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I mean... the past 2 years of Newport have been incredibly politically charged, both featuring sets dedicated to the political tension of our times. The takeaway from "A Change is Gonna Come" should have been how marginalized groups are still beat down by the system. Equality exists in theory, but not in practice, for POCs, women, LGBTQ+ members of our society. Valerie June looked at the crowd (which is probably like... 95% white? I dunno, just a guess) and said "I know y'all know what it's like to be free," to raucous applause and proceeded to sing "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free", a moment and message that appeared to be lost on the majority of the audience.
It has come out that the darling of this year's fest, the first unannounced headliner in the fest's history, associate themselves with a figurehead of the alt-right who has built a career on preaching that he DOESN'T BELIEVE THERE IS SUCH THING AS INEQUALITY. That trans people have mental illnesses. That men are biologically programmed to be dominant to women. I guess we just ignore that?
Yeah I was initially gonna say "Not trying to take the focus off music, just trying to make sure people know who the money at the NBC shows is going to."
But I think Shinola is 100% right here--Newport the last two years is cultivating artist activism in a way I don't think other fests are, and has gone out of their way to create space for protest. Jay himself said "maybe it's time to make Newport dangerous again" repeatedly in 2017. Well...personally I think the Foleys are the kind of person we should be making Newport dangerous for.
No disrespect to people who keep going to the shows, and I'm not even saying with 100% certainty that next year when the Tick tickets go on sale and the fomo kicks in that it won't overwhelm my desire to do good. And of course there is a legitimate conversation to be had about whether the preaching from the stage, to say nothing of the real dollars that both the fest and the Tick shows give to charity, does more good than the owner being a scumbag does harm. But at the very least I think people, particularly people from CT who were taken advantage of by these people, should at least know where the money from their drinks at NBC is going.
I think there's a big difference between posting about the Foleys owning NBC and condemning Mumford & Sons for their photo with Jordan Peterson, which was subsequently followed with the expected mischaracterization of what he's said, as well as the "Never Have I Ever: Felt Bad For A Trump Supporter" comment.
I hope Trump supporters do come to the fest. I'm all for exposure rather than banishment.
That's the last i'll post about all of that.
As far as the Foley issue goes, that is indeed interesting and concerning. I've long held the assumption that there's no way in hell the headcount at the DT aftershows is within the max capacity for the venue (paying/checking in at the front door and then directed to go around the side to the back entrance up the stairs last year is what got me really questioning it). Being owned by someone convicted on charges of corruption only goes to reinforce my assumption.
Yeah I was initially gonna say "Not trying to take the focus off music, just trying to make sure people know who the money at the NBC shows is going to."
But I think Shinola is 100% right here--Newport the last two years is cultivating artist activism in a way I don't think other fests are, and has gone out of their way to create space for protest. Jay himself said "maybe it's time to make Newport dangerous again" repeatedly in 2017. Well...personally I think the Foleys are the kind of person we should be making Newport dangerous for.
No disrespect to people who keep going to the shows, and I'm not even saying with 100% certainty that next year when the Tick tickets go on sale and the fomo kicks in that it won't overwhelm my desire to do good. And of course there is a legitimate conversation to be had about whether the preaching from the stage, to say nothing of the real dollars that both the fest and the Tick shows give to charity, does more good than the owner being a scumbag does harm. But at the very least I think people, particularly people from CT who were taken advantage of by these people, should at least know where the money from their drinks at NBC is going.
I think there's a big difference between posting about the Foleys owning NBC and condemning Mumford & Sons for their photo with Jordan Peterson, which was subsequently followed with the expected mischaracterization of what he's said, as well as the "Never Have I Ever: Felt Bad For A Trump Supporter" comment.
I hope Trump supporters do come to the fest. I'm all for exposure rather than banishment.
That's the last i'll post about all of that.
As far as the Foley issue goes, that is indeed interesting and concerning. I've long held the assumption that there's no way in hell the headcount at the DT aftershows is within the max capacity for the venue (paying/checking in at the front door and then directed to go around the side to the back entrance up the stairs last year is what got me really questioning it). Being owned by someone convicted on charges of corruption only goes to reinforce my assumption.
