The Fort Stage acted as the setting for countless standout moments on day two of Newport Folk Festival. Playing host to Jason Isbell, The Decemberists and Sufjan Stevens, the performances on the main stage were all over the place in the best way. Another unannounced guest on the Fort Stage did indeed turn out to be the beloved James Taylor, finished his set from nearly 50 years back in 1969 when his set was interrupted by Armstrong’s historic moon landing. The crowd went absolutely wild for Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James”, among others. Though his time onstage was short, it was perhaps one of the biggest draws of the whole weekend.
But while eager crowds gathered there, the Quad Stage featured some of the best acts of the entire weekend, including Sturgill Simpson, Courtney Barnett and Langhorne Slim, all three of which had more people dancing than anything else. In fact, while everyone swarmed the Fort Stage for James Taylor, little did they know how much they were missing.
Here’s the best of the day from each stage:
FORT STAGE
The Fort took the cake today between the early openers The Suffers, a soul band based in Houston, to Jason Isbell’s flawless country set midday. The Suffers attracted a hearty crowd, but would have been better served later in the day when the fort was filled up. Their high-energy, bluesy set had early birds skipping their morning coffee in exchange for some serious dancing. Isbell stunned a packed fort audience with songs off his new record Something More than Free with his stellar band the 400 Unit. “Speed Trap Town”, “24 Frames” and “Palmetto Rose” accompanied crowd favorites from Southeastern that had fans singing along. Isbell’s voice was a powerhouse, as he belted it out for maximum impact, particularly during “Cover Me Up”. Isbell repeated his pattern of appearing in Newport following the release of a new record, something he did in 2013, too.
Sufjan Stevens’ quirky set enchanted devout fans with songs off the dark and intense Carrie and Lowell. Probably the only electronica-folk of the whole fest, Stevens’ dreamy, haunting falsetto and dynamic band sounded like nothing else. The Decemberists finished things off in true Folk Fest fashion, acting as storytellers. Colin Meloy was backed up by the incredible, one-of-a-kind talents of Nora O’Connor and Kelly Hogan on harmonies, and played a plethora of tunes from their canon, including many from their latest What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World. Following a theatrical, marathon performance of “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”, Lucius, Hozier, Brandi Carlile and others joined on stage for a finale cover of Woody Guthrie’s iconic “This Land is Your Land”. ‘Twas the stuff Folk Fest dreams are made of.
QUAD STAGE
The supergroup Traveller made their Newport debut, and main members Johnny Fritz, Robert Ellis and Cory Chisel took turns singing their own tunes and harmonizing on new ones. Though they were clearly unpracticed, it was enough that they were having a blast (and a great sense of humor). Fritz had the crowd in stitches through songs about 47-year old women on Tinder and decrepit tour bands. Langhorne Slim and the Law attracted one of the largest and most enthusiastic crowds of the day, and Aussie Courtney Barnett had the crowd jumping up and down to her unique style of alternative punk rock and clever wordings. But the star of the Quad Stage was undoubtedly Simpson, whose low voice and laid back, unselfconscious country music always feels fresh and full of adrenaline. Simpson easily added tons of new fans to his following today.
HARBOR STAGE
Nikki Lane, looking fabulous as always, and with her equally gorgeous and fashionable female band, was one of the buzzier artists this year. Her effortlessly cool set was not the best she’s ever sounded, but it was still pretty damn great. She’s got a stage presence that makes it impossible to take your eyes off her, and a Southern charm that’s a little rough around the edges. Sunday brings a mystery lineup that will close out the weekend, and it seems to be the unanimous opinion that it will be huge. Though it doesn’t seem to hold the clout Friday and Saturday did, Sunday may be full of surprises.
