sing about it saturday

  i’m obsessed with this song but the whole album is great. {my morning jacket ~ wonderful}

Filed Under: sing about it saturday
Tagged: denver colorado blog, music blog, my morning jacket, wonderful by my morning jacket *please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here. Comment »

barto backstage. hangout festival.

Every year as festival season approaches and lineups are announced the phone calls and e-mails start to trickle in. “Hey, did you see the lineup? It’s killer. We should go.” Each time a particular festival is discussed I begin to fidget around  and hem and haw because part of me really wants to do it and another part wants to stay as far away as possible. Usually the no go part of me wins out but about every two years someone says just the right thing and I say go.

2011 is no exception. This year the buzz among my comrades was around the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores Alabama. My go side said great location, great lineup, and perfect timing for for my work schedule. My no go side said way too hot, disgusting port-a-potties, and other general third world living conditions. Then came the tipping point. “Dude we can stay in a two bedroom, two bathroom air-conditioned condo on the beach.” After that it was a definite go.

We arrived at our condo on Friday at around 3:30am, much too early for the 9:00am check in at the office. So…we slept in the car. Not a great start but after we got checked in and grabbed some sleep and showers it was off to the shuttles to carry us to the great day of music ahead.

We arrived at the festival site around one o’clock which was plenty of time to get in to see our first act of the day, Brandi Carlile, or so we thought. There were two entrances; both heavily backed up. Turns out it was taking a long time to exchange tickets for the three day wristbands. Nearly two hours later we were in and after a quick bathroom stop we headed over to the Surf Style stage where Brandi Carlile was performing in time only to hear her final song.

The timing was good though for getting a spot right up at the stage for our main act of the day, My Morning Jacket. After settling in and listening to a few songs from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals I chose to head down the beach to the Hangout stage to catch at least half of the Warren Haynes Band’s afternoon performance. Ryan aka The Golden Eagle, my companion on this trip agreed to hold our place for the Jacket performance.

It’s quite a distance between the two main stages; about a third of a mile and walking on sand doesn’t help the cause of getting places quickly. Anyway, I arrived in time to get a good spot for Warren and got to hear my favorite songs off of the new album as well as a smokin’ cover of “Honky Tonk Women” with special guest Grace Potter who undoubtedly was whisked over to the stage on a golf cart.

The My Morning jacket show was quickly approaching so I decided to get back over that way for their set. Although Ryan was saving a spot for me in the front it became quickly apparent that I would not be getting anywhere near that spot. I did end up with a decent spot by the soundboard. As usual the Jacket did not disappoint. Their twilight to sundown set featured three songs from their new album. Their new song Victory Dance was selected as the opener and has proven to be my favorite off the new record. I was also delighted to hear My Favorite overall song “Smokin’ From Shootin’” as well as “Steam Engine.” It really was a great set list for the condensed festival time frame they were working with.

After MMJ ended I casually headed toward the main stage for Widespread Panic and stopped near the the festival entrance to see if Ryan happened by. He did and we decided it was time to head back to the condo for the evening. Widespread sounded good but we were too far away and too exhausted to try and get closer so we headed for the buses.

The condo we stayed in was six miles from the festival site but we had purchased shuttle passes to take us to and from the festival. When we arrived there was already a large crowd and no clear line. It was complete chaos and Widespread hadn’t finished their set yet so the situation was only going to get worse. After about an hour of trying to catch a bus and getting separated from Ryan I decided to start walking.

It wasn’t long into my walk that I realized this was not a great alternative and made the decision to hitchhike. I have never done this before and figured that it could be quite the adventure. Not long after I stuck my thumb out a Land Rover screeched to a stop in front of me and the driver said “Come on!” right after I hopped in four other people came running up asking for a ride and the couple in the Land Rover were only too happy to oblige.

The couple was headed to the Flora-Bama, a bar at the state line. They seemed half cocked already but coherent enough to transport us back to our condos. Right after we got rolling the girl next to me said ” Oh my god, you’re Zach Galiafinakis! Everyone turned to look at me including the driver and agreed. So, for tje rest of the ride I was referred to as Zach.

