Woody here, reporting live from Wakarusa Music Festival in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. We are only halfway into our Waka weekend and could literally have seen enough great sets and new finds to last the entire summer, luckily we still have two more full days left! WINNING ALL DAY BAAAABY!!
Uber quick recap of our Waka-trip thus far:
Armed with an equally babetastic and studly crew of RYTOR, Dreadlock McKleary, hoopin Hono and Tink, we began our Thursday with some funky bluegrass on the main stage with ALO and Railroad Earth, with some added energy from the our glowing ball of fire in the sky, the crowd was grooving and boppin like we didn’t have 72 straight hours of jams ahead of us. But as I always say, “Start the way you are going to finish, STONG!” Hats off to Tim Carbone, Violinist/Vocalist, who rocked his violin like it owed him money; he had me at hello.
We left Railroad Earth mildly early to catch Rubble Bucket of BKYN, I didn’t know what to expect, but had heard great things my Galactic friends enjoyed their 9:30 Club performance in D.C., and real talk, that’s the best way to find new music; going out on a limb, out of your comfort zone of what you know, and doing something completely new. Lead by musical couple Alex Toth (trumpet, band leader) and Kalmia Traver (vocals, saxophone), their unique flavor and stage presence have turned Rubble Bucket into my Waka sneak pick of the weekend thus far; the only band that I took the effort to experience twice to say the least. With a stellar horn section, obviously starring Toth and Traver, also featured a gnarly trombone as well, a perfect combination.
Short food break, followed by a tour of the vendors, (who are THE best I have seen at any festival in recent memory, so like the past 2 months J) featuring some amazing art, an array of heady gear, and some band attire, and then back to the Kum & Go tent where we walked into the Tea Leaf Green set currently in progress, a swift hop, skip and jump and we have a perfect spot for viewing the stellar lightshow, but still close enough to see all the emotion and positive energy that this five-piece rock band from San Francisco is giving out to the crowd.
The last time I had seen any member of TLG on stage, I was at DC9 in Washington, and Trevor Garrod, who contributes keyboards, vocals, guitar, and harmonica to TLG, was jamming in a duo with my friend Lael Neale in a very intimate set for about 50ish people, and that’s a stretch. And on the other end of the spectrum, I’m seeing Garrod along with his band play for a packed tent at Wakarusa for multiple thousand people, and couldn’t seem more in his element. When artists are not fazed by the number of people at their show, or which venues they are playing at this week, I find more respect for them, as its evident they just love the music and came to spread their songs. Tim Carbone of Railroad came out again to grace us with his Violin skills; again he had me at hello. Much love.
For the next two hours I was playing an epic game of tag, going back and forth between Savoy and Papadosio, who were luckily playing a cool 50 yards away from each other. The dance party of Savoy and the amazing electro/jam/funk of Papadosio could not have been a more amazing way to end the night,..if I had actually ended my night at the conclusion of their set at 3:30am, but I did not*. I had seen Papadosio and been an immediate fan since their daytime 2009 set at AllGood, and couldn’t be more pumped for them to be rocking the ish out of this late-night set.
We could not have had a better first day! The overall presentation of the festival itself could not be more up to par with a perfect festival experience, and the opportunity to grasp an extraordinarily broad range of music styles and musicians has left me a bit wet from the pleasure, lets get it!
*The details of the late-night Vibe SquaD set at the Untz Grassroots California Satellite Stage, which is so perfectly placed in the forest can be found on our sister NC-17 site www.rocknycliveandrecordedXXX.com, but due to our broad audience, the content isn’t currently available. Yipppeee!!
Saturdays Schedule
@ the Untz Grassroots California Satellite
Eitch 4:30
Gramatik 6:30
@ Mainstage
Umphrey's McGee 8:30
Primus 11
Big G 1am
Late night @ the Untz Grassroots California Satellite
Rjd2 31m
WAKA WAKA!!!
