I have hesitated the whole weekend, should I go to this new Way Over Yonder festival in Santa Monica, or should I stay home and finish these hundred things I was planning to finish over the weekend? Santa Monica is only 30 minutes away, but there is the traffic, then the parking,… I was still undecided when I look up at the line up again. I couldn’t miss Conor, right? And did I make the right decision! The festival lasted two days, but I only bought a ticket for Sunday afternoon (Conor Oberst’s night) and I had a blast. First of all, they gave me a photo pass, which was really awesome because I could take all the pictures I wanted, while getting very close… I was at Conor’s feet and there is nothing better, right?
Plus Jackson Browne made an apparition during Jonathan Wilson’s set, and it was barely surprising, Conor Oberst made an apparition during First Aid Kit’s set, and it wasn’t a surprise either… These girls are totally awesome by the way, such perfect harmonies sung by pure voices, they blew the crowd away. I started my day with Aaron Embry, he was at the entrance when I was waiting for my photo pass and he gave me the biggest smile… his music is so moving. On the carousel, there was plenty of folk which would have made Mumford and Sons totally jealous. It was a folk festival after all and Conor played a strict folk set, the organizers had told him ‘no rock songs’, as he told us,… so he ‘signed the contract in blood’, and played all his best folkies, ‘We are Nowhere’, Four Winds’, Poison Oak’, ‘Lua’, ‘Milk Thistle’…
Way Over Yonder festival is the West Coast version of the Newport Folk Festival in its first year, and they hope to renew the experience next year. In the meantime, the reviews are coming up!
