretty Lights at Bonnaroo the next weekend, we soon headed to the main stage to catch the nights headliner.

Gov't Mule have acheived demi-god status in the world of jambands. The Warren Haynes-fronted blues-infused rock quartet have a strong presence both onstage and off, bringing a plethora of fans with them to Mulberry Mountain for their two hour set. While the standard Mule tunes showed up in the setlist &ndash "Bad Man Walking," "Banks of the Deep End" and "I'll Be The One" to name a few – it was their covers of Radiohead's "Creep" and The Grateful Dead's "Sugaree" that really got the crowd into it. Haynes was shooting fire from his fingertips throughout the entire set, and brought the Main Stage to a close with a stirring version of "Soulshine." that had the audience at complete attention, singing lyric for lyric until the very end.

Warren Haynes

While Mule served as the day's true headliner, it was Yonder Mountain String Band that served as Toast and my top showing for the day. I'd missed several opportunities to catch YMSB over the past year, even when they came to Houston's House of Blues in the spring, so my want and need to see the newgrass quartet was peaking over level orange into red territory. With a two-hour slot that lasted until 2am, YMSB took the opportunity to feed the late-nighter's minds with some psychedelic bluegrass that include both their own material – "Ramblin' in the Rambler," "40 Miles From Denver" and "Boatman" – as well as covers – John Hartford's "Two Hits And The Joint Turned Brown" and The Grateful Dead's "Morning Dew" to name a few. They leaned heavier on their faster tunes, employing the festivarians to get good use out of the various party favors that were enhancing their evening's events. Yonder closed the set with Willie Nelson's "Bloody Mary Morning" which was the perfect nightcap to an excellent set. It was a welcome return to YMSB that had Toast and myself dancing our asses off, especially when we relieved ourselves of our photography equipment after the first few songs. Knowing that they had another full set on the Main Stage on Friday, we left the show anticipating just what they'd have to offer for round two.

Yonder Mountain String Band

The rest of the night belonged to wandering – actually make that stumbling – around the festival grounds checking out the super late-night offerings from both Boombox and Telepath. I'm not going to attempt to write about these two sets, as I don't really remember too much about them. What I do remember was my drunk-ass self tripping over one of the massive stakes that supported the Revival Tent, and taking a pretty hard spill on my shoulder. Lets just say it made it quite tricky to photograph the rest of the weekend. Knowing that staying up would only lead to drunker, stupider mistakes, I made the quick journey back to camp and into my sleeping bag for some well-needed/deserved rest. Friday was just as busy musically as Thursday had been, so sleep came as soon as I hit the pillow.


Stay tuned for Friday in review.

-Eggs