Comments

• There are no comments yet. Click here to start the conversation!

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Printer friendly

RELATED STORIES

• For some music lovers, festival a family affair

More Nightlife

• Review: 'Three Little Pigs' lets the laughter in
• Review: Dame Edna delights at the Phil
• Review: Holbrook plods along as Twain

Share and Enjoy

FRIDAY

Traffic factor: Not too bad considering what happened at the same venue for the New Year’s 2000 Phish concert. A mere twenty minute slow-down at the gates was a lot less than what I expected.

The weather: A gorgeous Florida winter day with temperatures in the low 80s and a constant breeze, exactly what you wish for at an outdoors festival.

Overall: A great full day of music with virtually no mud on the ground and a schedule that ranged from jam bands to bluegrass and from reggae to rap.

Sam Bush:

With his mandolin and fiddle and his great, progressive bluegrass sounds Sam Bush’s performance was one of the best of the day. His great energy, upbeat newgrass tunes and ability to entice the audience made everyone in the crowd dance and sing along as if Sam Bush had been their favorite musician for ages, and this is true even for people –like me- who had never seen him live before.

Where & When: The Swamp Stage, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

The Weather: We were sweatin’ to that bluegrass music!

What they played: Since 1972 Sam Bush has been producing music non-stop both with his band and with a ridiculous amount of country stars like Emmylou Harris. For the younger, wilder crowd at Langerado Bush played a great array of high energy songs and jams that spun from “Late as Usual” to “Laps of Seven”.

Highpoint: The incredible energy that was almost palpable both on stage and in the audience. It was simply impossible not to dance: standing still would have been a waste of some of the best modern bluegrass around.

Lowpoint: The location. The Swamp stage in the middle of the afternoon can get a little sticky and hot because, unfortunately, it’s protected from the wind.

Bottomline: Sam Bush alone was worth the drive and the money. If you like highly energetic, upbeat newgrass music check out his summer touring dates: he is one of the best live performers you’ll ever see.

The Wailers:

The transition from bluegrass to raggae was as easy as –literally- walking across the street. The Wailers, better known around the world as Bob Marley’s band, played an amazing show at the Everglades stage, drawing a large crowd of fans and many thirsty passersby from the beer stand. The performance started with a dedication to

Where & When: Everglades stage, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The weather: Hot and windy. The perfect weather for a not-so cold overpriced beer.

What they played: All the classics, from “I Shot the Sheriff” to “Stir it Up”, but also some new songs like “I Wanna Hear”.

Highpoint: Friend and fellow performer Matisyahu appeared on stage with his signature XXXXXXX look and joined the Wailers (and the audience) as they sang “No Woman, No Cry”. Needless to say, the crowd went wild.

Lowpoint: The concert was too short. One hour of great reggae music played by one of the most influential reggae bands around is not enough. When they wrapped up their performance everyone was still screaming for more.

Bottomline: Bob Marley might not be with them anymore, but the Wailers are definitely a band worth seeing

!!!:

A little tired from the traffic, the sun, the wind and many hours of live music, watching !!!’s performance was exactly what I needed: with their over the top energy and danceable rock tunes, !!! (pronounced chk, chk, chk, I was informed) put on a greatly enjoyable and highly energetic show. Lead singer Nic Offer kept dancing and bouncing around the stage for the whole duration of the performance, luring into dancing even the most tired and jaded of us.

Where & When: Chikee Hut stage, 6:45 to 7:45 p.m.

The weather: An absolutely perfect warm Florida night, it seemed impossible to believe that the weather would turn sour by the next morning.

What they played: “Our Heroes are all Weirdos”, “Heart to Heart” and many other fast-paced punk-ish songs from their large repertoir.

Highpoint: The lead singer’s intentional mispronunciation of the festival name during one of the few speeches in between songs made even the incredibly stoned hippy next to me laugh out loud.

Lowpoint: The Cheeke Hut stage is tucked away from all the action, which made a trip to the bathroom or to the food stands really long walk. On the bright side, cold beer was sold only a few yards away.

Bottomline: Whether you were a long time !!! fan or you knew nothing about them, their performance was exciting, powerful and, most of all, fun.

The Beastie Boys

As expected, the Friday night headliners attracted a humongous crowd: despite the fact that I arrived early by the stage, the audience was so thick I could never get closer than 250 yards from the stage. Who knew that hippies like the Beastie Boys so much? And who knew that whoever takes care of the sound mixing for a huge band could do such a poor job at it? The sound mix was so bad their voices were almost inaudible, whereas the sound of their instruments was way too loud.

Where & When: Everglades stage, 9:30 to 11:30 p.m.

The weather: Not too bad at the beginning of the show, but by the end of the performance a severe thunderstorm alert had been issued with tornado warning. Kind of a killjoy, if you ask me.

What they played: Being at a festival famous for jam sessions, the Beastie Boys tried to conform by playing lots of guitar riffs to appease the crowd – a choice that seemed to work at first but ended up raising more than a few eyebrows when taken too far.

Highpoint: If you were a teenager in the 90s, seeing the Beastie Boys live on stage is something you always dreamed of and there’s virtually nothing that can destroy your adolescent fantasy.

Lowpoint: Definitely the sound quality: there’s nothing worse than sitting through two hours of ill mixed music, especially when you have been salivating at the thought of seeing them live for years.

Bottom line: A little disappointing, mainly because of the poor sound quality, but also because of the huge expectations I had about their performance. Still, for a few moments, they made me wish I were in high school again, fighting for my right to party.