For the third night The Oude Zaal sees increasing crowds. This time The Bridge and the New Mastersounds are dipping into Umphrey’s crowd, with the latter also taking a sizable chunk out of the would-be Les Claypool audience. By the third night the two bands are quite familiar with each other and members of each band frequently sit-in with the other. The resulting funk party is one of the most memorable parts of the entire festival.
During all of this, Umphrey’s McGee is playing a rather uninspired set. The new version of The Linear, a currently evolving song being shaped in the live setting, is played but overall the set is standard. This final night is rather anticlimactic and leaves most Umphreaks in attendance feeling unfulfilled. Having just seen how much better they can be the previous two nights it is easy to understand why.
To close out the festival Les Claypool plays a set comprising of yet another extended drum and whamola jam with repeated songs surrounding the bassist’s break. These repeated songs and stale drum jams take up the meat of the set, adding to the anticlimactic nature of the night. As stand-alone shows there is no denying what Les Claypool and his band can do, but by the third night it is absolutely redundant for any band to play a 15+ minute drum jam for the third time. Technical chops only go so far as people like to see variation, and there is no excuse to end such an amazing festival on such a low note.
Not only does Les Claypool have the fewest international travelers coming to see him, but also plays sets 30 minutes shorter than the other bands. The short set time would not be an issue if all three nights did not contain drawn-out, wanking drum jamming akin to the giant chicken fights in Family Guy. The 45 minutes of repeated songs and jamming seem like nothing more than a replica of what was already seen, and reek of laziness of Claypool’s part.
The individual effort put forward by Les and his extremely talented band on this night cannot be overlooked. That effort aside, in viewing his work over the week as a whole one cant help but think he is the absolute worst choice to close this festival. Musically the third night is the worst of the three, but there is no denying when it is all said and done that this experience is unforgettable. One can only hope that this festival will return next year.
Check out the rest of Jason’s photos from Day Three…
8 Responses
So how many people actually made it from overseas? 75? 100? How many people were at the shows? I heard that the attendance was dismal this year. Doubt we will see this event again.
John,
My estimates put the amount of overseas travelers at around 100-150. Many of the Americans in attendance live abroad as well so it is hard to tell. The crowd was mostly European, I would say about 60% maybe even more. Only about 20 dedicated kinfolk and about 30 umphreaks that made the trip if that, then there were people more in it for the destination aspect.
Attendance was dismal on night 2, but the other nights were a little better. When a festival like this takes a year off it is reasonable to assume there will be a large drop in sales. Especially given the lineup and lack of traveling fan bases, and current economic conditions.
Thanks for all the coverage and pics Jason. Nice work on this.
I hope it sticks around. I’ve been meaning to save up and make the trip for a few years, but haven’t been able to pull it off yet. I always throw it out for a bachelor party idea, but no takers yet.
I just want to give kudos to the author for his honesty (brutal as it may have been at times).
I wasn’t there, and like all of these bands fairly equally, so it was quite shocking – in a good way – to get such a brutally honest review “killing” certain aspects of the festival.
Thanks for going out on a limb and really taking a stance on some of the items you lay out in all 3-pieces. Very refreshing to read a piece as honest as this (and still love these bands as I did prior to reading the piece, and the Festy itself…still sounds like an amazing time)…
How about Josh Phillips Folk Festival? They were the best band there!!
I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading your reviews. I’m one of those “kinfolk” from Colorado and you helped bring back some really great memories. I also loved the pics! I’m praying for more jammin in the dam next year…
I agree, Josh Phillips Folk Festival was the best band there. And, contrary to the reports of this review, was well attended right up until the end of the show each and every night of the festival.
yes