2003 Music Midtown Festival Atlanta
May 2, 3, & 4, 2003
Midtown
Atlanta, GA
DAY 1
*CRACKER*LES CLAYPOOL*SHERYL CROW*BOB DYLAN*
I was lucky enough to attend the orgy of music, food and drink known as Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival over the first weekend in May this year. The festival is one of the largest in the U.S. and is renowned for it’s diverse line-up. Over the course of 3 days everybody from LL Cool J to Godsmack to Tony Bennett played on something like 7 separate stages to an estimated 100,000 fans a day. It might sound like a recipe for disaster considering the sheer scope of the festival. You may imagine long food and toilet lines or visions of Woodstock ’99. Fortunately, I experienced none of these problems. Things were well organized and spread out enough so that I was always able to get a good spot for the bands I wanted to see. The food and beer were plentiful and so were the toilets. In fact at a mere $45 dollars this festival may be the best deal going in terms of live music.
My ease at getting good locations for the acts I wanted to see may have a couple of contributing factors as well. First of all, I studied the schedule like a law student cramming for the bar. I figured my personal schedule down to the minute so I could catch as much music as possible. Secondly, the bands I wanted to see most were not necessarily the most popular either. I have no idea what the crowd was like at the stage where Godsmack was playing, because at the moment I was grooving to Medeski, Martin and Wood across the site.
Things kicked off on Friday afternoon. The gates opened around 5 and I entered the site around 6. The crowd was light as many people were either still on their way home from work or scared off by the threatening skies. I headed down to one of the larger stages to catch some of Cracker’s opening set. I haven’t thought about these guys much since the height of their popularity in the early 90’s, but I always enjoyed their folk/rock sound and quirky lyrics so I thought I would check out a part of their set at least. They came out and opened with one of their most famous songs, "Eurotrash Girl". I caught a few more songs including an unlikely cover of Merle Haggard’s "Okie from Muskogee" before heading up the hill to the Bell South Stage to see Les Claypool and his Flying Frog Brigade.
I had seen an earlier incarnation of the Frog Brigade several years ago that included both Jay Lane and Jeff Chimenti of Ratdog. They have since been replaced by two new players who I don’t know. The good news is that they are great and really added a lot. Fortunately, Skerik is still playing sax in the band and I try not to pass up an opportunity to see him play. They played an hour set of Frog Brigade and Claypool material, none of which stray to far from Claypool’s Primus roots. Whenever I see Les two things impress me: his incredible bass playing and his incredible weirdness. He did a lot of vocal improvising and was pretty funny. My only complaint, which echoes my only complaint about the whole weekend, was that I wish that their set could have been longer.
Next I was set to catch a bit of Steve Winwood’s set before rushing down the hill to catch Bob Dylan. All of Winwood’s equipment was all set to go and I was excited to hear his new band, which I have been hearing good things about. That is when the sky opened up and a tremendous thunderstorm plowed through Atlanta. They covered all the equipment and asked festivalgoers to leave the grounds until the "potentially dangerous" weather passed. This must have been the lawyers trying to limit liability who were making this request. Where were we supposed to go? Was their less of a chance that I would get killed by lightning on the sidewalk outside the festival grounds than inside the site or only less chance of a successful lawsuit? In anycase very few heeded the directions to leave the site.
After about a 2 hour delay filled with rain, lightning and wind things finally eased. The crowd had significantly thinned out by this point and I had no idea of what the revised schedule would be so I decide to just head for the stage where Dylan was supposed to play and hope for the best. I was able to get a great spot there since so many people had left. It was bit muddy, but the night cleared up and became very pleasant. Sheryl Crow had been playing at this stage before the rain so she returned after the delay and played about another 20 minutes to finish up her set. She was in good voice, but I found her band to be a little bit too polished. I wish she would take a few more chances on stage. She didn’t hold back with her choice of outfits though. She was pretty stunning in her full leather suit with her hair blowing in the wind.
