Week of Hinterland Music Festival

    Hinterland Music Festival much like this blog entry ran into some problems near the end but was able to overcome and move on. The festival was set to happen in Waterworks Park until it got flooded out and had to be moved 4 days from the date, but the pulled it off and the festival went off as planned. So lets talk about what I saw at the fest including TV on the Radio, Future Islands, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Old Crow Medicine Show, St Paul and the Broken Bones, and many others. 

Friday July 31st

    I got of work and made my way the 35 miles to the festival with nearly everybody else. The Traffic was so bad that I was stuck for 45 minutes and missed The Envy Corps but, I made it in time for TV on the Radio, and all was ok with the world. 

TV on the Radio 6:30-

     

TV on the Radio was the main reason I wanted to go in the to hinterland and in my mind the real headliner of the day. The came out 15 minutes late but they used all the time they had and more playing their full hour without stopping. They played 11 songs focussing on their new album seeds. They opened with Lazerray and within seconds a dance party broke out. From there they played the Golden age from Dear Science alternating from dear science and seeds songs, until playing Return From Cookie Mountains Wolf Like Me to huge applause. They ended the set with the crowd favorite Young Liars. It was very hot, but that didn't stop both the band and the fans from dancing and singing along to their hearts content, till they left the stage. After what seemed like just a blink an hour had passed and they were gone. 

Future Islands 8:00-

    I had never seen Future Islands before and had only heard their newest album, which I really liked. The performance was a whole different level from the album. The front man Samuel Herring looks like a young Morrissey and performs pop music while possessed with a metal sex god. He randomly busts out dance moves that make girl dancers look inferior, and unleashes random metal guttural low notes in the middle of a pop song. It was like nothing I had ever seen, a true performer that didn't stick to one genre.  He played for an hour with songs from all four albums focussing on Singles the newest and best album of theirs, so I hear. That man danced and broke it down for an hour straight and gave the crowd exactly what it wanted with Seasons Waiting on You. A full crowd singalong broke out. He played a couple more songs after that dancing and singing metal vocals all the way. It was way more entertaining than I expected, I would see them play again.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes 9:30-

          I had seen Edward Sharpe before, but never like this. The first time I saw them they were sharp, quick witted, and fun. This time they were just fun, for me at least. The show started as normal opening the show with Up From Below while the singer held a bottle of crown royal downing a bit. He broke down laughing before starting and stopping the band during playing Jangling. During 40 Day Dream he had audience members sings lines and they nailed. After that the singer absolutely lost it cracking up at his own jokes, taking requests and stopping halfway through because, "he didn't know how to play that shit", and telling the audience that he had a dream where he played to us, but we were dolphins. I was loosing it too, during this and laughing my ass off at how out of it he was, but if I hadn't seen it I would have been mad. He finally played Man on Fire. He played If I Were Free and I Don't Wanna Pray. On the latter he made the piano player improvise and change the key five times. At one point he was thrown a slap bracelet and freaked the hell out. He said that it was amazing most amazing thing he had ever seen. For Home he ran down to the audience and sang into the faces of the crowd. He ended the set with a quick version of Om Mashi Me because he went over time. People either left in stitches or pissed off. I loved his drugged up ass. 

Saturday August 1st 

          Friday night I went to the TV on the Radio after show, but in a surprise turn of events I didn't end up staying because I ran into some friends I hadn't seen in years. I ended up staying out very late because of it. So all that said, and with the drive, I didn't make into the festival until around 3:30 just in time for the first important band of the day St. Paul and the Broken Bones.

St Paul and the Broken Bones 4:00-

     The first thing to see of the day was to me the most important as I really didn't know the rest of the bands. Within seconds he won the crowd over by screaming, "St. Charles how the hell are you, were St. Paul and your St. Clair match up works well." He opened his mouth and blasted out his amazing soulful voice for Chicken Pox and blew everyone away. He spent the whole set showing off how he has one of the best soul voices I have ever heard by nailing all of his songs and covering Sam Cooke's Shake, Ray Knoble's Try a Little Tenderness, and Tom Waits' Make It Rain. He ended the set with Try a Little Tenderness and it was so good it gave me chills. I don't know one person that walked away from this unhappy. He blew that shit out of the water with the most soulful performance I have ever seen.

Lucius 5:15-

    

I knew almost nothing about this band going into this. I knew they were an Alt/Folk band with two girl singers and that was it. Sometimes it's nice going in blind. This band was great at every aspect of the show. They had three part layered harmonies that were spot on, they weaved the vocal lines effortlessly all while playing. The played 10 songs in an hour and that was it. At the end of their set they all switched to drums and pounded out an amazingly complex mass drum beat. The whole show was great and they switched genre multiple times throughout the set gradually before going back to another one. They weaved there entire set.

Younger Mountain String Band 6:30-

      As I said about Lucius I didn't know this band very much, as with all of the bands on the second half of the day. I had at least heard of this band. They play in Des Moines a lot and have quite the reputation for being a great live jam band. They came out and said it was great to be back in Des Moines, but they were going to half to play a much shorter show than the fans were used to. They started out jamming on banjo songs and strings to old classics and their own material. Later in the set they brought out an accordion and played more covers and standards. They played a few covers I didn't know but they also covered the Greatful Dead on Shakedown Street and Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield. The Dusty Springfield cover was my favorite of the set and it was beautiful. They hammered away on all sorts of instruments switching constantly, all experts on multiple instruments. It was truly something to watch them solo away on one instruments after the next. I will be seeing them the next time they are in Des Moines. 

Brandi Carlile 8:00-

     Brandi Carlile was the one act of the night I wasn't sure I was going to like. I didn't even know what style she played. She tends to walk the line between county and folk. I liked her but she walks that line very narrowly. Imagine my surprise expecting country and hearing a Led Zeppelin cover of Going to California late in the set. At the very end of the set they brought out members of Old Crow Medicine Show and played Turpentine and Raise Hell. She told the crowd that after this she would be coming back next year even if she doesn't play. I didn't know her music at all so I won't pretend like I do, but I liked what I heard even if it got to close to country to my taste, just kidding. I don't actually hate all county, just pop country, and that leads us perfectly into the headliner. 

Old Crow Medicine Show 9:30-

           This band came out literally bouncing right at 9:30 and told the crowd how happy they were that the festival got moved out of the dirty city in to the great outdoors. They had more energy on stage than almost anyone I had ever seen with the banjo player sprinting to the edge to the stage doing a little jig and springing back to play a blasting solo right after a the fiddle player had just finished a solo. I don't much like county, but I liked this. They played closer to bluegrass with Charlie Danniels style fiddle. The one song I knew was their most famous one, Wagon wheel. A cover that they made famous and when they played it the entire crowd stopped put their lighters up and sang along. It was a beautiful moment. They left the stage after this and I made my early leave, seeing what I came to see. On my walk out I heard their encore of a couple of classic county songs covered much faster on fiddle. Unless you have a stick up your ass it's just impossible not to have fun at a show like this. The fest pulled out a last minute move and saved the weekend. I will be back next year.