That's all very fair. Personally I could take or leave the Mumfords, but I could see giving them the benefit of the doubt on this. I have no idea what the context of that picture is, and I had to look back to remember who Jordan Peterson is myself (and don't get me wrong, he is also the kind of person for whom I'd like Newport to be dangerous.) I imagine when you're uber-famous there are a lot of "come take a picture with this other famous person!" moments and you may or may not now who they are. The dude in the bottom left of the picture certainly looks uncomfortable.
The Foleys though...it bums me out. And unlike a "trump supporter" strawman (not to be confused with the guy on this board Strawman) I've now had a verified bad experience with him, and they have been convicted in my home state of laundering money for John Rowland who bilked CT voters out of millions. I get that some people support more government services and some less, but straight up stealing from tax-payers I'd hope we can all agree is bad.
So yeah, apples and oranges.
I too am about exposure and discussion rather than exclusion. I welcome Trump supporters to the fest, as long as they get that I might ask them if they feel any cognitive dissonance about listening to songs of freedom, equality and inclusion while supporting an oligarch who is actively trying to hold down huge swaths of the population. And when I wear my Obama shirt, I'm happy if they ask me whatever questions they want. Talking is better than not talking.
Regarding the DeerTick shows: On Friday night I saw the bouncer offering entry to multiple people for $50 cash. He did it kind of hush hush so im sure the money was going directly in his pocket and not to the bands/charity as intended.
Fair enough. Last weekend I heard Jason Isbell sing that there was no such thing as someone else’s war. I heard Brandi Carlile sing about the fight it took to have the love she deserves. She also sang that the politicians shouldn’t stand in the doorway or block up the hall. I watched Spirit Family get little kids to sing that it isn’t nice to go to jail, but we don’t mind. I heard Jon Batiste and Valerie June sing that they want to know what it is to be free. I heard Jon Batiste, Gary Clark and Leon Bridges sing that soldiers were cutting them down. And at the end of it all I heard Mavis Staples sing to everyone to march down freedom’s highway with her.
That’s some music I heard last weekend at my favorite place in the world.
Finally have enough time to dive into my Newport experience:
Thursday: Got to NBC way earlier than expected... My gf and I were going for a walk after dinner (Red Parrot) to kill time and noticed Beaker & his bro were already first in line so we wound up joining them which definitely lead to some perfect spots right at the stage for the shwo that night. I wasn't thrilled with the change of having Shakey opening rather than Band of Heathens, but both bands put on a great show. I do wish we got a tad bit more of old Shakey and the suitcase bass but oh well. Was a fun night and with it being my gfs first NFF, it definitely was a good introduction. Side Note: Was it just me or did NBC seem considerably less crowded that night than on other NFF nights?
Friday:
Darlingside - Definitely kicked off the official festival with a fantastic set. The constant giant grin of awe and excitement on Harris' face between every song showed they understood Newport and how awesome of a place it is. We saw that same expression from a number of artist throughout the weekend.
JD McPherson. - I freaking loved this set. I love his vintage/retro style and sound. It certainly was a change of pace coming from the calm Darlingside set moments before, but it definitely got me pumped up plus more Shakey!
Next: Lobster Roll #1
We did manage to sneak over and see Matt The Electrician at the family tent. I think he's just so underrated. I'm thrilled we got to catch a few songs of his there as we didn't have a chance to get into see his museum set unfortunately. After that, we caught a bit of Tyler and I wish I had caught more of that set but I think I'd do it all the same today. Definitely going to check him out at the next opportunity I can.
Glorietta - while they seemed to get off to a bit of a rough start (I mean it was their first or second live show after alll), they quickly found their groove and lived up to the hype for sure. Noah's Lincoln Creek definitely contends for best song of the entire weekend; I mean holy cow that was phenomenal. I will say though,with Jay's excitement and urging of us to be standing up I expected a bit more amped up and high-energy than what we got to experience (Hiss For Example was a much more energized set in my opinion, yet everyone sat for most of it).
