Report: Newport Folk Festival
Last weekend marked the return of the long-running Newport Folk Festival to Rhode Island’s Fort Adams State Park. Despite some rainy interludes, the weekend brought a bevy of stellar performances from Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst, The Tallest Man On Earth, Iron & Wine and many more to the gorgeous seaside setting. Read on for set reviews and plenty of photos.
Friday evening’s show with Wilco, Blitzen Trapper and Megafaun wasn’t technically a part of the festival (it was billed a ‘Folk Friday’ instead), but the bill fit squarely within the fest’s progressive outlook on folk in modern music. Wilco are hardly a ‘folk band,’ but the fingerprints of genre pioneers like Woody Guthrie are all over the group’s catalog. Jeff Tweedy and company would pay tribute to Guthrie (whose hundredth birthday would have been this year) by opening their set with a cover of “Christ For President,” and returning to his words for multiple songs from their Mermaid Avenue records (which put previously unheard Guthrie lyrics to music in collaboration with Billy Bragg). Wilco being Wilco though, this wasn’t a show rooted wholly in nostalgia. The night also saw no shortage of adventurous material spanning their career.
Megafaun’s set was lost to me as a result of ungodly Newport traffic, but I arrived in time to see most of second opener Blitzen Trapper. The quintet offered up heavily folk and country influenced songs with a classic rock bent. They sounded gentle and unassuming one minute and ripped into dueling electric guitar solos the next. The band seemed to suffer sound issues as a result of the rain (which had just subsided as they took the stage), and frontman Eric Earley looked frustrated. They powered through though, peppering a short set with some of their best-loved songs (“Black River Killer” and “Furr” back-to-back were true crowd-pleasers).
The dichotomy in Wilco’s headlining set between the traditional and the progressive was evident pretty immediately. Following “Christ For President,” the band went for the opening cut from last year’s (still awesome) The Whole Love: “Art of Almost.” The song opens in a spacey calm with Tweedy’s vocals and a minimalist groove behind him until it builds to a massive instrumental crescendo showcasing the ever-impressive shredding of guitarist Nels Cline. It’s a top-tier Wilco song for sure, indicative of the band’s instrumental prowess, songwriting strength and ear for atmosphere. From there the nearly two hour show would continue to explore the many sides of Wilco, from the jammy “Impossible Germany” to the power-pop of “Can’t Stand It” and “Always In Love” to the haunting beauty of “Poor Places.” It was the type of varied, career-spanning set we’ve come to expect from Wilco, touching on all the reasons why they are one of the best bands of the last two decades. Cline’s masterful guitar playing stood out as always, but the whole band was in top form. A perfect set for an outdoor show on a summer night, as well as a perfect kickoff to the weekend’s festivities.
Saturday got off to a late start for me (car issues, traffic, forgotten tickets, you name it), but I did arrive in time to check out Swedish duo First Aid Kit. Sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg were joined by “a Swedish drummer from Sweden” (their words) for a set of earnest and gorgeously sung songs rooted in traditional country and folk. The two sing in close harmony with indescribably beautiful voices, accompanying themselves with keys and acoustic guitar. Their own songs shined, but they also made strong choices for covers in the form of Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust” and Fever Ray’s “When I Grow Up.” Set-closer “King of the World” brought the first of the weekend’s many unexpected Conor Oberst appearances for the final verse.
Next up was Sam Beam’s Iron & Wine on the Quad Stage. For years Beam performed and recorded mostly solo as Iron & Wine, but as his sonic palette has expanded from record to record, he’s taken to touring with a full five piece backing band. Purists and worshipers of The Creek Drank the Cradle didn’t seem overjoyed at the prospect of Iron & Wine as an actual band, but for the most part Beam and company pulled it off. A few stripped down cuts from Our Endless Numbered Days opened the set, which continued with a focus on more orchestrated songs from last year’s Kiss Each Other Clean and 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog. With six people on stage, the arrangements did border on overstuffed at times. The band successfully reeled themselves in though, and employed restraint where it was needed most. The set was at its best when Beam’s voice and lyrics were at the forefront, where they belong.
In the midst of a half-hour wait for a grilled cheese (which proved to be one of the festival’s most popular food offerings), Newport’s iPhone app informed me of a surprise Conor Oberst set in the kid’s tent. A few minutes later, a pretty even mixture of parents with tiny children who actually belonged in the kids tent and curious onlookers were treated to three songs from the Bright Eyes frontman. “True Blue” was cute, and a counting song about spotted frogs was even cuter. He closed with “one for the parents,” a more typically bittersweet number. Oberst as a children’s musician wasn’t a spectacle I expected to see this weekend, but it was a welcome surprise.
