Wakarusa redux redux

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture but every once in a while the beat is just too strong to ignore. That said, more concert reviews from Wakarusa.

I was thrilled to see that Neko Case was on the bill as this is the first time in three years that I’ve had a chance to see her play. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her music (just buy Blacklisted now), she might be best described as a country style torch singer. She has this booming, beautiful voice that is just entrancing and when she sings these dark and moody songs you tend to forget to breathe. Plus, she has some of the best stage banter ever. Part of the show is her interacting with the audience. As I wrote Thursday, I was wondering how she would work in a festival environment.

Sadly, it just didn’t work. Lots of reasons for it. First, she had a bad monitor mix that she complained about for the first thirty minutes of the set, too the point that a group of us in the crowd were joining in the abuse on the sound guy. Second, her set started at eight at night and it’s strange to say this but her music just isn’t fit for daylight. It is a one in the morning standing in a crowded smoke filled bar having spent the past hour drinking and philosophizing about your life type of music. It’s not what you sit in an open field and listen to, no matter if it is some of the best music you ever heard.

Plus, this just wasn’t her crowd. The VIP section was empty for her set, which meant that she had no emotion to feed off of. There were a number of people with me who were huge fans and we were all standing at the security fence but that was literally twenty yards away from the stage. It made for a really sterile feeling to the show and that was sad. No interaction with the crowd, none of the candor that makes her concerts a joy to watch. Finally, you can’t really dance to Neko’s music. There are no jams, no solos, and all of the people who were at the set waiting for String Cheese Incident to play later that night were probably really disappointed. She’s still awesome and you need to listen to her music but I’ll be happy when I see her in a small club again.

On the other hand, Wilco was in their element. They put on the best set of the weekend that I saw and really showed that they probably are the best band on the planet. Jeff Tweedy looked healthy and happy, something that hasn’t been the case in the past few years, and he was having fun joking with the crowd. Their set was an interesting mix of songs; mainly from A Ghost is Born and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. If you’ve heard those albums and know how layered and complex they are then it will really impress you to know that they somehow recreate that sound and energy on stage. Add in the darkness and a full moon shining overhead and it was an ethereal experience.

They played a few songs from Being There (Misunderstood and Kingpin) but nothing from AM. That bums me out a bit. I mean, they are a completely band from what they were on that record but it really is one of my favorites. No Uncle Tupelo songs either, which isn’t that surprising. It is this strange thing about loving a band that broke up a decade ago. I would like to hear Jeff and Jay Farrar play some of their old songs but they’ve both released a half dozen albums since Anodyne and I can understand why those songs no longer are on the playlist. Artists change over time and that song you wrote when you were twenty doesn’t mean the same when you are thirty.

(Side note: people were twirl dancing to Wilco. I have no idea why. Some people just need to dance.)

All in all, these were just a couple of great days worth of music. I told someone today that if you made me list my five favorite bands/artists Wilco, Son Volt and Neko Case would make the top five (joined by Damien Rice and Alejandro Escovedo). Any time you can see those three within thiry six hours of each other, it’s a good music festival. Now if I can just deal with the sunburn…

(I promise more Tom Cruise discussions tomorrow. I have much to say about the events of the past few days. I'l just start with "Katie, you are making the biggest mistake of your life!")