I don't think my day at Newport could have been any more perfect. Em and I drove down from my aunt's house in Boston and flawlessly navigated the Volvo over the Newport bridge, and right into one of the most beautiful state parks on New England's Atlantic coast. The Folk Festival is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year, and as always, took place around the stone walls of Fort Adams, a large grandiose park in the city of Newport, RI. The line up included a lot of acts that I knew, and a bunch that were new to me, as well. I looked up the schedule ahead of time, as to plan the day around what shows I needed to see and could not miss. Many sets overlapped one another, so this took some tricky skills. Luckily, most of the acts that I wanted to see were on the middle sized stage of the three. The "Waterfront Stage", as it was called, was a pretty intimate setting with rows and rows of chairs set of for those who wanted to stay seated. As one who loves to actually feel the music, I refused to sit in those chairs and stood on the side of the stage, right in the front, which in my opinion, is really the best "seat". Ben Kweller was the first performer we saw at the Waterfront. Clad in a holy t-shirt and ripped jeans, he took the stage, without a bassist, to perform. Most of the set was off of his newest album "Changing Horses" that came out this past February. This former child prodigy was born in San Francisco, though lived most of his earlier life in Texas, greatly influencing his folk/rock/slightly country sound. As much as I enjoy thoroughly the new and slightly new sound on the 4th album, I was happy to hear some of his older pieces like my personal favorite, "Falling", off of his 1st album "Sha Sha". Between songs, Kweller told funny little anecdotes about his personal life, including giving a shout out to Block Island, the site where his wife Liz and he were married. I got pretty excited that he was a Block Island fan like myself!
Though one of the best moments was when Ben's chord fell out of his acoustic right in the middle of "On My Way"! The whole band stopped, and he proceeded to joke with the audience about the fact that he knew that was going to happen, since yesterday, while rehearsing, it was temperamental. He was extremely charismatic and adorable. I wasn't surprised. After Ben Kweller, Tom Morello (former guitarist for Rage Against The Machine) took the stage as "The Nightwatchman", the name is uses for solo work. Trucker hat, aviators and all Tom Morello rocked the small venue. With his haunting guitar riffs and stomping cowboy boots, the whole audience was entranced. Though to his dismay, sadly sitting in the seats that had been set up for the previous acts. He shouted, "Newport, stand the fuck up!", and even let fans crowd around and jump up and down in the space next to the stage that security was forbidding anyone from standing in. Morello played only the work that he does as "The Nighwatchman", including a brilliant song that he wrote for his grandmother that used only a harmonica and a hand drum. He even thrilled the audience by playing the lick from the GuitarHero video, and promptly moved on to the rest of the set. As an encore, Morello belted out the Gutherie hit, "This Land is Your Land", and told Newport "To jump the fuck up" and to sing along. Tom Morello was easily the most passionate performer that I noticed. Even stomping that boot, you could clearly tell that he was enjoying every moment on stage. Truly an amazing guitarist, musician and chill guy, Em and I made friends with the security guard and convinced him to get Tom Morello to take a picture with us. The chubby bastard pulled through. We got our picture with him, and he peaced out to his trailer. And amazing show, that ended with a ridiculous picture. And of course one of the real reasons that I drove all the way to Newport was to see dear Brett Dennen. It was nice that his set was slightly different than the one the month previously in Boston. He did open with "When You Feel It You Know" and close with "Blessed", like he had in Boston. Because he was booked at the
smallest stage, it was way too crowded and not enough room for people to get up and move around, which proves increasingly difficult while listening to Dennen's catchy melodies, and watching his own funky moves. Chairs were also set up like the previous venue for Kweller and Morello, so only a lucky few standing on the sides could dance around. Luckily, I was one of those few and was about 10 feet away from the musicians (as close as you could really get). Brett seemed a little tired in this performance. He was charismatic and wonderfully gracious and sweet, though I thought it was apparent that the 90 degree heat was getting to him. His performance of "Ain't Gonna Lose You" was particularly great this time, despite the heat. This set was filled with much more improvisation and vamping that I really thought added another element to his performance that I hadn't seen previously. He didn't play "San Francisco", which saddened me, but the rest of the set was filled with mostly his uptempo pieces including, of course, "Darling Do Not Fear", and "Make You Crazy". His keyboard player/guitarist/back up vocalist, Jon Solo, took some lengthy but well developed chorus' that provided a break for Dennen during the most lively tunes. Dennen's hips were swinging and swaying despite the crowd's stiffness, and he tromped the stage in his signature bare feet while giving an enthusiastic performance. This was my first experience at the Newport Folk Festival, and after an amazing day experiencing the most incredible live performances, I know the trek down to the Rhode Island coast is going to be instated as a summer tradition.