Ben Harper & Charlie - One of my most looked forward to acts as I just absolutely love that man and the podcast from a few weeks just made it even more anticipated. I've seen him in the past but haven't had a chance yet to see him and Charlie together. By this point my gf understood why I rave so much about this festival and why it's my one certainty every year (and now hers as well!).
Sturgill - I almost wish I didn't catch the last few songs of his as it made me wish we caught his full set but I've seen him a few times in the past couple of years so I couldn't pass up on Ben & Charlie.
Isbell - Phenomenal set, Crosby joining him was fantastic. Definitely my favorite of the Ohio renditions of the weekend.
Cook Brothers Aftershow - WOOOOOW - This was absolutely awesome. We sat a row or two behind the soundboard and saw they had a setlist on it so most of the singers didn't catch us by surprise at first, although I kept reading Prine as Price (it was mostly just a list of names and how many songs they'd be doing rather than an actual setlist), so when he came out that definitely made my day. About halfway through the night they pretty much abandoned the entire setlist and just winged it, which turned out to be great. By far the best aftershow I had ever attended and in terms of how many heavy hitters were involved, I'd be shocked if it ever gets surpassed. By now the GF is absolutely hooked on Newport.
Saturday:
CAAMP - The Caamp/LCC conflict was probably the hardest decision of the entire weekend for us. I always enjoy starting the weekend off with the intimacy of the Museum or Harbor though so that was the deciding factor. I would love to have a LCC-Tick aftershow in the future, I think that would be absolutely insanity! ANyways, Caamp was fantastic. We've listened to them a lot but I hadn't seen any video of them performing so we were both surprised when they started singing as we expected such a big voice to be coming from one of the other two members of the band. Again, wore their excitement for Newport on their face the entire set and just had the place going wild; can't wait to see them again!
Hiss - I didnt' understand the hype about them previously but I found myself liking his songs more andmore when they'd come up on the NFF playlist so figured we'd give it a shot, especially after how they played the night before that the Cook show. Damn this was fun. I wish the audience had been a bit more energized. Like I said before, everyone standing for Glorietta yet sitting for Hiss just made no sense to either of us. Regardless, I'm on the Hiss train for sure now. Side Note: the gf for some reason thinks Kaufman just looks like he'd be the chillest dude in the world to hang out with... couldn't get her to really explain why other than "i mean, just look at him!"
Valerie June - Very fun set, we both had been pretty excited about seeing her for a while now and it was definitely fun. Holy hell that girl is a whacko though!
Shakey - I just love seeing him (I always think of him and Langhorne as poster children of NFF) and we managed to catch a spot on the rail after Valerie so we had to call an audible and decide to camp at the rail the rest of the day (Sad I missed Colter Wall!!). I just love the energy he brings to every single set. I could see him a dozen more times and still enjoy each one. As a born and raised Texan I loved the Beto shirt solidarity!!!
Courtney - I must say that both of us were going into this one thinking we'd have to "suffer through it" a bit as neither of us were huge on her deadpan voice (I left her set early last time she was here because of it). Having said that though, she won both of us over. While I'm still not a huge fan of her voice on some of the songs, the girl knows how to rock for sure! We also decided she's probably the coolest person at the entire festival.
Mumford - I had never seen them before (besides the Cook show) so I was looking forward to it if for no other reason than to cross them off the list of seen acts. I must say, I just really don't understand the backlash that they get from people, or at least the degree to which they receive it. They put on a great set, had a number of great guests, and the entire show kept building and building and then they knocked it out of the park with mavis and all at the end. Maggie Rogers - HOLY HELL. This girl made her Newport debut this weekend in about as strongest of was as she could have. I know Jay's wanted to expand the musical umbrella that plays at the festival and I think she'd be a great entry into that endeavor. They'd better have her already booked for a set next year!!!
Sunday -
Museum - Hit the open mic in the Museum as is an annual sunday tradition for me. We were only there for a handful of songs but fortunately we got to catch Nick sing one of his historical folkk songs and then catch "Magic Powers" sung by a ton of the regulars (the older husband and wife, the younger husband and wife, Nick, and the girl who wrote the song - the singing tapdancing girl) so that was pretty serendipitous.
