During a time when most music festivals are either homogenous corporate machines with the same lineup all summer long or aimed more at appealing to our desire to post on Instagram than our musical tastes – or some combination of both (Coachella anyone?) – it takes a certain mix of elements to make for a truly special experience. Taking place August 2-4 on Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley just outside Portland, Oregon, Pickathon celebrated its 21st birthday being everything other festivals are not.
For the organizers of this intimate (capped at roughly 5,000 attendees), curation is the name of the game, from the site design to the lineup to the food. Every single detail is pored over and done with the highest level of quality, and all of it boils down to giving festival-goers an experience that leaves them glowing (no Insta filter needed). To understand how important this is, one must start with the music, and this year the lineup was totally different from past years with a few leftfielders and tons of new discovery for a crowd that shows up for that exact reason.
One of the more surprising acts on the bill was Phil Lesh and Friends, who would play two sets kicking off with the opening party on Thursday night. Prior to the show, many longtime attendees expressed skepticism at the kind of hippies that the Grateful Dead bassist would attract. But in true Pickathon fashion, everything turned out just fine as pretty much everyone joined in to dance along to a set that included some of the Dead’s most classic tunes such as “Slipknot!”, “Franklin’s Tower”, “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo”, and a downright electrifying combination of “Sugar Magnolia”, “Stella Blue”, and “Scarlet Begonias”. Many of the songs happened to be Jerry Garcia favorites, most likely due to the fact that it was the late Dead frontman’s birthday and everyone was feeling the spirit. This was especially true of a seemingly ageless yet 79-years old Phil Lesh, who played with enthusiasm, creativity, and emotional passion.
On Friday, Austin band Mike and the Moonpies would celebrate the release of their new album Cheap Silver and Solid Country Gold, an impressive collection of songs that finds the band graduating from a rowdy, beer joint-ready honky tonk sound to a more sophisticated country that is already one of the year’s best records. They weren’t the only artists celebrating a release day, as Kentucky country sensation Tyler Childers would also treat fans to songs off his freshly released album Country Squire later in the day.
Over at the Woods Stage, Atlanta artist Mereba would prove to be one of the more fascinating acts of weekend with her blend of spoken word, hip-hop, soul and synth pop. She even performed a poem called “Dodging the Devil” set to sounds of a cityscape that was especially poignant. She is young but clearly an old soul and her songs displayed a sense of wisdom, making for one of the more unique and versatile sounds of the weekend. Her song “Long Summer Heat Wave” was a jittery and defiant reggae tune with teases of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff, and then there was the saccharine folk sound of “Go to London and “Late Bloomer”, while “Get Free” showcased a mix of instrumentation including violin, drum machine, and gospel choir harmonies.
Later on in the day, Fruit Bats played to a packed crowd at the Woods Stage, reflecting the large and passionate fan base Eric D. Johnson has cultivated here in Portland. His set felt cosmic and healing with twangy folk rock that maintained a steady groove while also being as much about the lyrics. The crowd couldn’t help but sway to his dreamy and slacker rock but not in a stoned out goofy Mac Demarco way. He even teased the Grate Dead’s “China Cat Sunflower” to honor Phil Lesh, who was playing later in the night.
Few sets throughout the weekend would top those from Swedish punk rockers Viagra Boys. The shenanigans kicked off on Friday night in the Galaxy Barn for a raucous set in a club-like atmosphere that found the band’s raucous, pounding rock sound exploding in a mess of crowd surfing before tattooed vocalist Sebastian Murphy went full on shocker rocker by puking in a bucket, which he blamed on acid reflux. The Boys would do one better with their Saturday set at the Wood Stage, kicking off with Sebastian stripping down to his briefs and neatly folding his clothes while smoking a cigarette, all in front of a moshing crowd. The combination of saxophone and bongos gives the Boys a sound that is unlike anything else, which also strangely fits the black humor and satire of their lyrics. Unbelievably heavy bass and spiraling guitar only added to the fire as they blasted their way through songs off their debut album Street Worms. At one point an older gentleman was heard describing the nearly nude, chainsmoking and beer swilling front man as a “bad role model”, a complementary descriptor that nailed exactly what makes this band so compelling. It kept the crowd on edge to wonder what he would do next, at one point miming lyrics when his mic connection was smashed by the crowd, and later doing push-ups on stage before ultimately injuring his toe and performing while in a fetal position. Rock and roll indeed.
It would be hard to top Viagra Boys, and nobody really did the whole weekend, but Congolese band Jupiter and Okwess came close with a high-energy set of African funk and dance music featuring multiple singers, gloriously unpredictable percussion, and a guitar groove that injected everything with feisty licks. It was exciting to see a band get people off so much, and at its peak their set was like a hyper-party zoomba class with the entire audience in on the workout.
Another dance party would come on Sunday afternoon courtesy of Miya Folick, who blasted the Galaxy Barn with a set in the barn that was funky, sultry and reinvigorating on a sweaty afternoon. With Loads of charisma and a natural star power, Folick danced around the stage and in the crowd, shredded guitar, and conjured up boatloads of infectious pop fun, throwing it all together for a sound that was reminiscent of everything from the Talking Heads, Paul Simon in his Graceland era, Prince, Cyndi Lauper, and even the thrashing Kings of Leon style rock during her song “We Can Freak Out.”
Later in the day, Portland’s own Soft Kill would blow minds and turn a rolling bucolic hillside into a dark, smoke-filled club with a powerful set that threw influences of The Cure and Tears for Fears into a much faster, frenetic punk energy with equal parts angst, tenderness, and rage.
Perhaps the event that best summed up the magic of Pickathon was the curation series, which brought together well-known Portland chefs with bands on the lineup to fuse food, music and drinks for a truly unique festival experience. The curation meals took place each day of the festival, and on Sunday featured a worldly collaboration between London’s Ibibio Sound Machine and Portland’s Nong’s Khao Man Gai. Under the beautiful trees, attendees sat at long tables and sipped wine and Cucumber Smash’s while munching on chef Nong Poonsukwattana’s delicious egg rolls and purple unicorn noodles and curry. Onstage they were treated to Ibibio’s danceable mix of funk, house, and Nigerian rock as they took breaks to groove to the music and celebrate the joy of being alive at Pickathon.
Photos by Brandon Easley
