Let's start with the Lowlights
1) WE COULDN"T GET OUR ASSES MOVING IN THE MORNING!!! Because of this, I missed concerts by Codt ChestnuTT and Kings of Leon. Very frustrating.
2) $4 beers and $2 sodas. This would have been worse, if not for the most laid back security force in history. Smuggling in alcohol and other illicit substances into the concert was so easy that it was almost encouraged. For example, when the security caught Rob with four beers in his cargo shorts, they laughed and let him through when he claimed it was "cans of water".
3) The early afternoon schedule on Sunday. For some reason, the organizers had all four of the biggest stages overlapping for fifteen minutes...although this may not sound that bad, it was a nuisance that made it difficult to enjoy any of the bands. Overall, though, the concert was very well run.
3 artists that I had never heard of but really enjoyed
1) Particle
2) Joe Firstman
3) The Donovan Frankreiter Band
3 concerts that I wish I would have caught more of
1)North Mississippi All-Stars (same time as Bright Eyes)
2) The Polyphonic Spree (looked excessively weird, same time as Ben Kweller)
3) Nickel Creek (Kevin dislocated his shoulder trying to catch a football kicked by a squat, butch woman, and I had to seek medical help. Seriously)
3 bands that I like whose concerts underwhelmed me
1) Steve Earle and the Dukes - Nothing particularly wrong with it, just couldn't get into it. One of my favorite "stupid fan" moments occurred here though. When Earle was playing his anti-Bush song "Amerika v. 6.0", the lyrics go "So bomb Iraq, bomb Syria, bomb North Korea, and then bomb TEXAS". No one in the crowd seem to hear any of the lyrics except for Texas, so they let out a huge cheer at the name of their home state.
2) G. Love and Special Sauce - Decent, nothing special. May have had more to do with my mood than the performance. I ended up leaving early, though I heard that I missed a rousing closing number. I guess it was a countrified ode where the chorus went "You don't need pussy to have a good time...but it helps".
3) Ben Kweller - There was nothing wrong with it, it just sounded like I was listening to the cd.
Top 10 artists that I thoroughly enjoyed
10) Ween - I only caught the last third of their set, but what I saw was very weird...and very fun.
9) Dandy Warhols - Played a very mellow show in the light rain on Saturday afternoon. Probably wasn't the best venue to accentuate their talents, but still an enjoyable show.
8) Yo la Tengo - Yo la Tengo is one of those bands that it is loved by critics and adored by music snobs. After attending the concert, I can totally see why. They are extremely musically gifted and versatile...each member of the trio played multiple instruments and sang during their one hour set. Some of the songs were pretty amazing, other parts were a little weird for my taste. Yo la Tengo played at the same time as Jack Johnson, so the crowd was comparatively small. The promoter who introduced Yo la Tengo summed up what the crowd was thinking when he said "Aren't you glad you are down here with all of the cool, intelligent people?" Yes we were.
7) O.A.R. - Although not as magical as the time I saw them last October, they still had the crowd bouncing with a lively, enjoyable set that peaked with a rousing rendition of It Was a Crazy Game of Poker.
6) Bright Eyes - Conor Oberst did Omaha proud with a superb mellow set in front of a pretty good sized crowd. He also enlisted a veritable all-star group of supporting players with Spoon lead singer Brit Daniel and drummer Jim Eno, guitarist Matt Ward, and Beth Orton on back-up vocals. It was a nice way to wind down after the madness of the Robert Randolph set, but he is another artist that would be better served by a smaller venue.
5) The Shins - I wasn't feeling one of my favorite artists, Bob Schneider, so I headed down to the other end to check out a band my friend Jason strongly recommended. I wasn't disappointed. Within the first 3 minutes, I knew that I was going to get their cd. Three minutes later, I knew that I could fall in love with this band. A very interesting interesting arrangement where the keyboardist is the frontman with stage presence and the lead singer is a supporting player, The Shins played a great power pop set that earned them at least one new fan.
4) Spoon - The lead singer was under the weather and forgetting some of the words. My friends left halfway through because they were not into the band at all. But Caroline, Jon, and I (you know, the cool ones) stayed and enjoyed a rousing show that got better with each number. One of my favorite bands.
My three favorite shows from the Festival rank right up there with my favorite shows that I have ever attended. Each was so close to perfect that the only way I could put them in order was to rank them by their lead singer's choice of shirt. With the criteria set, I'll continue:
3) Robert Randolph on the Family Band - I had never even heard of these guys a month ago, but they put on an incredible show. I dragged some friends with me to this one, and it was universally loved. Randolph is a guitar god that has a knack for getting the crowd. The band absolutely blew us away with their lively riffs and winning stage presence. This was the show that we were talking about for the rest of the weekend. In all honesty, they probably deserved the number one spot in my rankings, but I couldn't give Randolph that much love...he was wearing a Cubs jersey.
2) Old 97's - I had seen them three times before, but this was undoubtedly their best performance. They have always been one of my very favorite bands, so ranking them this high my be the musical equivalent of homerism, but their show early Saturday was undoubtedly deserving. They managed to fit all of my favorites into their set list and played with a joy that was a pleasure to watch. Only Rob, Caroline, Jon, and I got their early enough to see them, and we were all glad that we did. Later in the day they highlighted an otherwise pedestrian tribute to Johnny Cash. Definitely reaffirmed their status as one of my personal favorites.
1) Michael Franti and Spearhead - This is another one that I had never heard of a month ago. One of the few hip-hop leaning bands at the festival, they completely blew me away. Franti had the crowd moving from the word go. This band had me dancing. Yes, I danced. And I wasn't even that drunk. They put on an unbelievable knockdown drag out performance that also had its quiet moments that were very moving. Not be artists can have me dancing, fewer still can put a tear in my eye. Spearhead was the rare band that did both. And Michael Franti get smany a bonus point for his "One Term" t-shirt.