The name may find its roots in the slacker slang of hippiedom, but few words could more appropriate and more descriptive of the All Good Music Festival & Campout at Marvins Mountaintop near Masontown, West Virginia. Following Bonnaroo and ROTHBURY it turned out to be the perfect exclamation point to my summer trilogy of music festivals. With two stages resting next to each other the biggest selling point remains the lack of performances running into each other. A third stage offered artist workshops and speakers. From around noon until approximately two a.m., the main All Good Stage and smaller Golden Crane Stage alternated, and kept the live sounds flowing nonstop.
I must admit that after walking anywhere from 10 to 20 miles a day at the previous fests and yes, out of curiosity, a pedometer confirmed the numbers I was not only relieved from the lack of work involved to check out the artists, but also felt a little confused at the ability to catch full performances. Whereas Bonnaroo and ROTHBURY were similar to moving around with an inner radio station changing channels according to ones location, All Good settled in at one spot on the dial and left it alone for four straight days.
THURSDAY: Bonus content for those who arrived early. A traffic jam and setting up the campsite slowed me down but I did get out to the Grassroots Stage in time for a midnight Keller Williams solo set where the hyperactive one did instrumentals of Hearts Barracuda and Van Morrisons Moondance along with covers of Michael Jacksons Rock with You, Nirvanas All Apologies and the Grateful Deads Scarlet Begonias. Lotus played another strong set (the other being ROTHBURY). The more I see live electronica bands play live, its a constant reminder that it brings out the Crazy. Usually thats good with the visuals of glowstick wars, people dressed up for the occasion and as many light effects in the crowd as onstage but sometimes less so as in Jesse Miller explaining to a fan midsong that NO! she could not dance onstage.
Lotus
FRIDAY: So glad to see Jackie Greene perform with his band once more. Not content to just play his set, he added keyboards during Hill Country Revues performance. Impressed again by that bands full-bodied blues rock. More nods to Michael Jackson when Robert Randolph adds Billie Jean and Wanna Be Startin Somethin as part of an extended I Need More Love. Also displayed some fancy dance moves.
Jackie Greene with Hill Country Revue
Robert Randolph feels it
Al Schnier with RatDog
Returned to the Grassroots Stage for ex-Rusted Root drummer Jim Donovans Afro-beat and discussion 400,000 People, Carlos Santana & Me. Bummed Im missing a good portion of Galactic but I just love the rhythm and Donovans presentation did not make me question my judgment.
Galactic and Friends
Les Claypool not only played Primus Southbound Pachyderm but did the rare feat of breaking a bass string during the second song. He was joined by original Primus drummer, RatDogs Jay Lane, on Riddles Are Abound Tonight. Les returned the gesture by joining Jay during Stuff, drums/jam portion of the Bob Weir & RatDog set.
Al Schnier of moe. joins RatDog for the final songs of its set China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider. I liked the way that RatDog split up Tomorrow Never Knows, second song and then coming out of Stuff. As for moe.s late night set. I know I sound redundant (to myself) when I mention how impressive the quintet is musically. Just jaw-dropping. As it turns out, those thoughts popped up during sets by STS9 as well as Umphreys McGee.
SATURDAY: Cornmeals psychedelic bluegrass was a nice start to another beautiful day. In the past my schedule failed me. Today Im fortunate to see Steve Kimock Crazy Engine. Notice the nice touch by the drummer and find out that its his son, John Morgan Kimock. Jeff Austin & Brendan Bayliss as 30db do a brief acoustic set thats filled with rootsy sounds and enjoyable banter between the two longtime friends. Buckethead puts us through an hour long guitar workshop, while Assembly of Dust just knocks out one strong song after another. Austin joins up with his Yonder Mountain String Band brothers in stringed instruments and the foursome proceed to tear it up. As a fan of Tortoise, Lake Trout sticks in my mind for its meshing of jams, experimental elements and electronica. Ben Harper & Relentless7 cover Led Zeppelins Good Times Bad Times and does a Zep-esque version of Hendrixs Red House.
Brendan Bayliss and Jeff Austin
Kris Nowak, Cornmeal
Steve Kimock and John Morgan Kimock
SUNDAY: Donna the Buffalo are just one of those bands that make you feel good after hearing them. The Rex Jam with the Bridge featured that bands patented funk along with Scott Murawski of BK3 on guitar and Rob Koritz of Dark Star Orchestra on congas. Koritz returned with DSO for a performance of the Grateful Deads July 1, 1978 Arrowhead Stadium show in Kansas City, Missouri plus a couple bonus numbers for the thousands who didnt want to go home just yet.
John Kadlecik, Dark Star Orchestra
Scott Murawski and Bill Kreutzmann
Reed Mathis, Tea Leaf Green
It was announced that this was the first All Good in 10 years without the hassle of a rainstorm. Looking forward to four more days of sunshine in 2010.
