April 2010

With the festival season kicking off in earnest this weekend at Coachella and Wanee, we thought this was the perfect time to re-run Jennifer Kirk’s Festival Survival Guide to help you prepare for your festival experiences…

[Originally Published: May 21, 2009]

When the Bonnaroo 2009 lineup was announced a few months ago, my roommate asked me to email him a list of festival ‘essentials.’ As a festival veteran of sorts – I’ve been to every Bonnaroo but one and attended Langerado, Summercamp, Rothbury, Coventry, Oswego, Big Cypress, and the NOLA Jazz Fest – he picked the right person to ask for such a list.

In addition to my festival resume, I’m also a stickler for being organized and more importantly, prepared. As it has turned out in the past, I usually end up ‘running’ the camp site for my friends and well, I kind of like it. Going to a festival and being prepared is a trial and error experience, so I wanted to share some of my ideas with the HT audience and in turn was hoping that you would also chime in with any advice so we can all, collectively, have a better festival going experience.

So, here is a list of some of the essentials you’ll need in order to succeed and of course, survive your long weekend of fun and music!

1. Get an RV. It will make life easier. Now, I’ve actually never attended a festival in an RV, and have done just fine. But, boy would I love to travel to one in style. Perhaps one day. But, if you can’t rent or borrow one then pay extra close attention to the 19 items left on this list.

2. Water. You can’t bring enough of it. Some festivals are starting to provide water refill stations (Rothbury did this last year and you were allowed to bring empty or sealed containers onto the concert grounds). Make sure to check the ‘official’ festival rules first. I would recommend purchasing several gallons worth. After all, you will need it to refill water containers, brush your teeth, wash your dishes, etc. Potable water is generally available on site at washing stations but I tend to shy away from the sweet, sweet stench of sulfur. READ ON for more of Jennifer’s Festival Survival tips and tricks…

At a recent performance in New York City, LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy asked fans not to leak the group’s new album, This Is Happening, and as if on cue

Widespread Panic won’t officially celebrate its silver anniversary til 2011, but you can’t help but appreciate the group’s longevity. Twenty-four years of more-or-less nonstop Panic. Just sort of crept up on us, eh?

As Panic gets set for its first extended run of 2010, it’s about to release Dirty Side Down, the band’s eleventh studio effort and the return of longtime associate John Keane to the producer’s chair.

Having spent a few weeks with it, I feel like it’s among the better Panic albums of the past decade: emotional, propulsive, slightly unrefined and pleasant in its ragged imperfections. There’s a wealth of new material – the shifting tones in opener Saint Ex, for example, are as eclectic as Panic gets — but there are also several Panic live gems, like the furious Jerry Joseph tune North, and vintage cuts Visiting Day and Clinic Cynic, finally making it to the studio. And credit Panic another thing: rather than stumble under the emotional weight of a tribute to fallen comrade Vic Chesnutt, they have here a tasteful, yet heartfelt salute in recording Chesnutt’s tender This Cruel Thing. It does the job, without overreaching.

Hidden Track caught up this month with John “JoJo” Hermann, who was already gracious enough to participate in Hidden Track’s Baseball Preview, to look at what’s ahead. Panic, which kicks off its spring tour this weekend at the Wanee Festival, has another action packed year on tap, following a 2009 that was hardly restful.

HIDDEN TRACK: Before we get into what’s coming up for Panic, I wanted to rewind a bit to your action-packed 2009. The co-bill tour with the Allman Brothers Band is what a lot of people will remember most, and it just seemed like you guys were having so much fun up there every night.

JOJO HERMANN: It was such a great idea. It was a dream tour, it really was. I mean, having Warren and Derek and Jimmy, the three of them up there it was like the Three Tenors, except, I don’t know, the three guitar masters. Getting to sit behind them every night was a really incredible experience. I think we’re going to get to do it again soon, at Wanee.

READ ON for more of Chad’s chat with JoJo Hermann of Widespread Panic…