Saturday would be closed out with a headlining set from Kentucky rockers My Morning Jacket. In spite of their revered status in the alternative rock canon, I’ve somehow managed to never hear much from MMJ apart from 2001’s At Dawn. This set was a sure indicator that I should get on top of that though. The band navigated between plaintive folk-leaning tracks showcasing the warm voice of frontman Jim James and sprawling psychedelic jams with the greatest of ease. In the spirit of Wilco’s Friday night set, My Morning Jacket delivered a performance that may not have been ‘folk’ in the traditional sense, but clearly bore its influence while exploring a range of other genres and sounds. Guest appearances included Conor Oberst (yet again) and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes, among others. Monsoon-level rains cut James and company off fifteen minutes early, but I don’t think anyone left disappointed.
My first set on Sunday was the one and only “screaming eagle of soul”: Charles Bradley. Never heard of him? Don’t worry, neither had I. The former James Brown impersonator has only one record to his name despite many years of performance experience. Much of the early afternoon crowd didn’t seem too familiar either, but Bradley and his Extraordinaires (aka his brass-featuring six-piece backing band) soon had plenty of us up and dancing. Bradley’s years as James Brown show on stage in the best possible way. He’s all charisma, rough-edged vocals, showy stage moves and fabulous shirts. There’s also vulnerability and humanity to his performance though, and he clearly gives it his all. Immediately following the set he came down from the stage to give every member of the front row a hug, tears in his eyes. Bradley was certainly not a typical folk fest act, but still a genuine, earnest and wholly entertaining performer.
The Head and the Heart, one of Sunday’s more crowded sets at the Fort Stage, was up next. The Seattle-based folk-rock band delivered well-written and catchy tunes to an adoring audience. Their sound is based in interweaving guitars, piano and violin, distinguished by three members switching off and harmonizing on vocals. Guitarist/vocalist Jonathan Russell looked like he’d rather be somewhere else on stage, but the rest of the band was upbeat and lively enough to make up for him. A strong set based in roots-y instrumentation and solid songwriting.
Former Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst followed up with one of the weekend’s best sets. He tackled the first few songs with only his guitar before being joined by the lovely sisters of First Aid Kit for “Lua.” The set would gradually become an ‘Oberst and friends’ affair as Jonathan Wilson, the entirety of Dawes and even My Morning Jacket’s Jim James took the stage at various times. First Aid Kit’s gorgeous harmonizing on “Lua” brought a touch of comfort to one of Oberst’s darkest songs, and Dawes took on the role of full backing band for the set’s second half. Much to the crowd’s delight, the setlist leaned heavily on classic Bright Eyes songs. Oberst may have abandoned the moniker, but the songs themselves are here to stay. That’s good news, because he’s written some damn good ones. “First Day of My Life” remains as sweet a love song as there is, and a set-closing “Make War” was downright anthemic. In a contrast to his on-record persona, Oberst was friendly and talkative on stage. He seems to embrace his now-veteran musician status with an easy demeanor and a sense that he truly enjoys performing. Between that, a barrage of excellent guests and a near-perfect song selection, Oberst was a weekend highlight for sure.
I booked it to the Harbor Stage to catch as much of The Tallest Man On Earth’s set as possible following Oberst. The Swedish folk musician, also known as Kristian Matsson, had already packed in a crowd well beyond the stage’s tented confines. Matsson performs alone with his guitar and piano, but he had a huge crowd as enraptured as any full band all weekend. His songwriting is brilliant, his voice a powerful Dylanesque instrument unto itself, and his complex acoustic fingerpicking a spectacle to behold. Highlights from all three of Matsson’s LPs made up the setlist, and even the encroaching rain couldn’t shrink that crowd. It was one of the weekend’s purest displays of raw talent.
I had planned to catch the remainder of Jackson Browne’s headlining Sunday set, but the rain managed to dissuade my compatriots and I. Before getting completely drenched, we headed for home. Two consecutively soaked evenings couldn’t put a damper on the weekend though, if you’ll forgive the pun. Newport is an extremely well-organized festival with a refreshingly laid back atmosphere. The weather could’ve been slightly more cooperative, but a weekend of excellent seaside music prevailed.
