If you’re reading this review, chances are you’ve rocked a festival in your day. So I’ll ask you what I asked myself today: what factors make up the perfect festival? Saturday at Newport Folk Festival was close enough to perfection to get me to start pondering the question. Great bands, chill crowds, minimal hassle and lines, perfect weather, scenic backdrop, stages you can easily transfer between but that don’t have any sound overlap, craft beers, and at least one chicken souvlaki vendor. Yup, it was tough to go wrong at Newport Folk Festival!
Kicking off the day on the main stage was Brandi Carlile. The field was packed and ready to go from the first note and so was our northwestern songstress. She sang vibrantly, told snappy vignettes between songs, and (no small feat) got the entire crowd out of their chairs with a bouncing version of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.” This really may have been the perfect cover. Great call. Later on she attempted to arrange the audience into a 3-part harmony, a gimmick that failed rather spectacularly. It took almost five minutes to teach everyone their parts, and the field was way too big to hear anyone but yourself. A nice try, but best to save that move for the clubs. Overall Carlile was a great kickoff show and seemed genuinely humbled by the size and attentiveness of the audience.
Next up was Calexico, who oozes long, slow, mellow melodies that stop stress in its tracks. The instrumental waves drifted over the field and blended into the ocean beyond. It’s kind of odd to say, but it’s a compliment when I say that there were more people sleeping through this set than there were dancing. I think the perfect way to experience Calexico’s music is to be lying in a grassy field on a gorgeous day, drifting in and out of consciousness, indifferent to the passage of time. Several hundred people in the audience would agree.
Holding down the Harbor stage in the later part of the afternoon was Doc Watson. Now this is some seriously classic dusty-road-ramblin’ whiskey-drinkin’ straw-chewin’ pizza-tape folk music. The first song I saw was a 90-second ditty featuring only bones and harmonica. That’s it. And wouldn’t you know, the crowd went bananas! This is hardcore folk music, and the crowd consisted of some hardcore folks. The next song, “Fisherman’s Hornpipe,” was also instrumental, barely cleared one minute long and garnered the same reaction. The folk standard “Sittin’ on Top of the World” was next up on the list, and the classics continued from there.
One of the highlights of the day was Dawes lighting up the Quad stage. This was the most upbeat straight-ahead-rock act yet, and with it, naturally attracted the youngest and most dance-happy crowd. After poignantly dedicating “Fire Away” to a struggling friend, the band moved mightily through an all-out rock fest. The set closer “I Got A Feeling It’s Gonna Be Alright” is easily the best party song I saw all day and cranked up the sing-along factor. Note to Brandi Carlile: here’s how you get a sing-along going in three easy steps. 1. Write a great hook. 2. Sing it ten times in a row. 3. Stop singing and just point at the audience and let them take over. I had never heard this song before today, and the band gave no instruction, yet as soon as they pointed at me, I was belting out their song like it was late night Journey.
Back on the main stage, Andrew Bird was putting on a one-man spectacular. Bird must have graduated with honors from the Dr. Didg School of Self-Looping: first he gets the violin part going; then he holds the violin like a guitar and plucks the strings, creating the sonic equivalent of a 4-string fretless mandolin (if such a thing exists); then the vocals, guitar, and more bowed violin keep coming. Vocally harmonizing with the violin as he plays, it is a awe-inspiring move which was featured heavily on his third song, “Natural Disaster.” It’s tough to tell where the violin ends and the vocals begin--the man is one with his instrument.
Closing out the day was folk legend John Prine. I imagine that he’s had a few beers with Doc Watson over the years. His classic folk style was a perfect fit for both the lazy afternoon and for a town laced with as much Americana as Newport. Prine's set confirmed that folk music has its place on the Mt. Rushmore of American music styles right alongside jazz, rock and roll and hip-hop. Today was my first experience at Newport Folk Festival and my only regret is that I didn't choose to attend sooner.