Twain - We stayed in the museum a little to long and the quad seats were full by the time we got there so we wandered back and saw Charlie Parr sitting up on the hill after we left the museum and wound up sitting near them to listen to Twain. I kept trying to get gf to talk to him as she used to see him play at the coffeeshop all of the time when she was in college in Wisconsin but she chickened out.
Passenger - Definitely the surprise set of the weekend... As others have mentioned he definitely played well beyond my expectations. Great banter, great songs, just allround fun show. I do however wish they had put him on the Quad and get the wood brothers or langhorne to the Fort Stage.
Nicole Atkins - God damn she's a gem. She just sung her ass off the entire set. Quickly was one of my goosebump moments of the festival.
Charlie Parr - This was by far my most highly anticipated set of the day. I wish he could have played for hours and hours. I was on cloud 9 the entire set. Never seen someone get such a long standing ovation at the Harbor stage - he was already packed up and off the stage and everyone was still applauding. (Granted, him packing up involved putting his two guitars in their cases and grabbing his water)
Brandi - I just love her. I've seen her a number of times here and elsewhere over the past few years and I must say she just keeps getting better and better live. I always have a tough time passing her up - Brandi vs. Langhorne was the other major conflict dilemna for me.
A Change Is Gonna Come - It was good. Baptiste is great but it just seemed so confused/unorganized at times. Baptiste & Thile dueling did blow me away. Those two were absolutely on the same page and felt like they were in a league of their own well beyond everyone else that was on the stage. I've voiced my dislike of Rachel Price singing the namesake song so I don't need to go into that tangent any further.
Sunday Tick:
GOD DAMN ROCK SHOW! I had taken gf to see them in Chicago last year and it was by far the tamest/mildest Tick show I had ever seen (at Newport or elsewhere) so she was skeptical of my claims about how rowdy the night would get. Practically the moment The Lone Bellow took the stage that skepticism left for good but I guess LB and DT wanted to absolutely smash it and both proceeded to put on some of the rowdiest, loudest, most fun songs I've ever seen. Another night with just guest after guest building up the energy higher and higher. Too many awesome covers to list, but god I loved getting them to bring Brandi up on stage to do an impromptu cover of Creep. Damn that was a Tick show for the ages!
General Comments:
The more I thought about this years festival and how so many people had been underwhelmed at times leading up to it (myself included), I think a lot of it was just due to having seen a number of these acts already play Newport in recent years. If we were able to wipe the previous years away and looked at this years lineup as though everyone on it was making their newport debut then I think it would undeniably be a freaking best of a lineup.
Fortunately, a lot of these returning acts are returning acts because they're just freaking beasts. Every returning act I saw either brought their typical high level of performing or (more oftenly) raised the bar from the level they set it to in their previous visits.
- I like that they expanded to include the giftshop/bathrooms in the festival.
- I HATE BLANKETS AT THE QUAD. Is it just me or did they have less seats in the quad this year and moved the blanket section in a bit further? Either way, I hate them and I didn't bother wandering over to the quad much unless I wanted to catch a full set, which I don't think I've ever done in years past.
- As far as the security changes go, I didn't notice a ton, though I did seem to notice a ton more security guards and LEO, especially Saturday. The one thing that did stand out to me though was that I saw people tying off to things on the short and boaters actually standing on the rocks right on the other side of the fence. I thought they had been pretty strict about that in years past.
- The bottled water thing... I too am kinda surprised at how much they pushed it. However, the sparkling water was a great option, I just didn't see it available at most of the booths (only still water).
- The weather was amazing the entire weekend. I think this was the first totally dry newport I've been to. That being said, I almost wish it had sprinkled a time or two to help keep the dirt down at the Fort. Their was a cloud of it during the Mumford set and amount of dirt we got to clean out of our noses back at the hotel each day was sickening.
All in all this was an absolutely wonderful weekend as always. Caught up with beaker , met matthewgroehl and his gf, had some amazing food, and got to introduce my girlfriend to the most magical place in the entire world. Now just 51 weeks to go!
Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive delivered a jaw-dropping performance when she sang Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come." Can you speak on that?
