Memorial Day Weekend boasts many traditions to mark the unofficial start of summer. In the world of HT faves Perpetual Groove, the holiday weekend saw the 13th installment of Amberland, the group’s annual festival. Holding court at Cherokee Farms in Lafayette, Georgia, not too far from the band’s home base of Athens, PGroove drew and expanded on one of my favorite festivals. Although I wasn’t able to make it this year, we wanted to share some of the sights and sounds of Amberland 2012.
[All Photos by David Shehi of Honest Tune]
The festival kicked off with a late night set on Friday that featured guests from many of the other bands on the bill and other friends including former keys player John Hruby. Amberland’s PGroove and Friends’ “Super Jam” started out with Bobblehead Funk, and featured a nearly half-hour Drink Then Fill This set, which always kicks off the festivities, is what Amberland represents in a nutshell. It’s loose and casual, with musicians sometimes switching off mid-jam, but it also represents the beginning of what is a relentless onslaught of music from all sensory angles. Covers included Paul Simon’s I Know What I Know, Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kicks and Funkadelic’s Can You Get To That.
With six “official” PGroove sets on Saturday and Sunday, there were highlights around every corner. Saturday’s sets featured a pair of creative “sandwiches” in Cabulo Monstrosity > God’s Gonna Cut You Down > Cabulo Monstrosity and Mr. Transistor > Only Always > Mr. Transistor. The band also debuted a pair of new tunes in My Favorite Color and Fend For Your Life. Yet the event wasn’t just PGroove. With performances from The Heavy Pets, Under the Porch, Moon Taxi and Consider The Source, this was definitely the biggest Amberland to date.
We’ve got more photos, a video and a few songs for your streaming pleasure…
