Reviler

Live Blog: Eaux Claires Fest Day 1 (Friday)

By josh keller ·

Live Blog: Eaux Claires Fest Day 1 (Friday) 1

We will be reporting live from Eaux Claires IV fest as much as the cell reception allows. This post is for day 1, Friday, July 6th. Party on.

  1. 12:49on the shuttle to the grounds. Presumably the guessing game about the lineup will be over soon. Will be interesting to see where it lands. Lots of angst on the interwebs.
  2. 12:53young folks on the bus (damn kids!) really hoping for Chance the Rapper.
  3. 1:06in the door. Not a huge crowd at opening gate. Blazed through. Got my beer wrist band and water bottle filled, so important stuff happening.
  4. 1:08got book with lineup. No big names. No surprises (at least if you had sluethed leading up to fest). No set times or stages in the festival book. Ok?
  5. 1:10fest book is sponsored by bank. Art is best when linked with capitalism, imho.
  6. 1:12two kids by me read linuep and soaked in bands for first time, and said in unison “this is it?”
  7. 1:14contra last couple, many seem to not even care lineup and just want beer and merch. Will be interesting to see how folx react to random performances.
  8. 1:18bathrooms are clean, booths are stocked. Lineup issues aside, they run a good fest here.
  9. 1:29line for water, good job kids. Stay hydrated.
  10. 1:39looking over lineup and having a “this could be cool or this could fallen totally flat” moment. Intrigued to see how it lands. No big names, and a large chunk of bands you could see on a Wed night in Minneapolis. Will crowd dig?
  11. 1:46sitting by side stage (House of IV) listening to beautiful piped-in ambient music while drinking beer and sitting in shade. Digging it.
  12. 1:59Native American drums and singing to open the fest. Really wonderful.
  13. 2:05people brought hammocks and already set up and sleeping. Why pay for a music fest to sleep in a hammock?
  14. 2:09gonna be honest. The excitment of surprise is kind is cancelled by not knowing who certain bands are on the schedule. People are on the grounds, maybe a little more info?
  15. 2:15Overheard: “I’ve been to this festival like five times.” This is year four.

2 28 – Waited in line for book reading by Hanif Abdurraqib reading from his outstanding book of essays. small house, only 7 people at a time. Amazing.

  1. 2:37mad max style tower with bells and drums people can play. Cool?
  2. 2:41walked through the woods. Buggy and crowded. A solo Hiss Golden Messenger set drowned out by a separate stage of noise music. Good plans > cool idea
  3. 2:46people are lost in the woods, hot and getting cranky. Someone just said, in dripping sarcasm. “Sooooo many surprises.” Feeling some negative vibes.
  4. 2:51woods are hot, crowded and buggy. No idea how Dirty Projectors play there later.
  5. 3:00Bonny Light Horseman on main stage noodling. Justin Vernon and a bunch of recognizable faces.
  6. 3:22listening to a poet. Mostly to sit in the shade.
  7. 3:25Dirty Projectors are supposed to play on small stage up in the woods. No idea how that will work. It is going to be a riot.

3:31. – some rambling, bright folk pop from Wye Oak on stage in the round. Crowd growing and their whimsical sound seems to be right in this fest’s wheelhouse.