The other passengers were in full on party mode and invited me and the couple that picked us up back to their penthouse for some fat spliffs and Jameson. It sounded like a good time but I was tired and separated from my companion with no way of getting in touch as my phone battery didn’t last into the night. As we all piled out of the car I thanked the couple for their generosity and began to walk away to the disappointment of the other travelers. They seriously wanted to party with Zach! A few years ago I might have been down for it but felt I had to get back to my place to make sure everything was cool. Oh, what could have been.

I walked the last several blocks to my condo and reconnected with Ryan who somehow got on a bus. I then got cleaned up and settled in to watch the last half of “Get Him to the Greek” all the while dreaming about the penthouse down the road and what might be happening.

Day two of the festival was more subdued. We caught the shuttle easily and breezed through the entrance as by now everyone had their wristbands. Our first band of the day was Primus who put on a great show in the heat. I’m not a big Primus fan but know several of their songs and it was cool to hear them live.

Primus was up against Cee Lo Green so there was no question about who to see but in between songs during the Primus set I could faintly hear some major rock and roll emanating from elsewhere at the site. Turns out that Cee Lo was very late so in his place the Foo Fighters came out to do a blistering set of covers including “School’s Out for Summer” and “Breakdown.” Cee Lo did finally show up and did a cover of Prince’s “Darling Nikki.” nothing against Primus but that sounds like I may have missed the festival’s best show.

After Primus we headed to the main stage to hear a perennial favorite, the Avett Brothers. The Avetts put on a great set including a fantastic John Prine cover “Spanish Pipedream.” They also played many more of my favorites. It also didn’t hurt that that there was shade around the stage where they played.

The final decision of the evening was whether to stay in our great shaded spot and wait for the Foo Fighters or trek across the beach and catch some of The Flaming Lips. It was another difficult decision that must be made at any festival.  This one was a little easier though, for me since I had seen The Flaming Lips earlier in the week in Charlotte.

I’m glad we decided to wait because the crowd for the Foo Fighters got huge. Shortly after sunset they came out and seriously rocked the place. I think they do a great job catering to their hardcore base as well as casual fans like me. It’s pretty hard not to know at least one of their songs. They’ve been consistent hit makers since the mid 90′s and I knew several of their songs. They played my favorite which is “Best of You.” A little before they wrapped up we headed back to the condo. We got on the shuttle with minimal problems. Seems like they learned from the fiasco the night before.

The third and final day promised more great music. We arrived early for Old Crow Medicine Show and got to catch part of Jonathan Tyler and Northern Lights, a great band from Austin Texas. I plan to do a little more research on them as I really enjoyed what I heard. I have followed Old Crow for a few years but had never seen them live. Just a couple of minutes into their first song I realized that I should have made a bigger effort to see them earlier. They are awesome! They played a great set but it was much too short to quench my thirst for their awesomeness. I suggest giving them a listen. A few of my favorite songs are “Wagon Wheel”, “Humdinger”, and “Tell It to Me.” they are Folk/Bluegrass but rock as hard as anyone I’ve seen.

After Old Crow we headed over to another favorite of mine, JJ Grey and Mofro. I have seen them several times and they always give 100% in their shows. Their festival set was no exception. They sort of remind me of Creedence Clearwater Revival with a mix of swamp funk, delta blues, and straight up rock. The only thing that distracted from their set was the blistering heat. In fact, at the end of their show we decided we had enough and decided to pack up and go home.

On the way home we got to catch a little bit of Michael Franti and some Paul Simon on my iPad. We had a few regrets about leaving but it was time to go. All in all it was a great festival and I got to see many of my favorite bands in a beautiful setting right on the beach. As with any festival it had its pitfalls with the heat, the stinky port-a-potties and less than reliable shuttle service. One big plus though is that opposed to camping we stayed in a nice air conditioned condo right on the beach. This has to have been my best overall festival experience. I’m sure that the next time the opportunity to go to a festival presents itself I will balk and it might be a couple of years but I’m sure somehow I will ultimately be convinced to do another one.

Filed Under: sing about it saturday
Tagged: barto backstage, foo fighters, hangout festival, jj grey and mofro, my morning jacket, old crow medicine show, primus, warren haynes *please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here. Comment »