Widespread fun at fest

Eclectic lineup leads sizeable crowd to music fest

Gene Davis, DDN Staff Writer

Monday, July 20, 2009

WIDESPREAD PANIC entertains a huge crowd at the East Main Stage during the Mile High Music Festival Saturday evening at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Denver Daily News photo by Hector Acevedo.

The 50 diverse bands playing five stages provided ample musical entertainment over the weekend at the Mile High Music Festival.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters helped get things going on Saturday with their jam-friendly take on middle-of-the-road rock. The local band has been a mainstay in Colorado since their breakout 1993 album “Sister Sweetly” went platinum. The band proved that while they may not be the hippest or most relevant band around, well-executed rock music can still get the crowds pumped up.

A highlight of Big Head Todd’s set was their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Rosalita.” The crowd, which skewered older and was respectably large but far from packed, enthusiastically sang along with “Rosalita” and most other songs.

Meanwhile, Paolo Nutini proved a pleasant surprise and was one of the highlights of Saturday. At first it sounded like Nutini was a forgotten ’60s Motown star. However, after putting on my glasses and hearing some reggae influences, it became clear that Nutini was actually quite young and hip.

Further research informed me that the 22-year-old Scottish singer/songwriter has recently put out his second album, “Sunny Side Up.” If the crowd-pleasing mid-afternoon set is any indication, the record is a must-buy for anyone who wonders what Bob Marley would have sounded like as a singer in the Motown era.

Incubus followed Nutini and Big Head Todd with a hit-heavy set that pleased the largely post-college age crowd. Kicking off with “Privilege,” lead singer Brandon Boyd strained to find the notes when proclaiming, “Find yourself a back door.”

But by the second song, “Pardon Me,” Boyd and the rest of band had fallen into the groove. While Incubus’ modern rock fare isn’t my cup of tea, the band’s musical ability and willingness to experiment puts them above bands like Nickelback in my book.

The Black Keys put their previous festival experience to good use during their sweat-inducing Saturday evening show. A concept that seems custom built for dark clubs and bars — a drummer and guitarist/vocalist playing dirty blues rock — was able to translate to the outdoor festival experience thanks to Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney’s showmanship, skill and ability to involve the audience.

The crowd that showed up to see The Black Keys had the most enthusiastic reaction to songs from the duo’s latest album, “Attack and Release.” This is a good sign for the band since it shows that people are starting to get turned onto them.

Tool provided the most anticipated set of the evening. Armed with high-tech video screens that brought to mind Kanye West’s “Glow in the Dark Tour,” frontman Maynard James Keenan and company delivered on all levels for their first show in over a year.

The prog-metal band leaned heavily on the band’s last two albums — “Lateralus” and “10,000 Days” — for the show. As one person nearby remarked, Tool seemed like the band that would welcome people to an awesome version of hell. In fact, Keenan danced and strutted in the shadows as if he were a mischievous sidekick to Satan.

Anyone not in the middle of the audience for Tool was victim to the wind swaying the speakers back and forth, meaning the sound would get continuously be loud and soft. But as one thoroughly pumped audience member noted afterward, “That blew my fu**ing mind.”

Widespread Panic closed out Saturday evening with an impressive three-hour set. The southern rock jam band had some early technical troubles when lead guitarist Jimmy Herring lost sound during an early jam in “Goin’ Out West,” but the group quickly recovered and gave the fans what they wanted.

Since non-aficionados and devotees view Panic in a completely different light, it’s probably best to take the judgment of Timothy Worchester — who has seen the band over 200 times — when he said the band put on one of the best shows he has seen them play in a while.

Sunday

Although seven hours and several bands separated The Fray and Jack’s Mannequin, the two piano rock acts served as good compliments to each other on Sunday. Both bands feature a lead singer who emotively belts out the songs from behind a piano. Additionally, songs from both bands strive to be intimate yet universal.

During their set, Jack’s Mannequin frontman Andrew McMahon held the relatively small main stage crowd in his hand. McMahon implemented several on-stage antics that could be considered cliché, but he pulled them off with a good-natured affability and came off as being immensely likeable. The band closed with a cover of Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” and the sing-a-long that followed was an early highlight of the day.

Ever wonder what Guster would sound like if the polite-guy-indie-pop-rock band had the thumping bass of gypsy-punk outfit Gogol Bordello thrown in? If so, Sunday’s mid-afternoon set answered the question for you.

Because of the close proximity of the two stages, the quiet parts of Guster were often drowned out by Gogol Bordello’s loud mix. But despite the minor setback, both bands pulled of great respective sets.

Gogol Bordello plays music that is best described as the type of dance-and-song ritual someone might expect pirates to do before plundering a ship. Frontman Eugene Hutz and the rest of the band members were among the most captivating performers at the festival, and the crowd enthusiastically jumped, shouted and danced along with them.

Devotchka was a natural choice to play soon after Gogol Bordello. Both bands incorporate eastern European influences in their work, and Nick Urata and the rest of Devotchka seem on stage like they could be the wealthy aristocratic cousins of Hutz and his bottom-feeding crew.

As with every other time I have seen them, Devotchka had some serious sound issues early on in their set. It seems like their setup of a violin, Theremin, tuba, stand-up bass, classical guitar and occasional mariachi horn throws off every sound guy, resulting in deafening feedback and uneven levels.

But by the time the Denver band was launching into their rousing cover of “Shiny Boots of Leather,” most of the level issues were resolved and the group soldiered on with resolve.

Buddy Guy, meanwhile, was putting on an incendiary set on one of the main stages. Guy literally gave the audience a history lesson in the blues, telling the decent-sized crown about how the musical art form has evolved while giving examples on the guitar. Following a guitar solo that led Guy through the crowd, the musician got back on stage but quickly disappeared.

No explanation was given as to why Guy left the stage for good, ending the set almost 30 minutes earlier than expected.

3OH!3 were able to make yet another victory lap through their home state with their late afternoon performance. Kicking their show off with “Punk Bitch,” Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte led the amped-up audience through 50 minutes of high-energy electronic-rap-pop.

The biggest audience reaction, of course, came when they closed out their set with the smash hit single “Don’t Trust Me.” The song got an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the audience, with Foreman and Motte serving as ringleaders to a party celebrating Colorado.

Because of deadline, the DDN was not able to get a review of the headlining slots from Widespread Panic and The Fray in today’s paper.

* Sponsored Links *