Langerado Day One: A Photo Gallery

A nice welcome mat to a grounds that can only be described as visitor-friendly:

After passing through the Swap Tent in which The Heavy Pets played to kick things off, our first real viewing of the day was this Jamaican-lovin’ outfit called Dubsconscious. These guys were pretty good, showing you how solid a band can be when you combine hippies, Amish and blecks:  

Bully for us, Victor Wooten sat in for a song with Assembly of Dust. Ya know, I think this year’s festival has already outpaced the past few years in tersm of sit-ins. In addition to Vic, today we saw Nate Wilson of AoD sit in with moe., Ivan Neville sit in with Trey, Will Bernard sit in with Galactic and The Brothers Lee sit in with North Mississippi Allstars. Here’s a shot of Vic with half of AoD:

My favorite touring band in the country proved to me once again why I like ’em so much. The best compliment I can give Tea Leaf Green is that for this entire trip I’ve felt like dog-doo, running a fever, trying to fight it off, and for the one hour TLG took the stage I felt totally healthy. The miracles they perform…

Trevor had some early problems with his equipment, but that didn’t stop him from pulling out the ol’ harmonica and strutting the stage in true Trevor Garrod fashion to start a raucous Incandescent Devil:

I can’t say enough about Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. This set blew us away, and it blew just about everyone in that tent away. This chick is a fucking national treasure; she needs to be talked about more. People call her the Female James Brown, and I’d agree, but she’s also the Female Ron Burgundy — she’s stream of consciousness, cocksure and aware of her innate ability to kick some arse. We love Ron Burgundy, and we love Sharon Jones. Hot shit here:

A lot of people told me to check out The Hold Steady. So I did, and I was pleasantly surprised. They’re a weird-lookin’ bunch, not exactly what you’d call rock-star material, and the mikes didn’t work for the entire first song (quite a funny image actually), but they’re extremely captivating and play some pretty catchy rock tunes. I dig it.

I gotta admit I wasn’t blown away by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, which is unfortunately what I said the last I saw them. I hope this isn’t a trend forming. Still, these guys are awesome, so fucking talented: 

Sunset at Langerado. I feel like it’s a postcard saying Wish U Were Here:

A cool sky shot taken during the moe. set; just beautiful here:

My first evening with Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, and I’m glad we spent this time together. Talk about rocking me on my ass, these guys nailed it. Two chicks, two dudes, a fantastic foursome — this has gotta be one of the best live acts in the country right now:

You knew you’d start seeing these pop up at some point:

Chris Kuroda sits at the lightboard…I thought CK stands. Maybe he’s bored, too.

Trey played a pretty solid show, although I saw five or six songs the night before. I got nuthin’ here. He absolutely ripped some songs, and no matter where he is or what he’s doing, that guitar tone, as raunchy and distorted as it’s gotten, still makes people melt. Big Red will always be the man: 

We’re leaving for the night…see you tomorrow, festival:

A big day in the works…As Jack Buck once said, “And we’ll see you tomorrow night.” Then he died. Sad, really. I don’t know why I brought it up.