Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival: MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA 6/24-6/26/11

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art played host to a crowd of elder fans and families who gathered for a pleasant weekend artistic experiences in the Berkshires.  Guests could check out “The Workers” exhibit, sample local cuisine and even climb to the heavens and peep out an internally pimped camper showcased in Michael Oatman’s: All Utopias Fell exhibit. The title of the festival itself, “Solid Sound”, hinted at a range of music and noise and that was certainly delivered upon, even going the extra mile to showcase natures wet splashing of spastic downpours.  The first night was almost a complete washout with massive delays in host and headliner Wilco’s set as the gathering waited for Mother Nature to lend a hand. 

When the band took the stage the downpour kept up, but didn’t dim spirits as they busted out a new tune for those getting drenched, “I Might”.  The screeching fuzzy “Bull Black Nova” and “Via Chicago” helped dry out minds before the skies cooperated and eased back on the waters in the middle of “Handshake Drugs”.  Things weren’t all peaches and alcoholic whipped cream as there was a major power surge that shorted out the stage during “Radio Cure” but the crowd was in good spirits and sang along keeping the tune flowing.  Tweedy thanked everyone for their singing and seemed to be beaming all weekend. 

After the bands “I Got You” seemed to close things a surprise cover of The Split Enz catchy hit (conveniently titled) “I Got You” saw Neil Finn join the band on stage to sing his tune before fans returned to the soaked camp grounds.  Saturday started out a bit sunnier and then decided to get real nasty with windy thunderstorms but Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy put on their shades to summon the sun with funk laden instrumentals and jazzy interludes. Jamie Lidell put his English white boy soul singing on display backed by yellow maracas and ended with a show stopping cover of “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. 

Thurston Moore’s full on acoustic set showcased his recent Demolished Thoughts record and flowed with the ease of a master craftsman.  The arraignments relied on his hypnotic acoustic guitar, harp strums that at times echoed piano twinkles and violins that could sound lush before substituting for feedback.  Sonically it was an experience as he jammed on “Space” and had a plucking great time with “Benediction”.  The sun also shone on the courtyard stage which allowed MASS MoCA to open a garage door above the proceedings.  This allowed patrons to look at the art both in the building and the art playing out in front of them.  Thurston himself contributed to the family vibe of the festival, commenting from stage he just received a text from his daughter that read “Yo, I’m here”, so were we. 

Sly Johnson & The Sweet Divines rolled out the soul review but Sly was outshined by the new school styling’s of JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound who had the energy and chops where as Sly was just showcasing history.   Wilco played their second closing set to a big crowd (for a festival this size) proving they are still the main draw at their own fest, even with a host of other great acts sharing the stage.  The purple lights enhanced the foamy, q-tip fluffed stage design as they opened with a cover of Nick Lowe’s “I Love My Label” which will appear on their upcoming release, Whole Love.

Other crowd delights were the musically cohesive trio of “I’ll Fight”, “War on War” and “At Least That’s What You Said” and a waltzing “Jesus Etc.”.   The band ended with a massive 8 song encore which saw Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion help out “California Stars” before the night closed via an extended “Hoodoo Voodoo”.  

Sunday was the first truly nice day weather wise and the music seemed to shine even brighter.  The aforementioned Uptown Sound got down before the dueling electric guitars of Pillow Wand enchanted the listeners.  Nels Cline and Thurston Moore wove blissful noise over the gathering with their Fender Jazz Master six strings, drumsticks and feedback; an engrossing musical experience. 

The festival came to a close with the biggest name on the bill as Levon Helm brought his Ramble to North Adams and ended the party with emotional playing and singing of classic rock and roll, folk and blues tunes.  The setlist was to die for if you are a classic rock lover, there were of course some Band classics (“This Wheels On Fire”, “Hello Cleveland”) garage rock bust outs (“96 Tears”) original Levon tracks (“When I Go Away”)  and a ton of Dylan (“Goin’ To Acapulco”, “Blind Willie McTell”).  Larry Campbell majestically conducted the group of players which got some help from Gov’t Mule’s Danny Louis on keyboards, Levon even tried his hand at singing a few stanzas of “Ophelia” with a voice that is shot, but a heart that is still golden. 

The group welcomed the main man Jeff Tweedy onstage to help them finish things up on “I Shall Be Released” and the festival closing “The Weight”; a classy way to end a very classy festival.                        

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