After about a half-hour set break Bob Dylan finally took the stage at about 11:30, about an hour and a half late. Bob was decked out in a fine looking western suit with a knee length jacket and white kerchief. Since I saw him last, Charlie Sexton has left the band and been replaced by Freddie Coella. I don’t know much about him except that apparently he is French. The other big change is that Bob is now playing 80-90% keyboards in concert. His keyboard playing is actually remarkably like his guitar playing. That is to say that it is idiosyncratic and choppy, but sometimes brilliant. He pounded it out like Little Richard on the opening of " To Be Alone With You", a great rocker from his Nashville Skyline album. "I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight" was a welcome inclusion in the # 2 spot. As usual, he really played around with the phrasing and it really worked in this case. One of the real surprises of the night was "Highway 61 Revisited". This is of course a great tune, but has suffered from overplay by Dylan in recent years. I think the change to the keyboards allowed the song to sort of open up again and become new. Bob did some really great stuff vocally on this one. I really want to get a tape of this one to hear again. Other surprises in the set included a semi-rare, but very inspired run through of "Tom Thumb’s Blues" which featured a nice solo by Freddie and made my night. There was also the best live version of ‘She Belongs to Me" I have heard to date. Dylan finally picked up the electric guitar for "Drifter’s Escape" which is a deep cut from the John Wesley Harding that he has been doing in a very Hendrix-esque electric arrangement for several years now. During a romp through "Honest With Me", Bob left the keyboard and did a little dance that, I swear to God, resembled "the robot"! The short set closed out with a rousing rendition of "Summer Days". The two song encore of "Like A Rolling Stone" and "All Along the Watchtower" was not only crowd pleasing, but pretty inspired as well. These songs are similar to "Highway 61" in that they are great, but somewhat overplayed. There was a lot of life left in these renditions however and everyone went home happy. It was bit of a bummer because we only got about an hour of Dylan instead of the scheduled hour and a half due to the rain, but was still worth the wait. Dylan is in particularly good voice right now and his band, while in a state of transition, is still great.
DAY 2
*JORMA KAUKONEN*TIM EASTON*DAVE MASON*LEFTOVER SALMON*MEDESKI, MARTIN & WOOD
The next day I rolled out of bed and headed back down into the city for day 2 of the festival. Jorma Kaukonen was scheduled to play a set at 1:30 and I wanted to catch it for sure. Once again skies were threatening and the crowd was light as I entered the grounds. I got a great spot on the rail for Jorma, but just as the set started it started to pour again. Jorma was playing in an acoustic duo with mandolin player Barry Mitterhoff and they braved the weather for several songs, before moving their equipment back about 5 feet to avoid ruining their instruments and getting soaked. It was still a great set though. Jorma is truly one of the great guitarists out there and everytime I see him I am impressed. They played a nice combination of traditional Hot Tuna songs and tunes from Jorma’s Blue Country album. Some of the highlights for me were "Hesitation Blues", "Big River Blues", "Good Shepherd" and "Just Because".
By the end of Jorma’s set the rain was actually letting up a bit and I headed clear over to the other side of the site to catch Tim Easton and his band. I didn’t know much about Easton except that I heard that he was good so I decided to check out his set. He had a tight little band and played sort of a mix of blues, folk and rock. Definitely a lot of Dylan and Petty influence. His songs were really good and I was really impressed by his bluesy guitar playing. The small crowd was rewarded by a really cool set and I plan on checking him out next time he comes to a club near me.
Next I hurried back to the Bell South stage and met up with my friends, Erec and Michelle and their friends from Atlanta. We took in an hour set by Dave Mason. I have been a pretty big fan of Dave Mason for quite a while, but have never had a chance to see him live. Mason was a member of Traffic and also played with Delaney & Bonnie, Jimi Hendrix and Fleetwood Mac. He opened up with one of his most famous solo songs, "Only You Know and I Know", which was good but suffered from sound issues. During the set he also played Traffic classics like "40,000 Headmen" and "Feelin’ Alright". He then did a nice version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" which was actually written by Steve Winwood. Also in there was a cool run through of "All Along the Watchtower". I believe Mason actually played on the Jimi Hendrix version so it was a fitting cover for him to do. Overall, I was really impressed with Mason. His guitar playing is impeccable. His voice isn’t quite what it used to be, but is still strong. His band was less than stellar except his drummer, but they were serviceable.
Next we checked out Leftover Salmon while eating Turkey Legs and fried Snickers bars. My opinion of them hasn’t changed much about them after this set. They are great musicians with a great taste in music, but their original material is kind of pointless. They did get the crowd excited though. The highlight for me was a nice version of David Bromberg’s "Danger Man".
The final act of the day that I saw was an hour long set by Medeski, Martin & Wood. I have seen them a few times before and they never fail to disappoint. They made the most of their short time slot by basically never stopping jamming during the whole segment. I have no idea what songs they might have played, but they were groovy. They were set up in tight little circle and doing quite a bit of improvising. The crowd was really into and I want to salute the 7-foot tall green Kermit guy as well as the Leprechaun man for their inventive and energetic dancing. MM&W finished up and I decided to head home for the night to rest up for a big day on Sunday.