I don't think my day at Newport could have been any more perfect. Em and I drove down from my aunt's house in Boston and flawlessly navigated the Volvo over the Newport bridge, and right into one of the most beautiful state parks on New England's Atlantic coast. The Folk Festival is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year, and as always, took place around the stone walls of Fort Adams, a large grandiose park in the city of Newport, RI. The line up included a lot of acts that I knew, and a bunch that were new to me, as well. I looked up the schedule ahead of time, as to plan the day around what shows I needed to see and could not miss. Many sets overlapped one another, so this took some tricky skills. Luckily, most of the acts that I wanted to see were on the middle sized stage of the three. The "Waterfront Stage", as it was called, was a pretty intimate setting with rows and rows of chairs set of for those who wanted to stay seated. As one who loves to actually feel the music, I refused to sit in those chairs and stood on the side of the stage, right in the front, which in my opinion, is really the best "seat". Ben Kweller was the first performer we saw at the Waterfront. Clad in a holy t-shirt and ripped jeans, he took the stage, without a bassist, to perform. Most of the set was off of his newest album "Changing Horses" that came out this past February. This former child prodigy was born in San Francisco, though lived most of his earlier life in Texas, greatly influencing his folk/rock/slightly country sound. As much as I enjoy thoroughly the new and slightly new sound on the 4th album, I was happy to hear some of his older pieces like my personal favorite, "Falling", off of his 1st album "Sha Sha". Between songs, Kweller told funny little anecdotes about his personal life, including giving a shout out to Block Island, the site where his wife Liz and he were married. I got pretty excited that he was a Block Island fan like myself! 
Though one of the best moments was when Ben's chord fell out of his acoustic right in the middle of "On My Way"! The whole band stopped, and he proceeded to joke with the audience about the fact that he knew that was going to happen, since yesterday, while rehearsing, it was temperamental. He was extremely charismatic and adorable. I wasn't surprised. After Ben Kweller, Tom Morello (former guitarist for Rage Against The Machine) took the stage as "The Nightwatchman", the name is uses for solo work. Trucker hat, aviators and all Tom Morello rocked the small venue. With his haunting guitar riffs and stomping cowboy boots, the whole audience was entranced. Though to his dismay, sadly sitting in the seats that had been set up for the previous acts. He shouted, "Newport, stand the fuck up!", and even let fans crowd around and jump up and down in the space next to the stage that security was forbidding anyone from standing in. Morello played only the work that he does as "The Nighwatchman", including a brilliant song that he wrote for his grandmother that used only a harmonica and a hand drum. He even thrilled the audience by playing the lick from the GuitarHero video, and promptly moved on to the rest of the set. As an encore, Morello belted out the Gutherie hit, "This Land is Your Land", and told Newport "To jump the fuck up" and to sing along. Tom Morello was easily the most passionate performer that I noticed. Even stomping that boot, you could clearly tell that he was enjoying every moment on stage. Truly an amazing guitarist, musician and chill guy, Em and I made friends with the security guard and convinced him to get Tom Morello to take a picture with us. The chubby bastard pulled through. We got our picture with him, and he peaced out to his trailer. And amazing show, that ended with a ridiculous picture. And of course one of the real reasons that I drove all the way to Newport was to see dear Brett Dennen. It was nice that his set was slightly different than the one the month previously in Boston. He did open with "When You Feel It You Know" and close with "Blessed", like he had in Boston. Because he was booked at the
smallest stage, it was way too crowded and not enough room for people to get up and move around, which proves increasingly difficult while listening to Dennen's catchy melodies, and watching his own funky moves. Chairs were also set up like the previous venue for Kweller and Morello, so only a lucky few standing on the sides could dance around. Luckily, I was one of those few and was about 10 feet away from the musicians (as close as you could really get). Brett seemed a little tired in this performance. He was charismatic and wonderfully gracious and sweet, though I thought it was apparent that the 90 degree heat was getting to him. His performance of "Ain't Gonna Lose You" was particularly great this time, despite the heat. This set was filled with much more improvisation and vamping that I really thought added another element to his performance that I hadn't seen previously. He didn't play "San Francisco", which saddened me, but the rest of the set was filled with mostly his uptempo pieces including, of course, "Darling Do Not Fear", and "Make You Crazy". His keyboard player/guitarist/back up vocalist, Jon Solo, took some lengthy but well developed chorus' that provided a break for Dennen during the most lively tunes. Dennen's hips were swinging and swaying despite the crowd's stiffness, and he tromped the stage in his signature bare feet while giving an enthusiastic performance. This was my first experience at the Newport Folk Festival, and after an amazing day experiencing the most incredible live performances, I know the trek down to the Rhode Island coast is going to be instated as a summer tradition.
