Erick Baker soundtracked the chilled out atmosphere of the day portion of the festival. People checked out the vendors and sat across the Alumni Lawn as Erick Baker made his way though his newest E.P. ‘It’s Getting To Late To Say It’s Early’. Playing an all acoustic set Erick kept the mood relaxed while at the same time showcasing his talent for performing a great live show.
‘I grew up playing in a band called Nickel Creek’, Sara Watkins stated drawing applause immediately. The California bluegrass singer seemed at home in Nashville playing tracks from her latest self titled album to the Vanderbilt crowd. Sara broke up the set with stories of recording sessions in Nashville and California which ultimately became her new album. Finishing off her set with ‘Long Hot Country Day’, the crowd joined in on the chorus, clearly infatuated with Sara Watkins.
Black Joe Lewis took the stage furiously ripping into his set before the DJ even had a chance to turn off the between set playlist, letting the crowd know they were in for an intense performance. Taking cues from the godfathers of soul, Joe lit up the stage in a way that paid tribute to his influences but maintained the fact that he is a new era of soul artist. Backed by a five piece band, Joe pulled out all the stops, even breaking out the harmonica for his song ‘Big Booty Woman’. Black Joe Lewis continued to build the energy all the way to the end of his set before closing with ‘Bitch I love You’, leaving the college crowd in shock and aww of a performance worthy of a future godfather of soul.
As the sun set behind the brick buildings of the beautiful Vanderbilt campus, Grand Ole Party took the stage ready to rock the Alumni Lawn. Outfitted with a headset microphone lead singer Kristen Gundred took a standing position behind the drums banging though songs from a new yet to be release LP. Grand Ole Party sounded cleaner than ever with Kristen’s hypnotic vocals translating well over the great Rites of Spring sound system. Pleasing the crowd for almost an hour, Grand Ole Party showed that they are destined to be more than an opening act.
From an unlit stage a familiar voice sent out for a response from ‘VANDERBILT!’. A roar of whoots erupted as the distorted bass of ‘Anti-Matter’ boomed from the speakers. Commanding people to ‘Jump around like your ADHD’, Pharrell, Shay and up and coming rapper Wale pumped the crowd criss-crossing the stage as Chad played the background. Turning up the energy with cuts from their album ‘Seeing Sounds’, Pharrell paused between sets to ask the security guards if the restriction on crowd surfing could be lifted just for their set. When unable to get a decisive response Pharell let everyone know that if he were a concert goer he would surf ‘Away from security’. Midway through the single ‘Everybody Nose’ the beat broke down before coming back as a remix of The White Stripes ‘Seven Nation Army’ with Pharell continuing to rap ‘All the girls standing in line for the bathroom’ without missing a beat. Treating the capacity Vanderbilt crowd as if it were a house party N.E.R.D. showed that the group is more than a side project for the multi-platinum production group.
With a 90% of rain scheduled for Saturday evening the crowd was guaranteed to get wet, but as the rain began to sprinkle the crowd packed closer to the stage for the festivals main attraction. The screen that served as a back drop for the second day’s concert finally came to life displaying a blue image before switching to a view from a portable camera displaying a close up of Wayne. The excitement was palatable with most of the crowd aware of the fabled stage antics of Oklahoma’s favorite rock band.
Before the first song was over a clear ballon began to rise from the stage. Living up to his reputation as the ultimate showman, Wayne climbed inside and began to traverse the crowd, who struggled to support the bubble in the way required for him to stand up right. Undeterred Wayne crawled on all fours before making his way back to the stage to continue the concert. By the time The Lips activated their four full size confetti cannons many people in the crowd seemed to forget about the liquid rain, instead focusing on the rainbow colored paper downpour.
Half way though the set Wayne announced that it was Stardeath’s last night on tour. Having written a song together in the past, Wayne Coyne invited the whole Stardeath band onstage to perform with The Lips. ‘This may be the only time you’ll see two groups play together’ Wayne announced before strumming the chords to a Madonna song. After a slight pause for technical difficulty Wayne assured the crowd that if they had to stop for the rain ‘We’ll take this party somewhere else’, generating a round of applause from the crowd.
Dawning a double necked guitar, of which one side was a guitar hero controller, Wayne kicked off the greatest hits portion of The Lips set with an acoustic version of Fight Test. For the many fans of Yoshimi this was the concert that they had waited two days to see. With the screen alternating images of car crashes and rainbows the familiar hand claps of ‘W.A.N.D.’ began to crank from the speakers giving the crowd time to join in. Using a bullhorn with a flare attached Wayne to conducted the crowd into a frenzy. Pausing between songs Wayne reluctantly coaxed a girl dressed in a teletubby outfit to the center of the stage. ‘We have a special event we do at some shows’ he said before inviting a fellow teletubby to the stage. Getting down on one knee the two teletubbies proceeded to get engaged in front of the packed Alumni Lawn. With the hour reaching midnight Wayne announced that they would play one more song. ’1 2 3 4′ came over the loud speaker as the crowd lost it’s collective mind. With a majority of people singing in unison The Lips extended an acapella version of ‘Do You Realize’ out for 5 minutes before bringing in the rest of the band at which point they activated the confetti cannons for a second time. ‘Do you realize? I know you do’ he told the crowd before exiting the stage.
In it’s 27th year the Rites of Spring Festival out did it’s self, exceeding all expectations. Selling out for the first time, it seems as if the Vanderbilt hosted event has solidified itself as a festival to be seen not only by Nashville natives but from out of state travelers as well. Setting the bar high this year with multiple seasoned acts and acclaimed newcomers, this is a festival that is well worth the money, costing only $60 for both days. Dated early in the summer festival season, this concert serves as the perfect kick off for a summer festival tour. If you are within driving distance of Nashville, you can’t afford to miss next years festival which is guaranteed not to disappoint.
Check out our coverage of the 1st day of Rites of Spring
Cathy over at Suburban Roads posted a great interview with Blue Sky Reality.
Check out a video of T.I.’s performance at Blender.
For concert footage go over to you tell cocerts and check out Chrystal‘s video from the concert.
All Photos courtesy of Buzzafied.com. Taken by Alex Person
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You guys got some stellar pictures of the event. Great action shots that really capture some energy.