-Sunny War=sucky war. I could have done with more of just about any other performer instead of sitting through that.
-Elephant Revival-the surprise act of the evening for me. Impressive.
-David Wax Museum-like everyone else except the headliner, they suffered from an awful sound mix, but there's not much there for my taste anyway, so...forgetable.
-Carbon Leaf-gathered around one microphone, old style. Sounded cool, but didn't do any hits and couldn't hear the vocals as well as I'd like. Love these guys anyway.
-Dawes-As expected, I was impressed. Needed much more time on the stage than they got (Carbon Leaf too)
-Heywood Banks-handled his emcee duties fairly well. I'm a fan already, so I get his humor whereas others might not. Loved that he played Big Butter Jesus and updated Interstate 80 Iowa with a song about I-75 Michigan.
Devotchka-I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again. That vocalist doesn't seem to mesh with the music very well to these ears. Their set was too long.
Ryan Adams-Holy crap! If I see him again, I hope it's solo just like tonight. Well worth it!
Summary-fire the sound company, hire one that understands that vocal mics are important too. If I am judging these bands as an average person on this performance and considering going to see them at the Ark, I might not understand that their problems with the sound was the sound company's fault and not theirs. A good time either way.
Saturday night Ann Arbor Folk Festival summary:
This lineup had no holes, so expectations were high. Overall the sound was better by leaps and bounds tonight. Not for everyone, surprisingly.
-Emcee Heywood Banks was more comfortable, but probably didn’t realize how many people go to both nights. Some repeat material (though I loved it both times), some new. It worked for me, but I am sure some out there are saying, “don’t do that again.”
-Seth Glier – you know how sometimes you root for an underdog to succeed? That’s the way I feel with Seth. Great guy, great voice, great songs. My only disappointment is he didn’t do my favorite song of his “Gotta Get Away.” Go see him when he headlines at the Ark.
-Sarah Jarosz – I got what I expected. She impressed me. I’d see her again unquestionably.
-Caravan of Thieves – Again, as expected. Their records are interesting (which doesn’t always translate into meaning “good”), but interesting enough that you’d want to see it live. They are really fun to watch, which makes the songs better. If you had a choice between buying a CD and seeing their show…see their show.
-Joe Henry – I’ve got most of the records he’s released and like Joe (though I wouldn’t put him in a “one of my favorites” category). His choice of both songs and microphone (what the hell was that microphone choice supposed to achieve? An AM radio sound? Yuck!) left me very disappointed. His comment about his first ever record that he purchased being a Glen Campbell record was the highlight of his set.
-Nanci Griffith - I have a lot of Nanci’s music and hadn’t yet seen her live. I know she’s not a spring chicken, but not much energy to her performance and the song selection was just ok. Not a super memorable set of music, but I still like her.
-Glen Campbell – Glen has Alzheimer's and this is pretty much it for him as far as touring goes. I hope every single audience member knew that. I am glad his kids were in his band to help him feel comfortable. That seemed to help. He needed a prompter for lyrics (expected), his voice is still pretty good (though captured much better on his last two records than live), but amazingly he can still really play the guitar. Well worth having him there, even though inside your gut was just wrenching every time he did something he would have been embarrassed about 5 years ago. “I need you more than want you. And I want you for all time.” Jimmy Webb may have written those words, but they belong to Glen. He sang them and I was happy.
-Emmylou Harris – I saw her 4 years ago as the headliner and what I remember about that night is I was excited that Jill Jack was playing the same night as one of her idols. Oh, and that Patty Grffin, Shawn Colvin, and Buddy Miller were on stage with her too. She’s beautiful, she’s a legend, and I wish she would have let me pick her set list. I’ll honestly probably forget that I saw this performance. I’m glad she covered Orphan Girl and especially glad to see most of the acts come on stage for an encore at the end of the show. Strangely, her sound mix wasn't very good in my opinion.
In summary. Thanks to the folks at The Ark for a great weekend! I’ll continue to do anything in my power to spread the word about the joy you bring me weekly.
This lineup had no holes, so expectations were high. Overall the sound was better by leaps and bounds tonight. Not for everyone, surprisingly.
-Emcee Heywood Banks was more comfortable, but probably didn’t realize how many people go to both nights. Some repeat material (though I loved it both times), some new. It worked for me, but I am sure some out there are saying, “don’t do that again.”
-Seth Glier – you know how sometimes you root for an underdog to succeed? That’s the way I feel with Seth. Great guy, great voice, great songs. My only disappointment is he didn’t do my favorite song of his “Gotta Get Away.” Go see him when he headlines at the Ark.
-Sarah Jarosz – I got what I expected. She impressed me. I’d see her again unquestionably.
-Caravan of Thieves – Again, as expected. Their records are interesting (which doesn’t always translate into meaning “good”), but interesting enough that you’d want to see it live. They are really fun to watch, which makes the songs better. If you had a choice between buying a CD and seeing their show…see their show.
-Joe Henry – I’ve got most of the records he’s released and like Joe (though I wouldn’t put him in a “one of my favorites” category). His choice of both songs and microphone (what the hell was that microphone choice supposed to achieve? An AM radio sound? Yuck!) left me very disappointed. His comment about his first ever record that he purchased being a Glen Campbell record was the highlight of his set.
-Nanci Griffith - I have a lot of Nanci’s music and hadn’t yet seen her live. I know she’s not a spring chicken, but not much energy to her performance and the song selection was just ok. Not a super memorable set of music, but I still like her.
-Glen Campbell – Glen has Alzheimer's and this is pretty much it for him as far as touring goes. I hope every single audience member knew that. I am glad his kids were in his band to help him feel comfortable. That seemed to help. He needed a prompter for lyrics (expected), his voice is still pretty good (though captured much better on his last two records than live), but amazingly he can still really play the guitar. Well worth having him there, even though inside your gut was just wrenching every time he did something he would have been embarrassed about 5 years ago. “I need you more than want you. And I want you for all time.” Jimmy Webb may have written those words, but they belong to Glen. He sang them and I was happy.
-Emmylou Harris – I saw her 4 years ago as the headliner and what I remember about that night is I was excited that Jill Jack was playing the same night as one of her idols. Oh, and that Patty Grffin, Shawn Colvin, and Buddy Miller were on stage with her too. She’s beautiful, she’s a legend, and I wish she would have let me pick her set list. I’ll honestly probably forget that I saw this performance. I’m glad she covered Orphan Girl and especially glad to see most of the acts come on stage for an encore at the end of the show. Strangely, her sound mix wasn't very good in my opinion.
In summary. Thanks to the folks at The Ark for a great weekend! I’ll continue to do anything in my power to spread the word about the joy you bring me weekly.
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