My plans for attending 10,000 Lakes Festival were so screwed with in the weeks and then days leading up to my departure that I was quite afraid I would not make it. This would have been a grave disservice because it turned out to be the best festival I’ve ever been to. Due to some delays Carolyn and I didn’t kick rocks out of town until around 6pm on Tuesday. Since the first bands were going on at 6pm on Wednesday and the trip takes 24 hours it became glaringly clear what needed to be done. We blazed hard up the left lane of the world and what probably would have been a meandering and eventful drive turned into a dedicated race. However incredibly fast we went, we did have time to meet three black horses with white diamonds on their noses at a gas station. We all became friends and took pictures, which unfortunately can’t be posted here due to the fact that both Carolyn and I are camera romantics and only had our manual 35mm’s.
We arrived in Minnesota, which, if you haven’t been there – is absolutely gorgeous, and met up with our friend Ben and a bunch of his friends from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Locals kick ass. Especially these kids – we ran with them for the majority of the week and had one hell of a time. We set up camp in the woods overlooking Lake Sallie and got out there in time to see a good amount of the Trampled by Turtles show. This band is a four piece acoustic string band with a banjo and mandolin – heart. They played the show sitting down and I couldn’t see so I got up on some tall dude’s shoulders, but he was pretty sweaty so I got down. Their music was semi-traditional bluegrass and just pretty-pretty. Apparently Ben is cool with these guys and he says they’re great, I believe him. Unfortunately Carolyn and I had to bail on the rest of the shows that evening- we were pretty beat.
The next day we hit it at 4 to see Kimock/Perkins and Tea Leaf Green. Its too bad they were playing at the same time but sometimes that’s just how the trick gets turned. First we went out to the field stage to check out Steve Kimock play with Stephen Perkins, who you probably know from Jane’s Addiction. This is a new pairing, as I understand it the first time they coupled up was at the Green Apple Fest this past spring. Also, Reed from Strangefolk or more recently Assembly of Dust played in the band too. I liked it, though secretly I was really watching for a break in the set so I could dash to the barn stage for the Tea.
Which I did. As a result of the Kimock/Perkins encounter we missed what I saw later was an opening garden suite – but I’m totally fine with that. I came into the middle of killer set and sometimes it takes these guys a second to fully kick it into gear. I’m not going to get too in-depth about this show because I am a 13 year old girl for these guys and this could turn lengthy. Let’s just say I could easily be their groupie if I had the stomach for drugs and casual sex. But I don’t, so how about we just move on.
Next up we had two sets of String Cheese. The first set sounded okay. We were all down in the crowd at the main stage, near the way front so distractions were numerous. I was not totally blown away. So we moved up onto the back lawn for the second set where the sound was killer and there was enough room and soft grass to shed shoes and dance. To start they busted out “Under African Skies” which was major. We also got a “Jellyfish and Black Clouds” – which is pretty old school. It was a hell of a dance party and the second set alone had to have clocked in at well over 100 mins. Fans are saying it was one of the better set lists of the tour, but I don’t really follow the Cheese anymore so it would be wrong to say that in my own words.
From SCI we went back over to the Field stage to check out Mutaytor. Holy veggies and dip Batman – this band is insane. There was a bunch of hype surrounding this show; no one had ever seen them so it was a big mother of a surprise. I can’t really decide if what I saw was a band, a circus, or a burlesque show. It’s still a mystery. There were fire twirlers and hulahoopers and stilt walkers, all performing in front of a funky technoesque live music act. It was a bizarre cornucopia of entertainment. You gotta know there were some seriously freaked out hippies in that audience though. And that is how we closed out the second day.
Day three opened up with one of my personal highlights of the festy, the Everyone Orchestra. This act was a beautiful amalgamation of Hot Buttered Rum (Reggae-y folksy bluegrass) Tea Leaf Green (soul-y melt-your-face-off rock) and a few other people. The result was some pretty sick jams. Josh from TLG and Kimock traded off on lead guitar, it was pretty wonderful and Kimock really absorbed most of the jam space. And did I mention that the entire thing was conducted by founder Matt Butler through the means of some very large cue cards? Audience participation was also a key part plus there was a lovely cover of “I shall be Released”. Great fun. From there we headed over to the main stage where the Keller Williams Incident was playing. I’m not going to lie, I was sort of playing the casual listener game during this set – forgot I had to write a review- so its lost forever. Sorry.