DAY 3
*CAITLIN CAREY*ANTIBALAS AFROBEAT ORCHESTRA*MOFRO*SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY*RATDOG*GOV'T MULE*
I got down to the site early again for a set by Caitlin Carey. I hadn’t seen her before or heard her records, but I knew that she was a member of the now defunct band, Whiskeytown. It turned to be a cool set. Her music is a sort of a cross between 10,000 Maniacs and the Cowboy Junkies. Occasionally the lyrics got a bit too precious for me, but not too bad. Her band was really good and I liked her fiddle playing as well. I will check her out again.
Next up on the same stage was the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. They are a 13-piece interracial afrobeat band from Brooklyn. They played mostly instrumental stuff with a few sparse vocals thrown in. They were really fun and tight. They had something like 4 horns, 5 drummers, 2 guitars, a bassist and a keyboard player. The horns seriously kicked ass and everybody was dancing. I am very inspired to see them again in a club setting.
I headed back to the old Bell South stage to get a good spot for the rest of the day and night there since there were so many good bands playing there. The first was a band from Florida called Mofro, who were really groovy. They played sort of a cross between blues and soul. They had a singer, guitar player, drummer and keyboardist. Their singer was really good and soulful. Their keyboard player also really stood out.
After that Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes took the stage. I didn’t really have a big interest in these guys, but I was holding my place so I checked them out. Overall they had their heart in the right place, but didn’t really rise above mediocre bar band levels for me.
The penultimate act of the night was Ratdog featuring Bob Weir. I have seen these guys countless times before, but not since last summer so I was excited to catch them even in an abbreviated set. They opened up an acoustic version of Marty Robbins’ classic cowboy tune, "EL Paso". It was just Weir, guitarist Mark Karan and brand new bassist, Robin Sylvester. Sylvester just joined the band after the departure of longtime member, Rob Wasserman. "El Paso" was nice and then they segued into the Weir staple "Corrina" as the rest of the band joined them: Jay Lane on drums, Kenny Brooks on sax and Jeff Chimenti on keyboards. It was a good version, but I prefer when Weir plays electric guitar on it rather than acoustic. From there they did go fully electric on a version of the Dead classic, "The Music Never Stopped". This version featured a nice ending jam and a new ending vocal coda from Weir. Next up was "Easy Answers" which was notable for it’s funkiness and Weir’s young daughter walking out on stage and staring at the audience during most of the song.
Weir strapped the acoustic back on for a beautiful rendition the ballad, "Looks Like Rain". After that the band starting playing a funky little beat and I assumed it would be "Iko Iko". The music seemed a little different though and all of a sudden weir started singing, "Let us put men and women together and see which one is smarter…". I couldn’t believe they were finally breaking out the old Caribbean folk tune, "Man Smart, Woman Smarter AKA: Women R Smarter". Weir hadn’t sung it live since sometime in 1995 during the last days of the Grateful Dead. It is one of my very favorite songs that he does and I was really happy to be there for the breakout. It was a really tight version that went into one of the best post-Garcia versions of "Eyes of the World" yet. Mark Karan’s solo was otherworldly and really took me to that magic spot that you hope to go to when listening to music.
After the double dose of "Women R Smarter" and "Eyes of the World" the rest of the show was pure frosting for me. Weir did a nice version of ‘Standing on the Moon" that segued into the closing "Sugar Magnolia". Both were good versions and I was really happy with the show all around. Gov’t Mule was scheduled to go on next and I was slightly disappointed that Warren Haynes had not come out to jam with Bob and co., but it didn’t really matter because the set was so good.
The crowd swelled as Mule was about to take the stage. Atlanta is like a home away from home for the band so this was obviously a special concert for them. They broke right into a huge sing along of "Soulshine" which is always a favorite. Around this time Erec found me in the crowd and we both enjoyed the rest of the set. Several songs in Warren invited Weir back out and they played a blistering version of Willie Dixon’s "Lil’ Red Rooster". Everybody seemed to be having a great time and it sounded great. At the end Weir and Haynes hugged and Bobby took off. Other highlights of the set were "Thorazine Shuffle", "Blindman in the Dark" and the closing "Where’s My Mule?". It was an exhilarating concert and I was taken aback all over again at what a great player Haynes is. Erec and I limped are way back to meet the rest of our gang and then headed home.
All in all it was an incredible weekend of music. I almost feel like I should send the promoter more money because I saw so much great music for so little. It also really put me in the mood for my summer’s next adventures which is the Bonnaroo Festival in June.
Great Music Midtown Photos from Rolling Stone