  1. 12:38really wish I could have seen whole MDS and Low sets. Both were amazing, as usual.
  2. 12:34marijuana deathsquads sound gigantic. Usual squad plus at least stef (pos) and a Dessner brother cranking out riffs side stage. Yes!
  3. 12:17Low, in this setting, posses magic both light and dark. Stunning.
  4. 12:02Iron Boy sing to open Low set in the middle of the woods as the clock strikes midnight. No matter the frustrations today, this is goddamn magic.
  5. 11:33back to Psymun set in the woods. Corbin now singing. Came out from behind screen. Someone behind me said “oh it’s a real singer!”
  6. 11:22crowd doesn’t seem to know, or care, about Mouse on Mars. Can’t believe how few people are watching “headlining set” on the “main” stage. It’s almost awkward.
  7. 11:13Mouse in Mars looks/sounds like an imitation of Marijuana Deathsquads, except for on the big stage. Horns, electronics, auto-tune and thumping drums.
  8. 11:08wow, that was the most banging Psymun set I’ve ever seen. Epic sounding.
  9. 11:02just played video games while listening to bonkers, blown-out Psymun set. Wild.
  10. 10:35also a bell set in the woods that people can beat with sticks. Sounds both terrible and wonderful.
  11. 10:22you can play the giant drum tower. no experience necessary, as proven by most people.
  12. 10:04Big Red Machine are the only music playing, so a captive audience. Processed drums? Check. Auto tuned vocals? Check. Overwrought songwriting? Check. Big Red Machine will appease Bon Iver fans, for sure. Crowd seems to want to like it.
  13. 9:44Big Red Machine are up on stage in tbe round. Looks really beautiful. Sounds like Bon Iver outtakes if the National were his backing band (which it kind of is…).
  14. 9:15done. Crowd is ambivalent. Another gap where no music is happening. Why is this such a mess?
  15. 9:01Serengeti rapping now. Some sort of Guinness record attempt coming up. Sounds like if Macklamore tried to sound like Crescent Moon.
  16. 8:41honestly this is cool but sounds like it is coming through a broken speaker. IF YOU AREN’T GOING TO HAVE BIG NAMES, MAKE SURE THINGS AT LEAST RUN WELL!!!
  17. 8:31Gordi and Julien Baker on noise tower making some loops. Pretty cool, but again sound is muddy and crowd doesn’t seem to understand. Despite talent across the board, this feels like a house of cards that is collapsing for everyone.
  18. 8:17bros flipping frisbee are like peacocks flashing feathers, except dumber. Everyone notices how cool we are, right? RIGHT?
  19. 8:13Phil Cook still talking and playing. If this was at the turf it would be perfect. But as one of main sets on biggest stage??
  20. 7:52Phil Cook joined by a local all star cast for some rootsy americana. Fest skimped on the video screens for main stage this year so can’t say exactly who. Music/artists are great, but everything feels half-baked.
  21. 7:41low and marijuana deathsquads playing same time later but somehow no band on main stages right now. What the hell?
  22. 7:22walked past two interesting conversations. First was on merits of circumcision. Second was about right time, vis a vis a day of music, to take schrooms. Not a ton of people here but the usual interesting conversations.
  23. 7:03serpentwithfeet solo set was really solid up on side stage. Not sure if it is a thing, but would love to see them with full band (not just backing tracks).
  24. 6:52pizza
  25. 6:37on “in-the-round” stage I think it is Francis and the Lights dude, but who knows because they named the band “friends” on the lineup. I mean, if you liked them why would you want a heads up they are playing?
  26. 6:32for a festival trying to be about community, it sure is hard to feel engaged and know what is going on.
  27. 6:24the “dirty projectors” set was solo acoustic set that somehow was both too quiet and feeding back. It is unforgivable how poorly planned and executed this is. They don’t seem to care. If you are in front row (or an artist behind the stages) this is probably cool. Everyone else?
  28. 6:19David playing songs from forthcoming Dirty Projectors record solo acoustic. Cool, but another vanity set in a wrong space.
  29. 6:15Like Richard Perry, Dirty Projectors dealt with feedback and unsteady songs, except with higher stakes (and a much larger crowd).
  30. 5:42Most members of Policia playing what seems like an improv set in the woods. Spoken word, singing, ambient electronic. But like everything hard to get to, crowded, buggy and not-great sound. Getting old fast.
  31. 5:32free wine, whiskey and beer samples, oh my.
  32. 5:16getting food and realizing how few people are here. A shell of past years. Explains lack of headliners (or vice versa).
  33. 5:09sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel.
  34. 5:02ventured into the woods to hear Quiet River of Dust (Richard Reed Perry from Arcade Fire) playing with gal from Little Scream and Dessner bros from The National. Bugs are biting but this is pretty cool. Brittle thematic folk. Reed Perry said solo LP out in the fall.
  35. 4:46oh man, DJ Spinn from teklife on a random tower djing with The Era and a crew of footwork dancers. I’m here for this! So so good.
  36. 4:32Julien Baker solo on guitar and keyboard (with looper) crafting lush folky pop. Weird to hear it in afternoon under the sun. Still a small crowd here. Wondering if more are coming?
  37. 4:14more corporate sponsors than i remember in the past. Once stage is sponsored by vans. Ugh.
  38. 4:02this iteration of the festival is wild. I’ve never been to an event people paid to get into that seens to care less about those people’s experience.
  39. 3:51Swamp Dogg is great. Reminds me of first hearing Sonny Knight. How did I not know of this talent all these years? This is a swampy, funky set that the crowd is eating up.
  40. 3:41Justin Vernon sitting in on keyboard as well. This really is an eleborate summer camp for him.
  41. 3:35after not knowing of Swamp Dogg before this week, I’ve now seen him twice live in 36 hours. Weird world. Still cool. Same lineup that is half locals as at the Metro on 4th of July (see previous post). Bigger crowd, and people are digging the punchy, soulful funk.

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