I wanted her to sing it. Her voice is one of my favorite voices that I’ve ever heard. She's one of the truest singers, a natural golden voice. It was amazing hearing her for the first time. The song has gravitas. It has weight, and you need somebody to really deliver it powerfully. I wanted her to do that for sure. But also, it’s a song that originates from the perspective of a black man in the '60s. So, it’s almost like this subversive thing to have her sing it. She can sing it, but also, some would say she can’t sing it, and the answer to that I’ve left it in the air. I just wanted to put that out there, almost as something to not even spark debate, but more conversation. I was hoping people would pick up on that.
Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive delivered a jaw-dropping performance when she sang Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come." Can you speak on that?
I wanted her to sing it. Her voice is one of my favorite voices that I’ve ever heard. She's one of the truest singers, a natural golden voice. It was amazing hearing her for the first time. The song has gravitas. It has weight, and you need somebody to really deliver it powerfully. I wanted her to do that for sure. But also, it’s a song that originates from the perspective of a black man in the '60s. So, it’s almost like this subversive thing to have her sing it. She can sing it, but also, some would say she can’t sing it, and the answer to that I’ve left it in the air. I just wanted to put that out there, almost as something to not even spark debate, but more conversation. I was hoping people would pick up on that.
Cool stuff. I wasn't expecting any background info on that but glad to have it. Thanks for the article
Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive delivered a jaw-dropping performance when she sang Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come." Can you speak on that?
I wanted her to sing it. Her voice is one of my favorite voices that I’ve ever heard. She's one of the truest singers, a natural golden voice. It was amazing hearing her for the first time. The song has gravitas. It has weight, and you need somebody to really deliver it powerfully. I wanted her to do that for sure. But also, it’s a song that originates from the perspective of a black man in the '60s. So, it’s almost like this subversive thing to have her sing it. She can sing it, but also, some would say she can’t sing it, and the answer to that I’ve left it in the air. I just wanted to put that out there, almost as something to not even spark debate, but more conversation. I was hoping people would pick up on that.
He seems to contradict himself from the previous question about Brandi covering Dylan:
"I was listening to her album, and [she's] the idea of someone who’s a true link in that chain -- representing Bob Dylan, representing those great troubadours that spread those messages that we all know and love now. You don’t really wanna get somebody who’s not a part of that lineage to sing that song, and I saw that she obviously was the choice."
Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive delivered a jaw-dropping performance when she sang Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come." Can you speak on that?
I wanted her to sing it. Her voice is one of my favorite voices that I’ve ever heard. She's one of the truest singers, a natural golden voice. It was amazing hearing her for the first time. The song has gravitas. It has weight, and you need somebody to really deliver it powerfully. I wanted her to do that for sure. But also, it’s a song that originates from the perspective of a black man in the '60s. So, it’s almost like this subversive thing to have her sing it. She can sing it, but also, some would say she can’t sing it, and the answer to that I’ve left it in the air. I just wanted to put that out there, almost as something to not even spark debate, but more conversation. I was hoping people would pick up on that.
He seems to contradict himself from the previous question about Brandi covering Dylan:
"I was listening to her album, and [she's] the idea of someone who’s a true link in that chain -- representing Bob Dylan, representing those great troubadours that spread those messages that we all know and love now. You don’t really wanna get somebody who’s not a part of that lineage to sing that song, and I saw that she obviously was the choice."
Yeah, if you're gonna sing Bob Dylan you've gotta be part of that lineage.
But one of most important civil rights anthems and the title song to a performance celebrating the civil rights movement? Pretty white lady with pretty voice is fine
Hey All- I am slowing emerging from the post Newport blues (yes they are real). Having a chance to digest some of what transpired this year, I am choosing this forum to discuss some of my musings/thoughts/perspective over others for a few reasons. The biggest being that over other online forums most of your posts focus on constructive and engaging critique; a sense of perspective on what it means being a small non-profit in today's market; indelible memories; honest questions; and most importantly how to enhance our collective experience year over year. In short this forum is focused on attempting a positive feedback loop...something the world really needs more of these days. With that in mind here are some of my thoughts.
