Philadelphia Folk Fest, Aug. 14-16, Old Pool Farm, Schwenksville

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Philadelphia Folk Fest, Aug. 14-16, Old Pool Farm, Schwenksville

POSTED: Tuesday, August 25, 2009, 6:46 PM

Filed Under: Music | Philly Bands | Show concert photos

Photo | Ptah Gabrie

Folk in the balance.

For most regulars at Philadelphia Folk Fest, the dance tent is the place they stumble by on their walk back to camp as the mainstage concert wraps up.

They poke their heads in, watch a lonely group of a half dozen or so people attempting to contra dance, and then they move along their merry way.

At this year's festival, it was the place to be.

Formally known as the Lobby Stage, the tucked-away spot at the top of the festival grounds was not only the site of the typical daytime folk dance workshops, but also some of its most energizing performances. Point Entertainment's Jesse Lundy, who booked the 48th annual festival along with his partner Rich Kardon, quipped at their press conference earlier this spring that he was going to make an actual effort at programming the space. The effort, it turns out, was valiant.

Photo | Ptah Gabrie

Derek Trucks

On Saturday, Heartless Bastards played an afternoon set there. The Cincinnati quartet's songs are largely gritty midtempo indie-Americana; well executed stuff, but with tempos that left the dance floor (about 30 square feet of raised plywood in the front of the tent) initially bare. The crowd gathered round the wings, watching breathlessly at the band's pointed melodic delivery, and as soon as 'The Mountain' kicked in, all bets were off. They knew this song, and they were going to have fun with it. An initial few people dancing quickly drew onlookers onto the floor. The band, clearly elated at the reaction, kept the beat up for the next four or five songs. And the floor kept filling. The most enjoyable thing about it was noting that the crowd largely wasn't moving in any of the prescribed, workshopped folk dance fashions. Some did the swim. Some just cavorted. It was like Heartless Bastards A-Go-Go, a 60s UK dance show or something. Folk purists would probably cry foul at the spectacle, but it was a brilliant episode of a crowd being spontaneously moved by music.

On Sunday, the Lobby Stage lineup was packed solid. The Low Anthem began on a slow and low note, delicately recreating the more subdued moments on their current offering, last year's Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. Singer Ben Knox Miller wowed the seated crowd with the vocal trick he regularly uses on the funereal 'This Goddamn House' ' taking his bandmate's cell phone, calling it with his own, and singing into both at the microphone, creating a bewitching echo effect.

This was followed by the ever-buoyant funky folky hip-hop of Slo Mo and Mic Wrecka, but the triumph of the weekend went to West Philadelphia Orchestra, who rocked their wicked loud Balkan dance party for a solid hour. Initially the group's hand percussionists and sousaphone players seemed perplexed by the dancing hippies before them, by playing during the daytime and by the older gentlemen in the crowd at stage left who was intently strumming along with his own washboard. Eventually their defenses broke down and the stoic ensemble cracked smiles, tentatively at first, and then full on, capping the set by joining the party, diving onto the dance floor one by one.

Lest you think we're ignoring Folk Fest's mainstage, it was strong in its own right. The much-anticipated appearance by The Decemberists went over without a hitch, and included a full performance of the group's dense new opus, The Hazards of Love. Iron & Wine's Sam Beam sang haunting lullabies to the crowd to close the mainstage on Saturday ' accompanied only by his guitar, Beam's wispy voice rang true across the Old Pool Farm field.

Photo | Ptah Gabrie

Iron and Wine

But both those artists turned in performances that were, to be fair, good in an unsurprising way. The best mainstage moments were unexpected, coming from banjo virtuoso Tony Trischka (pictured at the top of this post), and experimental multimedia duo Fraction Theory. The latter's showstealing Sunday performance snipped music by Joni Mitchell, Woody Guthrie and countless others from the 20th century folk pantheon, looping their instrumental sounds and vocal samples over a fierce contemporary backbeat. (Lundy says the performance was commissioned by PFF cochair David Baskin after Steve Earle snuck a DJ onstage for his 2008 set.)

Conversely, Trischka's Friday night set was awash in jaw-dropping technical skill ' rapid-fire fingerpicking and fretting, razor-sharp harmonizing, a full sound delivered in a gather-round-the-microphone fashion. It showed that, while we applaud Lundy and Kardon for taking programming chances on the fringe of the folk idiom, a more conventional set of deftly played traditional tunes has equal power to galvanize the crowds.

May this balance continue.

Levi Landis

Posted 2009-08-26 10:02:16

You've got it!  Go spread the gospel of PFF!

Thanks for the kind words and keep an eye out for a season of music from the folks who bring you the Festival:  The 2009-2010 PFS "Influences" season, exploring the stories, styles, cultures, & legends that influence today's folk music...



Dig it!

Levi Landis

Executive Director

Philadelphia Folksong Society

Philadelphia Folk Festival

gary

Posted 2009-08-27 06:54:10

RED (part 3 of 4)

Fraction Theory debuting in front of thousands live on the main stage at the Phila Folk Fest... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZr7CbZXqnA

Posted by john vettese" @ 6:46 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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