Then came Phil and Friends. I don’t even know where to start with this one. Essentially this is as close as you’re going to come to seeing the Dead. Carolyn and I have been following the many reincarnations of Phil for a while and we really like this lineup. Of course it’s Lesh on bass but this year is Larry Campbell on lead guitar, mandolin and fiddle. He is absolutely the man. But the most interesting member of late has to be Joan Osborne. All you hipsters can just pause on hitting the gross button cause this woman rocks. She stepped into the golden shoes of Donna Godchaux and carries the torch well. Her “Stella Blue” is to die for. I won’t bore you with too many set list details but they opened with a straight jam right into “Cumberland” and closed the first set with a “Wheel” into “Shakedown” into “Passenger”. Sexy. Then the second set gave us “St. Stephen” and a “Stars go Blue” book ended by “Dark Star” falling all out into a “China Cat Sunflower”. They played the staple line of “Help-Slipknot!-Franklins” and ended it all with “Truckin'”, which I consequently missed because I had to get up to Moses Mayes before they closed out.
Moses Mayes was an insane dance party. It’s a funk band with a house DJ. Quoi? I know, it was as wild and crazy as dance music gets. Their set ended just in time for us to get back down to meet everyone at
Umphrey’s McGee. Although I’ve been trying to see Umphs for the past couple of years I always get cheated somehow, so this was in fact my first time seeing them. It was gnarly. They are self-described as, “a little bit of everything played at an aggressive volume.” Its true – they jam out but their guitars are heavy, like metal, and so so precise. There were moments of pop and also some jazz. It’s crazy cause they look kind of like a bunch of frat boys, so it’s just an unlikely combination of sounds and sights. I loved this show so much. After Umphrey’s we headed back to camp with the intention of returning for AOD but as it often happens we got sidetracked and the night took a completely different direction.
We got back to the concert grounds at 4 for the last day of shows. Up first was Keller Williams. They unfortunately and unwittingly put him on one of the smaller stages which added up to a super large crowd and low visibility, which is wrong because a lot of what Keller does is visual. His deal is that he’s just one guy on stage with about ten guitars and half a gazillion pedals. He loops tracks live and weaves the song all together right before you. I’ve always had a really soft spot for this method of performance and Keller is an expert. Plus his voice is just so understated and unique- it was a great way to start off the last day.
From there we headed back down to the Main stage where we spent the remainder of the day. First was a set was the Benevento Russo Duo with Mike Gordon. I love the Duo. Its keys and drums and wonderfulness. It was sort of a misleading billing though considering Mike only came out for one jam at the very end. Carolyn was upset but to tell you the truth I’ve seen the Duo with and without Mike a couple times, and as an old friend once pointed out, the Duo might be better without him. They played a great “Play Pause Stop” – title track off their new album, and awesome cover of “Paranoid Android”, and then a crazy little “Foam” when Mike entered the picture. The set evolved nicely and if you haven’t heard these guys, check them out. Also, I have a crush on Marco Benevento.
Then came the grand finale. Trey. I often like to think about what it would be like to be Trey, but the concept of unarguable rock stardom confuses my pedestrian mind and I have to stop. Trey played the majority of these two sets with the GRAB band- who toured with Phil and Friends all summer. GRAB is Trey and Mike and the Duo. Superb stuff. First set was pretty standard, they covered all of the new songs they’ve been playing all summer, “Mud City” especially stood out to me this time. They sang “Happy Birthday” to Marco and then announced a 15 min set break, which in Trey time is about 50 mins. They came back on to deliver one of the best sets I’ve seen in a really really long time. On our way up to Minnesota we stopped at a gas station and while I was buying some gas or something the song “Uncle Albert” came on over the P.A. system. I was elated; GRAB has made this a standard cover in their shows this past summer. So when they finally played it near the middle of set two it was like my life made sense. We also heard a sweet-ass “Shine”. Then there was a brief acoustic set with Mike on Banjo during which they played “Poor Heart”, a glorious moment for every Phish fan in the audience. John Medeski then came out and played keys for a riotous “Who are You” and it all wrapped up with a sky high jam out of “Get Back” during an enormous fireworks display. Hooray.
When all is said and done this was just a constant string of great music. Each single set was at least two hours, each double at least four. Everything about this festival was highly appealing. It was small (18,000 people), mellow (Midwest people), and stimulating (music people). I had a hell of a time and if weren’t for that 26 hour straight shot home that has basically ruined me for the remainder of the week – I’d say I’d definitely be there next year. Who knows, maybe I will regardless.