Be Here: I have the good fortune of hearing first impression feedback from the artists, sometimes mere moments after their sets. I'm always curious to hear what first time performers have to say... almost to a person their sentiments circle around two points, the NFF audience LISTENS and are they extremely PRESENT. This is yet another example of a positive feedback loop. I will try and explain... Artists realize they are not looking at a sea of cell phones, they're looking at actual faces, seeing people react (smile, laugh, cry) to their music, an audience listening intensely, artist needs to up their game ie can't mail it in, they strive to do something unique, they get out of their safety zone, often getting bigger cheers when they screw up out on the high wire, these create amazing moments for audience and artists, artists leave NFF revitalized, rejuvenated and preaching to other artists about their experience, we get calls from these new artists asking to play.... all because our crowd...you...make a dedicated effort to be present and to leave the cell phone in the pocket... think about the positive power that creates
Be Kind: We all need a place to feel safe, to be our best selves and to help create an environment to commune together over our shared love of music. Honestly this is becoming harder to do in the festival landscape and the world in general. We battle with the question almost daily; How do we create a space that doesn't feel like a police state but allows some time to be spent enjoying each other's company safely on a big scale? By trusting our audience to continue to make concerted efforts to smile, empathize, take a breath, understand we're trying to do our best with limited resources, make small gestures of gratitude, and most of all help each listen to the music and to each other. One of the things I absolutely love and gives me joy/pride is the self governing aspect of our community. The age old tribal wisdom of how to kindly pass on dogmas to others new to the scene in a respectful way. Also, how the mores are created and evolve not because of a lone authoritative figure but from the community itself. Often times the result becomes an amazing tradition ie, how the once long lines for the ferry turned into the "High-Five Line". It encapsulates the inexplicable persuasiveness of a great notion to turn a pain in the ass problem into a sense of joy and wonderment.
Be Open: I've read/thought a lot about the growing phenomenon of FOMO/FOBO. It's easy to see how social media can create the construct that everyone is having a better time somewhere else, even though we all know it's not really the truth. I can honestly say being with you all in late July at the fort, there is no place on earth I would rather be. I don't think I'm alone, as more and more people tell me how Newport escapes the trappings of FOMO/FOBO, because at any moment on any given inch of the fort one can have a truly memorable moment as they seem to waiting around every corner. How many times have you listened to someone's gameplan to catch certain sets and then abandon said plan by noon on Friday. Or how the patio is packed well before doors so people can hang out, catch up, reminisce etc. Allowing ourselves to be open to the flow of the festival, to new music, to meeting new people is something that makes us truly unique. This latitude also means our team can take chances with new production, new formats, new layouts, and new best of all new programming. As many of you know we wrestle with what I term the paradox of compounding expectations. It's a blessing and personal challenge all at once, and believe me I take it very very personally. However, I think the success of the festival is not simply based on profit and loss or the names of the people playing it (hell, half the time we don't know the full lineup until it's over) and the term "headliner" is truly a dated construct when it comes to NFF. To us the level of success is measured by how people feel when they leave the fort, and how much money we raised for music education For perspective, while we may never land a Neil Young due to our minuscule budget, organically "Ohio" a song he penned at a difficult time in America was played three times over the weekend this year, Friday by two men, one an unannounced legend who sang on the original and the other a budding legend both of whom have battled and winning against addiction, Saturday by a gay woman in the intimacy of the museum, and finally on Sunday by three young black men in their prime. Being open means one could argue that Neil was there in the most Newport way possible and the song made even more vital and powerful for our times by those that chose to play it. As Pete said "it's not about one voice, we're stronger when we sing together."
Be Together: People try to verbalize what it is about NFF that makes it so different, I say it's the sense of family; the true alchemy created by the patrons, performers and place. Everyone brings something to the table, everyone plays an important part which makes the whole greater. This year seemed especially....cathartic. Countless fans and artists noted something to the effect of how "we needed that." Maybe it was a sense of hope, maybe it was a chance to catch our breath, maybe it was just the chance to commune against despite our differences and enjoy one thing we have in common, a love for music. When you strip it all down, we are indeed an audience that listens, and I appreciate your taking this time to listen. hugs and #folkon
